Making Android's Bootable Recovery Work For You

Explore the intricacies of Android's bootable recovery mode in this comprehensive conference talk from Ekoparty 2014. Dive deep into building custom recoveries for Android devices, unlocking potential for penetration testing, forensics, data acquisition, security control bypassing, software modification, and Android development. Learn to deconstruct and inspect various boot and recovery software implementations using common tools, and gain insights into compiling personalized custom tools. Discover the significance of custom recoveries, their unique structures, and the importance of init scripts. Gain practical knowledge on device mapping, firmware exploration, and building device configurations. Master techniques for working with download modes, ODIN, and fastboot, equipping yourself with valuable skills for Android device manipulation and security research.

Intro
Nice to meet you, I'm Drew.
What is Android recovery?
A Custom Recovery
Why is this significant?
Why do I need this?
A Unique Snowflake...
Recovery: Initrd Images
Recovery: Parts and Structure
Device Mapping
Standard Android boot image
Firmware Exploration
Why are init scripts so important?
What else in the ramdisk is interesting?
What if I can't figure something out?
Build a device config
Board Config.mk
device_(codename).mk
Test it!
Download Mode (Samsung)
ODIN
fastboot mode