Certified Android Security Researcher (CASR)

Your achievement signifies a deep and comprehensive understanding of advanced Android security internals, including system architecture, AOSP source code navigation, reverse engineering of Android binaries, exploitation techniques, kernel customization, and in-depth analysis of core security features like SELinux, RKP, MTE, and Scudo. You’ve demonstrated expertise in ARM64 architecture, Android’s boot and rooting processes, Binder IPC, crash analysis, privilege escalation, and vulnerability research—earning you the title of Certified Android Security Researcher (CASR).

The exam is designed for experienced security professionals, Android developers, mobile threat analysts, and researchers seeking to validate their advanced capabilities in Android internals and exploitation.

Benefits include:

1. Advanced Expertise: Earning this certification proves your mastery over Android’s internal architecture, low-level exploit development, reverse engineering, and custom OS and kernel builds.
2. Professional Credibility: CASR is a recognized credential that validates your proficiency in Android internals and security, setting you apart in a competitive industry.
3. Career Opportunities: Opens up specialized roles such as Android security researcher, mobile kernel exploit developer, firmware reverse engineer, red team operator, and more.
4. Higher Earning Potential: Certified professionals often command higher salaries due to their specialized and niche skill sets in mobile security and OS-level exploitation.
5. Industry Recognition: Your certification reflects a high level of commitment and expertise, earning recognition from peers, employers, and the wider infosec community.
6. Organizational Impact: With your deep technical insights, you can help organizations identify, assess, and mitigate security risks within Android applications and the platform itself.
7. Modern Security Practices: Stay ahead with the latest techniques in crash analysis, kernel symbolication, Binder IPC exploitation, bootloader security, and permission model abuse.
8. Practical Problem Solving: Through real-world exploit case studies and hands-on kernel vulnerability work, your training prepares you to tackle complex Android security challenges head-on.

The certification exam spans 24 hours and rigorously evaluates your technical expertise across advanced areas of Android internals and security. You’ll be tested on real-world scenarios that reflect the complexity of modern Android exploitation and system-level research.

Key domains include:

1. Android System Architecture & AOSP: Demonstrate your understanding of Android’s architecture and effectively navigate and analyze AOSP source code.
2. Android Boot Process & Rooting: Exhibit knowledge of Android’s boot sequence, secure boot concepts, and various rooting mechanisms across devices.
3. Binder IPC Internals: Analyze Android’s IPC mechanisms, with a focus on Binder, and exploit their potential as attack surfaces.
4. Crash Analysis & Kernel Symbolication: Perform crash analysis on Android platforms and demonstrate the ability to symbolicate kernel crashes for vulnerability triage.
5. ARM & ARM64 Reverse Engineering: Show proficiency in the ARM and ARM64 instruction sets and apply this knowledge in reverse engineering both userland and kernel binaries.
6. Kernel & OS Customization: Display the ability to build and modify Android OS and kernel images for the purpose of security research and exploitation.
7. Security Mitigations & Enforcement Mechanisms: Understand and evaluate core Android security features including SELinux, DAC, CAP, RKP, MTE, and Scudo allocator.
8. Boot Image Extraction & Decryption: Demonstrate techniques for extracting, decrypting, and analyzing Android boot images.
9. Privilege Escalation Techniques: Apply knowledge to escalate privileges on Android platforms, based on real-world public exploits and case studies.
10. Reverse Engineering Android Binaries: Dissect both app and system binaries using tools like Ghidra, Frida, Hopper, and more to uncover hidden logic and vulnerabilities.

As an aspiring candidate, you’re invited to undertake the Certified Android Security Researcher (CASR) challenge. While the exam is open to all, those best equipped for success bring a solid grasp of Android internals, including the system architecture and AOSP, ARM64 reverse engineering, Binder IPC, Android kernel customization, and hands-on experience with vulnerability research across both apps and platform components.

The CASR Exam sets the industry standard by offering a unique evaluation of your practical capabilities in real-world scenarios. This hands-on assessment is a reflection of your ability to navigate Android security challenges effectively. You’ll be presented with authentic scenarios involving 5 levels of varying difficulty ranging from simple reverse engineering, to pivoting and exploiting Android applications, libraries and platform components with the goal of getting the FLAG! Brush up on your analytical skills to analyze and perform penetration testing.

Your ultimate deliverable will be a detailed report that includes a fully functional proof of concept scripts. It will be reviewed by a skilled team of industry experts, reinforcing your mastery in the Android security landscape. 

Upon successfully passing the certification exam, candidates will be awarded the 8kSec Certified Android Security Researcher certification, showcasing their proficiency in Android security and reverse engineering.