Vdetekt: Synchronous Vulnerability Detection Plugin for Android Studio, a Step Towards a Secure Development Environment

Abstract

As mobile app development becomes increasingly reliant on open source and third-party libraries, the risk of introducing security vulnerabilities during development becomes a major concern, most especially in the Android Studio environment. While automated tools can help reduce these vulnerabilities, they often lack real-time detection capabilities, are not user-friendly, and fail to integrate into the developer’s workflows seamlessly. This paper presents a synchronous vulnerability detection system for Android Studio that enables real-time code analysis and security checks within the development environment. The plugin was implemented using Kotlin, IntelliJ Plugin Devkit, and Android Studio. The empirical evaluation shows a 100% success rate in detecting SQL injection, a 90% success rate for identifying hardcoded secrets, and a 72% detection rate for insecure data storage. This study contributes a practical and lightweight plugin that significantly enhances the overall security for Kotlin-based Android app development, reinforcing the need for early-stage vulnerability detection in the mobile application development lifecycle.