Modmobmap

Modmobmap is a tool aimed to retrieve information on cellular networks. As shown in the first presentation made at BeeRump 2018, this tool is able to retrieve information of 2G, 3G, 4G, and more cellular network types with minimum requirement: only phone with ServiceMode.

For the moment, the tool has only been tested and developed for the following devices:

Samsung Galaxy S3 via xgoldmon (Modmobmap's edition);
Samsung Galaxy S4;
Samsung Galaxy S5;
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 with LTE;

Moreover, as it's compatible for XGold via Modmobmap's forked of xgoldmon, this tool should also be able to work with devices supported by xgoldmon as well:

Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9500 (this is the version without LTE!)
Samsung Galaxy Nexus GT-I9250 (has to be rooted!)
Samsung Galaxy S2 GT-I9100
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 GT-N7100

Note that all devices should be rooted. In any other case, you will have to use the DFR technique by hand!

Also: Patches, or engines, for other devices are very much welcomed! ;)

But this is not finished yet, Modmobmap include a GRGSM scanner to scan GSM cells with SDR. Compatible SDR devices are the same as those compatible with gr-osmosdr as follows:

FunCube Dongle through libgnuradio-fcd
FUNcube Dongle Pro+ through gr-fcdproplus
sysmocom OsmoSDR Devices through libosmosdr
Nuand LLC bladeRF through libbladeRF library
Great Scott Gadgets HackRF through libhackrf
Ettus USRP Devices through Ettus UHD library
Fairwaves UmTRX through Fairwaves' fork of Ettus' UHD library
RFSPACE SDR-IQ, SDR-IP, NetSDR (incl. X2 option)
RTL2832U based DVB-T dongles through librtlsdr
RTL-TCP spectrum server (see librtlsdr project)
MSi2500 based DVB-T dongles through libmirisdr
SDRplay RSP through SDRplay API library
AirSpy R820t dongles through libairspy

Requirements

Here are the following requirements:

Python 2 or 3;
Last Android SDK to run ADB: https://developer.android.com/studio/#downloads;
A compatible mobile phone;
A valid/invalid SIM card (just in case to provide an IMSI number).

How to use

The tool is provided with quick help that shows you the required argument as follows:

python modmobmap.py -h
usage: modmobmap.py [-h] [-m MODULE] [-n NETWORKS] [-o] [-s ANDROIDSDK]
                    [-a ATMODE] [-f FILE]

Mobile network mapping tool with cheap equipments

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -m MODULE, --module MODULE
                        Module to use (e.g: "servicemode" by default)
  -n NETWORKS, --networks NETWORKS
                        Networks in MCCMNC format splitted with commas
  -o, --cached_operator
                        Use operator in cache to speed up the passive scan
  -s ANDROIDSDK, --sdk ANDROIDSDK
                        Android SDK path
  -a ATMODE, --at ATMODE
                        AT access mode. If host put something like
                        "/dev/ttyUSBxx. By default it uses ADB."
  -f FILE, --file FILE  File to parse. For the moment it could be used in
                        combination with AT mode host.

Assuming the Android SDK is installed in /opt/Android, the tool can be quickly started as follows:

$ sudo python modmobmap.py
=> Requesting a list of MCC/MNC. Please wait, it may take a while...
Found 2 operator(s)
{u'20810': u'F SFR', u'20820': u'F-Bouygues Telecom'} 
[+] Unregistered from current PLMN
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (4XXX-81)]
 Network type=2G
 PLMN=208-10
 ARFCN=81
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (6XXXXXX-2950)]
 Network type=3G
 PLMN=208-20
 Band=8
 Downlink UARFCN=2950
 Uplink UARFCN=2725
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (3XX-6300)]
 Network type=4G
 PLMN=208-10
 Band=20
 Downlink EARFCN=6300
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (3XX-2825)]
 Network type=4G
 PLMN=208-10
 Band=7
 Downlink EARFCN=2825
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (3XX-1675)]
 Network type=4G
 PLMN=208-10
 Band=3
 Downlink EARFCN=1675
[...]

Note: If the Android SDK is installed anywhere else, you can use the -s parameter to specify its directory.

Speed-up the passive scan

When looking for operators, an AT command is sent to the modem. If you want to speed-up the scanning, you can hardcoded the operators to the following file cache/operators.json:

{
    "20801": "Orange",
    "20810": "F SFR", 
    "20815": "Free",
    "20820": "F-Bouygues Telecom"
}

Only the MCC/MNC codes are important. Then you can re-launch the tool as follows:

$ sudo python modmobmap.py -o   
=> Requesting a list of MCC/MNC. Please wait, it may take a while...
Found 4 operators in cache, you choose to reuse them.
Found 4 operator(s)
{u'20810': u'F SFR', u'20820': u'F-Bouygues Telecom', u'20815': u'Free', u'20801': u'Orange'} 
[+] Unregistered from current PLMN
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (XXXX-10614)]
 Network type=3G
 PLMN=208-10
 Band=1
 Downlink UARFCN=10614
 Uplink UARFCN=9664
[...]
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (XXX-3501)]
 Network type=4G
 PLMN=208-20
 Band=8
 Downlink EARFCN=3501
[...]
[+] Unregistered from current PLMN
=> Changing MCC/MNC for: 20815
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (XXX-2825)]
 Network type=4G
 PLMN=208-15
 Band=7
 Downlink EARFCN=2825
[...]
=> Changing MCC/MNC for: 20801
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (XXXXX-3011)]
 Network type=3G
 PLMN=208-1
 Band=8
 Downlink UARFCN=3011
 Uplink UARFCN=2786
[...]

Note we have been able to detect other cells the AT command AT+COPS did not return.

A complete list of MCC and MNC codes could be retrieved anywhere on the internet and in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_country_code

Focusing some operators

It is possible to tell Modmobmap to focus only on specific operators with the -m argument:

$ sudo python modmobmap.py -n 20801
=> Manual MCC/MNC processing...
Found 1 operator(s)
{'20801': '20801'} 
[...]
=> Changing MCC/MNC for: 20801
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (XXX-1675)]
 Network type=4G
 PLMN=208-01
 Band=3
 Downlink EARFCN=1675
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (XXXXX-3011)]
 Network type=3G
 PLMN=208-1
 Band=8
 Downlink UARFCN=3011
 Uplink UARFCN=2786
=> Changing network type for 3G only
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (XXXXX-2950)]
 Network type=3G
 PLMN=208-1
 Band=8
 Downlink UARFCN=2950
 Uplink UARFCN=2725

Using Modmobmap with xgoldmon

With XGold modems, the use of xgoldmon will be required. But for now, only the fork for Modmobmap works to retrieve exact information of cells via the DIAG interface and could be downloaded at: https://github.com/FlUxIuS/xgoldmon

Then after compiling, the tool xgoldmon could be started using the -m parameter like this:

sudo ./xgoldmon -t s3 -m /dev/ttyACM1

This will create a FIFO file that will be requested by Modmobmap later:

$ ls
celllog.fifo  Makefile   screenshot-mtsms-while-in-a-call.png  xgoldmon

Then we can start running Modmobmap as follows by specifying the AT serial interface (/dev/ttyACM0) and the FIFO file created by xgoldmon (<xgoldmonpath/celllog.fifo):

$ sudo python3 modmobmap.py -f /<xgoldmon path>/celllog.fifo -m xgoldmod -a /dev/ttyACM0  -o
=> Requesting a list of MCC/MNC. Please wait, it may take a while...
Found 4 operators in cache, you choose to reuse them.
Found 4 operator(s)
{'20801': 'Orange', '20810': 'F SFR', '20815': 'Free', '20820': 'F-Bouygues Telecom'} 
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (0x7XXXX-65535)]
 Network type=3G
 PLMN=208-1
 Downlink UARFCN=65535
 Uplink UARFCN=2850
[+] Unregistered from current PLMN
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (0x7XXXX-3011)]
 Network type=3G
 PLMN=208-1
 Downlink UARFCN=3011
 Uplink UARFCN=2786
[...]
[+] Unregistered from current PLMN
=> Changing MCC/MNC for: 20810
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (0x3XXXXX-3075)]
 Network type=3G
 PLMN=208-10
 Downlink UARFCN=3075
 Uplink UARFCN=2850
[...]

Note that retrieving results from AT+COPS command could take a lot of time and sometime would need to restart the tool. If the tool is blocked on the operator retrieving step, please use cached or targeted operators' features instead.

Using Modmobmap with GRGSM

Modmodmap can be used with gr-gsm to retrieve GSM cells' information with a Software-Defined Radio device compatible with OSMOSDR.

To use this feature, please issue the following command:

$ python modmobmap.py -m grgsm -b GSM-R,GSM900
=> Switching to GSM-R band
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (****)]
 Network type=2G
 PLMN=****
 ARFCN=978
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (*****)]
 Network type=2G
 PLMN=20820
 ARFCN=983
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (*****)]
 Network type=2G
 PLMN=20820
 ARFCN=1014
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (*****)]
 Network type=2G
 PLMN=20810
 ARFCN=79
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (****)]
 Network type=2G
 PLMN=20810
 ARFCN=86
=> Switching to GSM900 band
[+] New cell detected [CellID/PCI-DL_freq  (*****)]
 Network type=2G
 PLMN=20820
 ARFCN=978

Saving results

The process could be stopped at any time when killing the process with a keyboard interrupt signal. Then results will be automatically saved in a JSON file as follows:

[...]
^C[+] Cells save as cells_1528738901.json

All3xJ/Modmobmap