Reset and view DRM information on Android. DRM protection: what is it, how to remove it
DRM is an intellectual property protection tool that allows the copyright holder to control access, preventing unauthorized copying and distribution of software. The technology is used on various products, including mobile operating systems, so users periodically have the question of what it is to reset a DRM license on Android.
What is DRM
DRM is an abbreviation for Digital Rights Management, which can be translated as “digital rights management.” Control is implemented by placing various technical means in the product that prevent illegal disposal of the software. The owner can use the protected product only for personal purposes; he will not be able to copy it and sell it. In essence, DRM is a kind of digital lock, the key to which must be purchased from the copyright holder.
The DRM key for gaining access is presented in the form of a code, the creation of which uses cryptographic algorithms. It is very difficult to hack, and you can only get it after purchasing a digital product with a license. On Android, the technology is often implemented as follows:
- A person buys a new device, in which the manufacturer preinstalls certain software.
- After turning on and activating the device, the software starts working for free in demo mode. After the trial period expires, the application ceases to function, requiring the purchase of a license.
Purchasing access to a full version of the software is an element of DRM. This is just one of the possible options; there are other examples of copyright protection.
The procedure for resetting DRM differs depending on what the license covers. For example, using hacker software, you can reset the program launch counter, unlink files from the site, disable key verification, and perform other actions to unlink the license. As for Android, a reset can be done without hacker software.
You must use this feature with extreme caution, because after resetting your license, you may lose access to certain product features. DRM keys are needed to run special applications from the phone manufacturer. You can find such programs on Sony, Samsung, etc. devices. After resetting the key, branded applications may stop working, but otherwise the functionality of the phone will remain at the same level.
It has nothing to do with giving up a license. If, when rolling back settings, all applications installed by the user, as well as personal data, are deleted from the phone, then deleting the license only leads to the disabling of the software built in by the manufacturer.
If you want to find out what requirements different applications have, what programs will be affected by deleting licenses, and whether the device supports technologies that are necessary for the normal functioning of services, then install DRM Info on your mobile device. The application displays information about DRM components, at the same time indicating whether they are supported on devices. 
Why is this information needed? To understand whether it is worth buying premium accounts or applications with licenses. For example, to play Full HD and 4K videos on Netflix, you need 1 level of Google Widevine. Most devices come with the third level, therefore, there is no point in spending money on a premium account, because there will be no improvement in quality - the device does not support the necessary technologies.
Some phone users encounter incomprehensible menu settings on their devices. One of these is Android DRM License Reset. What this process is and whether it is necessary is described in this article.
What is DRM
Digital Rights Management (in the Russian version - “Technical means of copyright protection”) is a technology that allows authors to protect their digital products from piracy. In the case of Android, these are applications.
The protection process is carried out through the programmer introducing certain technical means into the software that prevent illegal use. As a result, a person uses the software only for personal needs and cannot copy or transfer it to other people.
DRM license is the key that opens the digital lock of the application. It is designed using complex cryptographic algorithms to prevent quick hacking.
Important! Hacking or circumventing DRM protection is against the law and will result in civil and administrative penalties in most countries.
The principle of operation of the technology:
- A person purchases a smartphone or tablet on which (in addition to the OS) special software from the developer is installed.
- After turning on and activating the device, the preinstalled programs work in demo mode for a limited period (week, month). After its expiration, the software stops functioning and offers to purchase the full version and a DRM license for it.
Resetting licenses
The main purpose of the reset function is to stop using the purchased software.
Important! A hard reset of the system does not affect purchased licenses, and deleting the latter does not affect the performance of the OS, but will prohibit the use of programs protected by DRM technology.
After this, reboot your device if pre-installed applications were affected.
Note! At the moment, DRM is losing its relevance due to imperfect protection. Android 6 and above do not have a reset feature.
conclusions
A DRM license is the right to use the full version of the software, which is purchased from its copyright holder. The license reset function allows you to abandon such software without affecting the performance of Android.
DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, which translates as “digital rights management.” Thus, the answer to the question: “DRM protection - what is it” will be: “It is a class of technologies that are used by publishers to control content.” This can be expressed in this way: an audiobook that was purchased digitally on the site will be played normally on the computer with which the purchase was made. But if you copy it to another computer, it will become an unnecessary file that cannot be opened by any player.
Real examples of DRM technologies can be much more complex.
DRM was designed from the beginning to prevent digital products from being copied. But the next generation of technology provided the tools to limit viewing, printing, and editing.
In an attempt to protect the interests of copyright holders, DRM protection has become the cause of a considerable number of complaints from users purchasing digital products. The inability to use purchased music through various devices had a negative impact on customer demand. As a result, publishers realized that it was possible to sell music digitally without imposing DRM protection. It will be even more successful. In other words, DRM protection even had a negative impact on sales of various digital products.
DRM protection - what is it?
Over time, these technologies were able to gain support in legislation.
For example, a large number of countries have legal provisions that prohibit bypassing copy protection. In these states, debates about whether DRM protection is needed, how to remove it, etc., are essentially illegal.
But DRM also poses another complication because such technologies can interfere with users' ability to exercise their legal rights. That is why, in order to understand what DRM protection is, you need to realize that with it it is not possible to create backup copies of a purchased work.
Without delving into legislative practices on the application of various laws in everyday life, it is possible to propose a scheme for how to remove DRM protection, which will be completely legal in most countries. The only exception would be Australia. It is possible to create several copies for your own needs or for reserve, but not for sale or distribution. Please note that the process of creating copies of more than 10 pieces may be considered commercial use. Therefore, you should avoid copying more than normal. There are no clear restrictions on making copies. For this reason, it is technically possible to lose DRM somewhere in the process of obtaining mp3 copies that are not protected. But using a program that is designed to disable copy protection may be a violation of the law. Thus, when talking about how to bypass DRM protection, you should remember that you can only do this for your own personal purposes.
But it’s good that this technology can be removed using programs for general use that are not covered by DRM protection. How to remove it? The best example in this case is the mp3Recorder Studio application.
To do this, you need to enable playback of the purchased audio file with protection when using the required program (WMP, iTunes or another). Next, you need to capture the audio using mp3Recorder Studio and then save the audio directly to mp3. This process will use the built-in function of sound cards, which allows you to capture sound already in the middle of the device. Most sound cards provide a recording device called “Stereo Mix”.
However, different names are used. This device makes it possible to capture everything that is reproduced by the sound card. To do this, you may need to install the latest driver from the card manufacturer's official website. Typically, the drivers that Windows automatically installs most often disable and hide such a device.
“Digital copyright management” (or, more simply, copy protection systems) is supposed to protect copyright. But in reality, not only does it not fulfill its main function, but it also makes PCs accessible to hackers. How and for what reason does this happen?
Why do you need to remove DRM protection?
The XCP rootkit penetrated deep into the OS, and at the same time it installed completely independently. The ability to uninstall using normal methods was not possible. Also, during operation, it took up a large part of the memory and could cause crashes. But the most important thing is that absolutely nothing was written about this rootkit and its functioning in the user agreement (EULA). This is all despite the fact that almost no one reads such agreements.
But the most important thing is that the XCP rootkit posed a real threat to the entire system. For example, after its installation, all files that begin with $sys$ acquired the “hidden” mode. This was immediately used by virus creators. For example, the Breplibot Trojan, which was sent as attachments to E-mails, was detected only by antivirus programs and programs. Such unsafe files were absolutely invisible to users.
How to disable protection
DRM protection on WMV and WMA files is done in stages.
These days, most downloaded audio and video files that are protected (WMP, iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, Bearshare, Spiral Frog) are DRM files.
The process of writing a file is not complicated. There is a free method to remove DRM protection from WMV and WMA files. This is done in two steps.
1. You need to burn the DRM WMA file to a CD or DRM WMV to a DVD.
2. You need to extract WMV and WMA with protection to the PC itself, after which DRM protection will be disabled.
Rewrite method
This method is the most popular and accessible. It consists of burning DRM WMA and DRM WMV files with a regular converter that converts recorded and unprotected files. Precisely because such technology is easy to use, formats that differ from DRM WMA and DRM WMV will also be supported by converters such as SoundTaxi, NoteBurner and others. But this also has its downsides.
New technology
Hook Hook is an advanced technology that can be used to disable EPUB DRM protection. When comparing these programs with dubbing programs, it is this type that has noticeably fast conversion. However, it will not be easy to make it work with some of the DRM formats that have new high-quality encryption techniques.
After testing, the result was that DRM WMA and DRM WMV protection is simply removed using Digital Music Converter. This program can extract audio content from DRM WMV files. This program also supports other unprotected formats, such as: mp3, M4b, M4A, WAV, AC3, AAC.
Conversion steps:
1. First you need to add DRM WMA, DRM WMV or other files that are not protected.
2. You need to select the desired outgoing format.
What is DRM? Why do you need to remove DRM from WMA WMV files?
Speaking about the meaning of the term “DRM protection” (what it is - we generally discussed above), you need to know: these are programs that protect against copying and make it difficult to perform actions related to video and audio files. For example, if WMA or WMV files downloaded from WMP are protected with DRM, then it is possible to play them only using compatible devices. If every song had DRM, then the user would have to purchase this track on disk in order to listen to it using a player or car radio. For example, if tunes were purchased on iTunes and they are listened to on the iPOd, then due to the fact that they have already been purchased, the user will not need to perform this action again and again. You just need to remove DRM from the file, and you will be able to play it on iPod, Zune, PSP, CD player, PC and other devices.
Cautions
This method is not entirely suitable, sometimes it can even cause damage to the CD-Roma. WMP only has the ability to record DRM WMA and DRM WMV files. For other formats you will need DVD-Ripper.
Due to the long recording process, the conversion speed will not be better. During the recording process, much of the video or audio quality may be lost.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a technology that enables online video and audio services to enforce that the content they provide is used in accordance with their requirements. This technology may restrict some of the things you can do in the browser. While some DRM-controlled content can be viewed using the Adobe Flash plugin, many services are moving towards HTML5 video that requires a different DRM mechanism called a Content Decryption Module (CDM).
Table of Contents
Playing DRM-controlled content in Firefox
Firefox for desktop supports the Google Widevine CDM for playing DRM-controlled content. Firefox downloads and enables the Google Widevine CDM by default to give users a smooth experience on sites that require DRM.Firefox downloads and enables the Google Widevine CDM on demand, with user permission, to give users a smooth experience on sites that require DRM. The CDM runs in a separate container called a sandbox and you will be notified when a CDM is in use. You can also disable a CDM and opt out of future updates by following the steps below. Once you disable a CDM, however, sites using this type of DRM may not operate properly.
Disable the Google Widevine CDM without uninstalling
Disabling Google Widevine from the Add-ons Manager prevents it from running on your computer and prevents future updates from downloading. To disable this CDM plugin:
You may encounter sites where content playback is not possible without Google Widevine enabled. You may always turn Google Widevine on again by selecting Always Activate on the menu next to Widevine Content Decryption Module provided by Google Inc.
Opt out of CDM playback, uninstall CDMs and stop all CDM downloads
You have the choice to globally opt out of HTML5 DRM playback. Once you opt out, Firefox will delete any downloaded CDMs from your hard drive, cease all future CDM downloads and disable DRM playback. This affects only DRM-controlled HTML5 audio and video. To opt out of HTML5 DRM playback completely, follow these steps:
Note: You will still be able to view DRM-controlled content that requires the Adobe Flash plugin, if installed and enabled in Firefox. The Play DRM-controlled content setting only controls HTML5 DRM playback, not plugins.
You may encounter sites where content playback is not possible without DRM enabled. You can always turn DRM playback on again by opening the Firefox Options Preferences General panel and, under Digital Rights Management (DRM) Content, putting a check mark next to Play DRM-controlled content. After checking the checkbox, HTML5 DRM playback will be re-enabled and the Google Widevine CDM will download automatically.
Supported platforms
Google Widevine
- Windows Vista and higher
- Mac OS X 10.9 and higher
- x86 and x64 Linux
Similar opt-out capabilities will be offered on all new platforms where Firefox supports DRM.
After I read the post about how, I immediately remembered a similar incident. Somehow, when I opened a regular mp3 file, instead of the playback starting, to my surprise, an unknown web page opened. The most interesting thing is that the page was opened in Internet Explorer (despite the fact that another browser was installed by default), but on that page, the author of the file could have added some special exploit for IE.At that moment, I didn’t think about the page with the exploit, and instead of carefully analyzing the file and figuring out what the problem was, I simply deleted it. The only thing I thought about when I saw the unusual behavior of the system was that someone was promoting their site in a rather original way. Several years have passed, but since then I have not encountered such cases. After reading the article about the video virus, I decided that at least this time I would not miss the opportunity to find out how safe some of the most harmless and common files in the whole world are.
Video File
And since the respected TipTop left a comment indicating a link to the file, I didn’t waste time and quickly downloaded the torrent file. But I was not alone - at the same time as me, the same video file was downloaded by about 15 other people who, I thought, also want to analyze it. But now I realized that most likely most of them had other intentions and they did not know that there would be no movie today.After the download was completed, knowing that other players could not play this file, I immediately opened it in Windows Media Player, and the first thing I saw was the message: “Download media usage rights”:
After this, a more convincing message appeared offering to download the License-Installer file which, by the way, had already been scanned by an antivirus and turned out to be 100% clean:
After carefully viewing the message, clicked on the “Download Now” button and, while waiting for some reaction from the antivirus, I saw a familiar window offering to download a file from the server license.compress.to:
And then the first question arose, if the server is indicated in the first window free-license.imgpop.com, then why does this wonderful file suggest downloading a license from the server? license.compress.to? To find out what the problem was, I visited both sites, hoping to find something tasty there, but, as expected, I found nothing there.
DRM protection
After that, the first thing that came to mind was “run a sniffer,” but I refrained (and did the right thing) - deciding to open the file in a Hex editor. I opened a file in a Hex editor that weighed 150 MB and, fortunately, everything was very simple, because already on the 20th line I found this piece of text:It became much more interesting. Opened the page http://free-license.imgpop.com/venuf.php?id=Movie_0001.wmv which redirected (HTTP/1.1 302) to the page: http://free-license.imgpop.com/venuf/index.htm, and there I saw a familiar picture, only a little bigger, and even in the browser:
So far everything was going well and wanting to experiment a little, I decided to change the link from the video file to my own. But, seeing that after changing the line, even WMP could not open the file and not knowing what to do, he asked Google if he could tell what this line was, WRMHEADER version="2.0.0.0", which (among many others) I found using the Hex editor?
The answer was short and clear as daylight - I am dealing with DRM protection of video files. That is, I discovered that using legal and quite convincing methods, attackers can successfully and confidently distribute malicious files, since: firstly, not a single antivirus will detect that a video file is infected, and secondly, most users trust Microsoft will definitely launch such files.
Moreover, WMP is not the only player that can open DRM protected files. I didn’t find a complete list of players, but I can say with confidence that Nero ShowTime supports DRM, only unlike WMP it reacts more carefully... only if you confirm the download of the license, the web page opens in IE (despite the fact that it is not a browser default).
Now comes the fun part: if you change the file extension from .wmv V .asf or in .wma, nothing will change, that is, players will still play the media file and, what’s most dangerous, in most cases, .wma files will be opened in Windows Media Player. By the way, I forgot to say that after I opened the video file in the Hex editor, for convenience, I deleted unnecessary bytes and as a result the file size became 5.31KB.
Internet Explorer
Probably many people think that “There is no danger in this! I will not download any licenses! And anyway, what do Internet Explorer, WMP and video files have to do with it?” At first I thought so too, because there is a “Cancel” button, but as it turned out, the danger is not small, and “Cancel” will not save anyone if the file was opened in WMP. And Internet Explorer is a browser, software for viewing websites...I found information that you can hack DRM protection, but I didn’t do it. Firstly, I didn’t know whether it would be possible to change the link, and secondly, I chose the easier way. In file hosts added the line:
127.0.0.1 free-license.imgpop.com
Created a file in the root of the local server venuf.php and using WMP opened the video clip - after a few seconds the following message appeared:
Further, with the help alert(), decided to try to see if it supports JavaScript - as a result I got a blank page. I thought that it really didn’t work, but using my intuition, I quickly changed the function alert() on document.write(). The result made me smile: this time the page was not empty, which means Windows Media Player supports JavaScript.
Now, the thought that the media player can open web pages, and even supports JavaScript, haunted me. Wanting to find out what this extraordinary player is, I added it to the file venuf.php line:
echo $_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"];
and even though I have MSIE 8.0 installed, I received the following message:
Finally, I decided to test one exploit for MSIE, written in JavaScript, which causes a denial of service in the browser. I added the exploit to the page, opened the video file and before I could blink, Windows declared that “Windows Media Player has stopped working”:
As you understand, when trying to play a video file, WMP was forcibly disabled, which means that it is vulnerable to an exploit designed for MSIE. I only tested one exploit, but it was enough to change my understanding of media file security.
Instead of a postscript
Having written the last lines of this article, one idea suddenly came to me: download, install and test one of the most popular multimedia players - Winamp. That's what I did... And when I tried to play the file, the following message appeared:
I was almost sure that everything would be the same as with Nero ShowTime, but curiosity made me click on the “Yes” button... Instead of launching IE, I saw the following:
I didn’t immediately understand what the problem was, thinking that anything could happen, but after a few seconds, I remembered what was in the file venuf.php The exploit code for MSIE remains. Next, using the variable $HTTP_USER_AGENT I found out that, just like WMP, Winamp uses MSIE 7 Internet Explorer for its purposes:
True, unlike Windows Media Player, Winamp does not warn where the license file will be downloaded from, but allows you to right-click and view the source code of the page... and alerts are also triggered for it:
Conclusion
At first glance, not everything is as scary as it seems, but I want to draw your attention to the fact that by opening such a file, the user will not be able to stop the exploit from running, and the anti-virus program is not able to help, since if this is a new exploit, then Most likely, it has not yet been added to the antivirus database.Just don’t forget that not all users have other audio and video players installed. Also, I don’t believe that a user who waited 2 hours (at best) to download a long-awaited file, seeing that it won’t play, will simply delete it, and no amount of “don’t open files in this player!” will help. .
UPD:
