How to Detect Android Device Admin Malware in Android Apps Using AI

Last updated July 2, 2025 by Appdome

This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI/ML in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Detect Android Device Admin Malware in Android apps.

What is Android Device Admin Malware?

Android Device Admin Malware refers to malicious apps that gain elevated control over the device by misusing Android’s Device Admin or Mobile Device Management (MDM) frameworks. These apps are separate from your protected application and typically request admin privileges during installation or at any other time. Once granted, they can silently enforce policies, lock the screen, wipe data, or block user actions outside the control of normal app sandboxing or runtime monitoring. Attackers often disguise these apps as legitimate utilities or productivity tools, making them difficult to detect. Since Android does not expose fine-grained visibility into device admin status at the app level, developers lack native methods to identify these threats. The risk is highest in environments where users side-load apps or manually approve MDMs. Blocking unauthorized admin-enabled apps is essential to prevent privilege escalation, fraud, and unauthorized control of the device, and helps meet requirements in frameworks like NIST SP 800-124 and PCI DSS.

How Appdome Protects Android Apps Against Android Device Admin Malware

Appdome’s dynamic Android Device Admin Malware plugin for Android detects unauthorized admin-enabled apps active on the device. It filters out trusted system MDMs and uses either a hardcoded or developer-defined whitelist to recognize approved admin apps. If a non-whitelisted app holds admin privileges, the plugin triggers a Threat-Event™ with contextual data, including the package name and admin status. Mobile developers can use this intelligence to block access, exit the app, or notify the user with fully customizable enforcement and user experience flows.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Android Device Admin Malware Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Detect Android Device Admin Malware , you’ll need:

How to Implement Detect Android Device Admin Malware in Android Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Detect Android Device Admin Malware without an SDK or gateway:

  1. Designate the Mobile App to be protected.

    1. Upload an app via the Appdome Mobile Defense platform GUI or via Appdome’s DEV-API or CI/CD Plugins.

    2. Android Formats: .apk or .aab
    3. Android Device Admin Malware is compatible with: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps.
  2. Select the defense: Android Device Admin Malware.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Android Device Admin Malware feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Android Device Admin Malware

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Android Device Admin Malware feature

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Android Device Admin Malware feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you select the Android Device Admin Malware you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Android Device Admin Malware.

        Fusion Set applied Android Device Admin Malware

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Android Device Admin Malware protection
        Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      4. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set. Copy the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below): fusion Set Detail Summary image

        Figure 3: Fusion Set Detail Summary

      5. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Circle CI or other system:
        1. Refer to the Appdome API Reference Guide for API building instructions.
        2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository.
    1. Add the Android Device Admin Malware feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Anti ATO tab > Mobile Account Protection section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On > Android Device Admin Malware.

        (a) Choose to monitor this attack vector by checking the Threat Events checkbox associated with Android Device Admin Malware as shown below.

        (b) To receive mobile Threat Monitoring, check the ThreatScope™ box as shown below. For more details, see our knowledge base article on ThreatScope™ Mobile XTM.
        Android Device Admin Malware option

        Figure 4: Selecting Detect Android Device Admin Malware

        Note: The Appdome Platform displays the Mobile Operation Systems supported by each defense in real-time. For more details, see our OS Support Policy KB.

      3. Select the Threat-Event™ in-app mobile Threat Defense and Intelligence policy for Android Device Admin Malware:
        1. Threat-Events™ OFF > In-App Defense

          If the Threat-Events™ setting is not selected. Appdome will detect and defend user and app by enforcing Android Device Admin Malware.

        2. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Detection

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects Android Device Admin Malware and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing, enforcement, and user notification. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Detect Android Device Admin Malware Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

        3. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Defense

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against Android Device Admin Malware (same as Appdome Enforce) and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Detect Android Device Admin Malware Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

      4. Configure the User Experience Options for Android Device Admin Malware:
        With Threat-Events™ OFF, Appdome provides several user experience options for mobile brands and developers.
        1. App Compromise Notification: Customize the pop-up or toast Appdome uses to notify the user when a threat is present while using the protected mobile app.
        2. Short message Option. This is available for mobile devices that allow a banner notification for security events.
        3. Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.

          Localized Message

          Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s Android Device Admin Malware

        4. Android Device Admin Malware Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Android Device Admin Malware is triggered by an active threat on the mobile device. Use the code in Appdome Threat Resolution Center™ to help end users identify, find and resolve active threats on the personal mobile devices.
    2. Initiate the build command either by clicking Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 4) or via your CI/CD as described in Section 2.1.4.
    Congratulations!  The Android Device Admin Malware protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Android Device Admin Malware feature in Android Apps

    After building Android Device Admin Malware, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Android Device Admin Malware protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Android Device Admin Malware protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Android Device Admin Malware shown in Certificate secure

    Figure 6: Certified Secure™ certificate

    Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Android Device Admin Malware has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Android Device Admin Malware and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for Android Device Admin Malware Intelligence and Control in Android Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when Android Device Admin Malware is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for Android Device Admin Malware in Android Apps, use registerReceiver in the Application OnCreate, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for Android Device Admin Malware shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Android Device Admin Malware are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Detect Android Device Admin Malware Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Android Device Admin Malware
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check
Visible in ThreatScope™
Developer Parameters for Detecting Android Device Admin Malware Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME RogueMDMChangeDetected
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF 6999
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
message Message displayed for the user on event
externalID The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion OS version of the current device
deviceModel Current device model
deviceManufacturer The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmn PLMN of the device. Only available for Android devices.
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occurred event
deviceBrand Brand of the device
deviceBoard Board of the device
buildUser Build user
buildHost Build host
sdkVersion Sdk version
threatCode The last six characters of the threat code specify the OS, allowing the Threat Resolution Center to address the attack on the affected device.

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Android developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Android applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when Android Device Admin Malware is detected.


The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Android Device Admin Malware:


Important! Replace all placeholder instances of <Context Key> with the specific name of your threat event context key across all language examples. This is crucial to ensure your code functions correctly with the intended event data. For example, The <Context Key> could be the message, externalID, OS Version, reason code, etc.



Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Android Apps by using Android Device Admin Malware. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Android Device Admin Malware

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

How Do I Learn More?

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

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