com.android.networkstack.tethering.inprocess.overlay Copy

A Runtime Resource Overlay (RRO) whose name pairs it with the in-process build of Android's Tethering component, and the sibling of com.android.networkstack.inprocess.overlay documented alongside it. It is configuration rather than an app. In this site's sample it has no launcher entry in any observation, is between about 8.5 KB and 12.7 KB in size, and is labelled TetheringResOverlay on most devices, with TetheringConfigOverlayGo and the raw package name on a few. The in-process Tethering app is an AOSP build variant. In the android13-release branch the Tethering source defines InProcessTethering, described in its build file as "non-updatable tethering running in the system server process for devices not using the module". It is a replacement for the updatable Tethering app, is signed with the platform certificate, and its manifest declares the package name com.android.networkstack.tethering.inprocess running in the system process. This overlay's package name is that package name with ".overlay" appended, matching the pattern of com.android.networkstack.tethering.overlay documented separately on this site, so the natural reading is that it carries a build's tethering configuration for the in-process variant. That is an inference from the naming: this site records a package's own name rather than the target declared inside its manifest. The values an overlay of this kind may set are those in the module's TetheringConfig overlayable, such as the interface name patterns for USB, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth tethering and the DHCP range handed to tethered clients. Version note: the in-process variant does not exist on every AOSP release. InProcessTethering and its manifest are present in the android13-release branch of the Connectivity source and absent from the android14-release branch. This overlay is nonetheless observed here on devices from API 30 through API 36, with version names running from "12" to "14". Whether a copy seen on Android 14 or later still has a target to configure, or is simply carried forward in the device image, could not be sourced. Where signer data is recorded here, every key is classified as an OEM key that also signs the framework on its device (Motorola, TCL, OUKITEL, vivo, Xiaomi, NUU, OPPO and ANT DAO Technology). The only permission it declares is POST_NOTIFICATIONS, as with its sibling overlays, and no source consulted accounts for it. For Android Enterprise, EMM and kiosk use it has no role in enrolment or policy. Removing it does not lock tethering down: on a build that uses the in-process variant it could instead break hotspot, USB or Bluetooth tethering. To stop users sharing the connection, use your EMM's tethering and hotspot restrictions and leave this package in place.

• Tethering - Android Open Source Project →
• Change the value of an app's resources at runtime (RROs) - Android Open Source Project →
• Tethering Android.bp, InProcessTethering (android13-release) - Android source →
• Tethering AndroidManifest_InProcess.xml (android13-release) - Android source →
• Tethering Android.bp (android14-release) - Android source →
• Tethering overlayable.xml, TetheringConfig (packages/modules/Connectivity) - Android source →
• Package provenance for com.android.networkstack.tethering.inprocess.overlay - Android System App Database →

• Re-signed by each device maker with its own platform key - 9 different certificates appear across 8 device makers in our sample. That is the signature of a stock AOSP/system package every OEM builds and signs itself, not a single maker's or a third party's preinstall. These are platform-level keys: they also sign the Android framework itself.
• Its largest observed manifest declares 1 permissions: 1 runtime (user-granted).
• Never reported as user-facing, so it runs as a background or system component rather than an app the user opens.