Modifying other app's database with root in Android

Asked Jun 22 '17 at 11:11

Active Jun 22 '17 at 12:10

Viewed 156 times

How can I read and modify the database of an app that I don't own with root.

I tried copying the file to my app's location like this:

try {
    Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su");
    Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su -c cat /data/user/0/com.maxmpz.audioplayer/databases/folders.db > /data/user/0/com.example.me.myapp/folders.db");
} catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

and:

try {
    Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su");
    Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su cp /data/user/0/com.maxmpz.audioplayer/databases/folders.db /data/user/0/com.example.me.myapp/folders.db");
} catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

But nothing happens (the exception isn't raised).

edited Jun 22 '17 at 12:10

Ajeet Choudhary

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asked Jun 22 '17 at 11:11

Vasil Kalchev

I think you stick to use `cp`... That's a useless use of cat (UUoC), but if there's no exception, what's the problem? – OneCricketeer Jun 22 '17 at 12:12
The file doesn't appear in the directory, nothing happens. – Vasil Kalchev Jun 22 '17 at 12:24
Did you try manually running in the terminal? – OneCricketeer Jun 22 '17 at 12:26
I got: `Unknown id: cp` – Vasil Kalchev Jun 22 '17 at 12:35
1

That's because `cp` is not a User account you can `su` to... Did you forget `-c`? You'll be also need to quote the whole command. The `cat` option probably doesn't work because output redirecting doesn't work in Runtime.exec, if I recall – OneCricketeer Jun 22 '17 at 12:44
If you want to try the cat option, see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16238714/runtimes-exec-method-is-not-redirecting-the-output – OneCricketeer Jun 22 '17 at 12:48
Quateing the command did it, thank you. – Vasil Kalchev Jun 22 '17 at 14:37
1

But it still doesn't work from code: `Runtime.getRuntime().exec("su -c \"cp /data/user/0/com.maxmpz.audioplayer/databases/folders.db /data/user/0/com.example.me.firstapp/paDB.db\"");` – Vasil Kalchev Jun 22 '17 at 14:46
What if you wrote a shell script, placed it on the file system, then `Runtime.getRuntime().exec("sh /path/to/script.sh")`? – OneCricketeer Jun 22 '17 at 15:43
Seems like it won't be easily distributable that way. – Vasil Kalchev Jun 22 '17 at 15:45
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/147390/discussion-between-vasil-kalchev-and-cricket-007). – Vasil Kalchev Jun 22 '17 at 15:48

Modifying other app's database with root in Android

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