PIE Security check is breaking apps on Android L, here’s a fix

It’s pretty much known now that Android L developer preview builds have app compatibility issues. This is in relation to the changes in SELinux which affects even ordinary apps that doesn’t require root access. Thanks to XDA member, cernekee, for pointing out a particularly new PIE security check implementation which is responsible for the incompatibility issues some apps are having with Android L developer preview.

PIE (position-independent executables) is an additional security check that makes it significantly more difficult for attackers to exploit bugs in apps. And it’s enabled in the Android L developer preview. However, Google recently disabled it as it was breaking some of Android’s own precompiled binaries. But the Android L developer preview images were built prior to Google’s latest changes so they still have PIE check enabled.

The PIE check in Android L is breaking apps that doesn’t have PIE enabled, and since PIE is supported for Android versions above 4.1 only, most developers did away with PIE in their apps in order to have compatibility for more Android versions.

Cernekee has provided a recovery flashable “bypass-pie.zip” file that bypasses the PIE check on Android L preview builds. Visit his original post on XDA for more info on the matter and download links.

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Shivam

Shivam is our resident designer and web developer who also enjoys writing. He loves to meditate, drive on the freeways and hunt for snipers during his Call Of Duty playtime. Email: shivam@theandroidsoul.com