Usually, the communication between native and the app is done via
sending intents to either broadcast or activity. These communication
channels are for launching root requests dialogs, sending root request
notifications (the toast you see when an app gained root access), and
root request logging.
Sending intents by am (activity manager) usually requires specifying
the component name in the format of <pkg>/<class name>. This means parts
of Magisk Manager cannot be randomized or else the native daemon is
unable to know where to send data to the app.
On modern Android (not sure which API is it introduced), it is possible
to send broadcasts to a package, not a specific component. Which
component will receive the intent depends on the intent filter declared
in AndroidManifest.xml. Since we already have a mechanism in native code
to keep track of the package name of Magisk Manager, this makes it
perfect to pass intents to Magisk Manager that have components being
randomly obfuscated (stub APKs).
There are a few caveats though. Although this broadcasting method works
perfectly fine on AOSP and most systems, there are OEMs out there
shipping ROMs blocking broadcasts unexpectedly. In order to make sure
Magisk works in all kinds of scenarios, we run actual tests every boot
to determine which communication method should be used.
We have 3 methods in total, ordered in preference:
1. Broadcasting to a package
2. Broadcasting to a specific component
3. Starting a specific activity component
Method 3 will always work on any device, but the downside is anytime
a communication happens, Magisk Manager will steal foreground focus
regardless of whether UI is drawn. Method 1 is the only way to support
obfuscated stub APKs. The communication test will test method 1 and 2,
and if Magisk Manager is able to receive the messages, it will then
update the daemon configuration to use whichever is preferable. If none
of the broadcasts can be delivered, then the fallback method 3 will be
used.
In commit 8d4c407, native Magisk always launches an activity for
communicating with Magisk Manager. While this works extremely well,
since it also workaround stupid OEMs that blocks broadcasts, it has a
problem: launching an activity will claim the focus of the device,
which could be super annoying in some circumstances.
This commit adds a new feature to run a broadcast test on boot complete.
If Magisk Manager successfully receives the broadcast, it will toggle
a setting in magiskd so all future su loggings and notifies will always
use broadcasts instead of launching activities.
Fix#1412
Introduce a new communication method between Magisk and Magisk Manager.
Magisk used to hardcode classnames and send broadcast/start activities to
specific components. This new method makes no assumption of any class names,
so Magisk Manager can easily be fully obfuscated.
In addition, the new method connects Magisk and Magisk Manager with random
abstract Linux sockets instead of socket files in filesystems, bypassing
file system complexities (selinux, permissions and such)
