vpnhide/zygisk/README.md

vpnhide -- Zygisk module

Native-layer VPN interface hiding via inline libc hooks. Part of vpnhide.

What it hooks

All hooks are inline on libc.so via ByteDance shadowhook:

Hook	Detection path	What it does
ioctl	SIOCGIFFLAGS	Returns ENODEV for VPN interfaces (pre-screens input name).
ioctl	SIOCGIFNAME	Calls through; rewrites result to ENODEV if returned name is VPN.
ioctl	SIOCGIFCONF	Calls through; compacts VPN entries out of the returned ifreq array.
getifaddrs	NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces(), Dart VM, direct C/C++	Unlinks VPN entries from the returned linked list.
openat	/proc/net/{route,ipv6_route,if_inet6,tcp,tcp6}	Returns a memfd with VPN entries stripped out.
recvmsg	Netlink RTM_NEWADDR / RTM_NEWLINK dump responses	Removes VPN interface entries from netlink messages.

Architecture

Why inline hooks instead of PLT

PLT hooks patch the caller library's procedure linkage table. At post_app_specialize time, libflutter.so / libapp.so / late-loaded JNI libraries are not yet mapped -- only ~350 Android system libraries are present, and none of them have PLT relocations for ioctl (the call sites are inside libc itself). Inline-hooking libc's entry points rewrites the function prologue in-place, so every caller in the process -- regardless of when it was loaded -- lands on our trampoline.

Flow

1. pre_app_specialize -- runs in the already-forked child, before the kernel drops it to the app's UID and SELinux context (still has zygote privileges at this point). Reads args.nice_name, checks against /data/adb/vpnhide_zygisk/targets.txt. Non-targeted apps get DlCloseModuleLibrary (zero cost after unload). See src/lib.rs's top-level doc block for the full Zygisk lifecycle and why every Rust static is fresh per app launch.
2. post_app_specialize -- on targeted processes only: shadowhook_init, install five inline hooks (ioctl, getifaddrs, openat, recvmsg, recv), then scrub maps. recv is hooked separately because bionic's recv() is b recvfrom (tail-call) — patching recvfrom's prologue would break recv.

Thread-local guard

The ioctl hook uses a thread-local IN_GETIFADDRS flag to pass through without filtering while libc's internal getifaddrs implementation is running. Without this, our SIOCGIFFLAGS filter returns ENODEV for VPN interfaces during libc's own ifaddrs list construction, which corrupts the list and breaks downstream consumers (including NFC/HCE payment flows).

Maps scrubbing

After hook installation, scrub_shadowhook_maps() renames [anon:shadowhook-island] and [anon:shadowhook-enter] regions via prctl(PR_SET_VMA, PR_SET_VMA_ANON_NAME, ..., ""). This makes them show as plain [anon:] in /proc/self/maps, indistinguishable from hundreds of other anonymous mappings -- even to anti-tamper SDKs that read maps via raw svc #0 syscalls.

shadowhook fork

We carry a small fork at okhsunrog/android-inline-hook (branch vpnhide-zygisk), vendored as a git submodule under third_party/android-inline-hook/, with two changes on top of upstream:

1. SHADOWHOOK_STATIC=ON -- builds libshadowhook.a instead of a shared library so it can be embedded directly into this Rust cdylib.
2. sh_linker_init() stub -- on Android 16 (API 36) the hardcoded symbol table in upstream's linker hook no longer matches the newer linker layout, causing SHADOWHOOK_ERRNO_INIT_LINKER. We don't need the deferred-hook feature (libc.so is always preloaded), so the stub skips this path entirely.

Compatibility

The module declares Zygisk API v5 but only calls v1-era functions (pre_app_specialize, post_app_specialize, args.nice_name, set_option(DlCloseModuleLibrary)). The inline hooks happen via shadowhook inside the process, not through the Zygisk API.

Setup	Works
Stock Magisk (API v5) + LSPosed	Yes
Magisk + ZygiskNext + LSPosed	Yes
Magisk + NeoZygisk + LSPosed	Yes
KernelSU + ZygiskNext + LSPosed	Yes
KernelSU-Next + NeoZygisk + LSPosed/Vector	Yes (tested baseline)
APatch + any Zygisk implementation + LSPosed	Yes (untested in CI)

Hard requirements:

• arm64 / aarch64-linux-android only -- build.rs hard-fails on other targets.
• A Zygisk implementation that exposes API >= v1.
• LSPosed/Vector for the Java-side companion.

Build

Requirements:

• Rust >= 1.85 (edition 2024)
• rustup target add aarch64-linux-android
• cargo install cargo-ndk
• Android NDK (auto-detected under ~/Android/Sdk/ndk/; any recent NDK that ships libclang_rt.builtins-aarch64-android.a works)
• CMake >= 3.22, Ninja
• git submodule update --init --recursive

Build and package:

./build.py
# Output: target/vpnhide-zygisk.zip (~180 KB)

build.rs invokes the NDK's CMake toolchain on the shadowhook submodule, pulls in libclang_rt.builtins-aarch64-android.a for __clear_cache, and statically links everything into libvpnhide_zygisk.so.

Log level

Logging goes through the log crate + android_logger. The compile-time ceiling is controlled by a Cargo feature; calls below the ceiling are statically elided.

Feature	Default	Effect
log-off		No logs at all
log-error		Errors only
log-warn		Errors, warnings
log-info	Yes	Errors, warnings, info
log-debug		+ debug (e.g. on_load traces)
log-trace		+ trace

Override the default:

cargo ndk -t arm64-v8a build --release \
  --no-default-features --features log-debug

Install

1. adb push target/vpnhide-zygisk.zip /sdcard/Download/
2. KernelSU/Magisk manager -> Modules -> Install from storage -> pick the zip.
3. Reboot.
4. Pick target apps:
   • VPN Hide app (recommended): open the VPN Hide app (the lsposed APK). Lists all installed apps with icons, search, and checkboxes. Works on both KernelSU and Magisk.
   • Shell: edit /data/adb/vpnhide_zygisk/targets.txt directly (one package name per line, # for comments). A base package name com.example.app also matches subprocesses like com.example.app:background.
5. Force-stop target apps: adb shell am force-stop <pkg>
6. Verify: adb logcat | grep vpnhide-zygisk

Filter logic

VPN interface prefixes: tun, ppp, tap, wg, ipsec, xfrm, utun, l2tp, gre, plus anything containing the substring vpn. Matches the list in the LSPosed companion.

Known limitations

• Direct svc #0 syscalls bypass the hook. Apps issuing raw syscalls skip libc entirely. Use vpnhide-kmod for these apps.
• arm64 only. No 32-bit arm, no x86.
• getifaddrs hook leaks a few bytes per call. Unlinked VPN entries in the ifaddrs linked list are intentionally leaked rather than tracked with a shadow allocator. Acceptable tradeoff -- getifaddrs is called infrequently.
• Tested on Android 16 (API 36). Should work back to API 24 in principle, but nothing older has been exercised.

Files

• src/lib.rs -- module entry point, target gating, hook installer, maps scrubbing
• src/hooks.rs -- hook replacements for ioctl, getifaddrs, openat, recvmsg, recv
• src/filter.rs -- VPN interface name matching and proc/net content filters (unit tested)
• src/shadowhook.rs -- minimal FFI to shadowhook
• build.rs -- drives CMake on the shadowhook submodule
• third_party/android-inline-hook/ -- submodule (our shadowhook fork)
• module/ -- KernelSU/Magisk module metadata
• build.py -- cross-compile + package script

License

MIT. See LICENSE.