How to Prevent MiTM Attacks in Android Apps
This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI/ML in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Prevent MiTM Attacks in Android apps.
What MITM Attack Prevention?
MITM Attack Prevention ensures that an app only communicates with trusted servers by verifying the entire certificate chain—from the leaf certificate to the root certificate authority (CA). Attackers can exploit improperly validated SSL/TLS connections to intercept, alter, or spoof secure communications using man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks, fake CAs, or forged certificates. Without proper validation, apps may unknowingly trust malicious servers, leading to data theft, credential interception, and compliance violations (e.g., PCI DSS, GDPR, HIPAA). Strict SSL validation helps prevent these risks by enforcing authentication with legitimate CAs.
How Appdome Prevents MiTM Attacks?
Appdome’s dynamic Prevent MiTM Attacks plugin ensures that mobile apps strictly enforce SSL/TLS validation by verifying the entire certificate chain during each connection. It blocks untrusted, self-signed, or compromised certificates, preventing attackers from spoofing trusted endpoints. The plugin also detects attempts to inject fake CAs or manipulate the SSL handshake, ensuring app connections remain secure. This protection requires no developer work, providing continuous security against MitM and certificate-based attacks.
Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Prevent MiTM Attacks Plugins:
To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Prevent MiTM Attacks , you’ll need:
- Appdome account (create a free Appdome account here)
- A license for Prevent MiTM Attacks
- Mobile App (.apk or .aab for Android)
- Signing Credentials (see Signing Secure Android apps and Signing Secure iOS apps)
How to Implement Prevent MiTM Attacks in Android Apps Using Appdome
On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Prevent MiTM Attacks without an SDK or gateway:
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Designate the Mobile App to be protected.
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Upload an app via the Appdome Mobile Defense platform GUI or via Appdome’s DEV-API or CI/CD Plugins.
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Android Formats: .apk or .aab
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Prevent MiTM Attacks is compatible with: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps.
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Select the defense: Prevent MiTM Attacks.
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Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Prevent MiTM Attacks feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.
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When you select the Prevent MiTM Attacks you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Prevent MiTM Attacks.
Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Prevent MiTM Attacks protection
Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory). -
Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set. Copy the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below):
Figure 3: Fusion Set Detail Summary
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Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Circle CI or other system:
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Refer to the Appdome API Reference Guide for API building instructions.
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Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository.
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Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Prevent MiTM Attacks feature as shown below:Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Prevent MiTM Attacks feature
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Add the Prevent MiTM Attacks feature to your security template.
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Navigate to Build > Security tab > Secure Communication section in the Appdome Console.
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Toggle OnPrevent MiTM Attacks.
(a) Choose to monitor this attack vector by checking the Threat Events checkbox associated with Prevent MiTM Attacks as shown below.
(b) To receive mobile Threat Monitoring, check the ThreatScope™ box as shown below. For more details, see our knowledge base article on ThreatScope™ Mobile XDR.Figure 4: Selecting Prevent MiTM Attacks
Note: The Appdome Platform displays the Mobile Operation Systems supported by each defense in real-time. For more details, see our OS Support Policy KB. -
Select the Threat-Event™ in-app mobile Threat Defense and Intelligence policy for Prevent MiTM Attacks:
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Threat-Events™ OFF > In-App Defense
If the Threat-Events™ setting is not selected. Appdome will detect and defend the user and app by enforcing MiTM Attacks.
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Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Detection
When this setting is used, Appdome detects for MiTM attacks and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing, enforcement, and user notification. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ to Prevent Prevent MiTM Attacks Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.
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Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Defense
When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against MiTM Attacks (same as Appdome Enforce) and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Prevent Prevent MiTM Attacks Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.
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Configure the User Experience Options for Prevent MiTM Attacks:
With Threat-Events™ OFF, Appdome provides several user experience options for mobile brands and developers.- App Compromise Notification: Customize the pop-up or toast Appdome uses to notify the user when a threat is present while using the protected mobile app.
- Short message Option. This is available for mobile devices that allow a banner notification for security events.
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Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.
Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s MiTM Attacks
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Prevent MiTM Attacks Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Prevent MiTM Attacks is triggered by an active threat on the mobile device. Use the code in Appdome Threat Resolution Center™ to help end users identify, find and resolve active threats on the personal mobile devices.
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Congratulations! The Prevent MiTM Attacks protection is now added to the mobile app -
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Certify the Prevent MiTM Attacks feature in Android Apps
After building Prevent MiTM Attacks, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Prevent MiTM Attacks protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Prevent MiTM Attacks protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below:
Figure 6: Certified Secure™ certificate
Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Prevent MiTM Attacks has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Prevent MiTM Attacks and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.
Using Threat-Events™ for MiTM Attacks Intelligence and Control in Android Apps
Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when MiTM Attacks are detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for MiTM Attacks in Android Apps, use registerReceiver in the Application OnCreate, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for MiTM Attacks shown below.
The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for MiTM Attacks are:
Threat-Event™ Elements | Prevent MiTM Attacks Method Detail |
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Appdome Feature Name | Prevent MiTM Attacks |
Threat-Event Mode | |
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE | Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging. |
ON, IN-APP DETECTION | Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce). |
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE | Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection). |
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check | |
Visible in ThreatScope™ | |
Developer Parameters for Preventing MiTM Attacks Threat-Event™ | |
Threat-Event NAME | SslCertificateValidationFailed |
Threat-Event DATA | reasonData |
Threat-Event CODE | reasonCode |
Threat-Event REF | 6500 |
Threat-Event SCORE | |
currentThreatEventScore | Current Threat-Event score |
threatEventsScore | Total Threat-events score |
Threat-Event Context Keys | |
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message | Message displayed for the user on event |
failSafeEnforce | Timed enforcement against the identified threat |
externalID | The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events |
osVersion | OS version of the current device |
deviceModel | Current device model |
deviceManufacturer | The manufacturer of the current device |
fusedAppToken | The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app |
kernelInfo | Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine. |
carrierPlmn | PLMN of the device. Only available for Android devices. |
deviceID | Current device ID |
reasonCode | Reason code of the occurred event |
buildDate | Appdome fusion date of the current application |
devicePlatform | OS name of the current device |
carrierName | Carrier name of the current device. Only available for Android. |
updatedOSVersion | Is the OS version up to date |
deviceBrand | Brand of the device |
deviceBoard | Board of the device |
buildUser | Build user |
buildHost | Build host |
sdkVersion | Sdk version |
timeZone | Time zone |
deviceFaceDown | Is the device face down |
locationLong | Location longitude conditioned by location permission |
locationLat | Location latitude conditioned by location permission |
locationState | Location state conditioned by location permission |
wifiSsid | Wifi SSID |
wifiSsidPermissionStatus | Wifi SSID permission status |
threatCode | The last six characters of the threat code specify the OS, allowing the Threat Resolution Center to address the attack on the affected device. |
host | The host that failed certificate validation |
DeveventDetailedErrorMessage | Error message |
extendedMessageText | Extended message |
certificateCN | Certificate common name |
certificateSHA1 | Certificate SHA1 |
With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Android developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Android applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when MiTM Attacks are detected.
The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Prevent MiTM Attacks:
Important! Replace all placeholder instances of <Context Key> with the specific name of your threat event context key across all language examples. This is crucial to ensure your code functions correctly with the intended event data. For example, The <Context Key> could be the message, externalID, OS Version, reason code, etc.
xxxxxxxxxx
IntentFilter intentFilter = new IntentFilter();
intentFilter.addAction("SslCertificateValidationFailed");
BroadcastReceiver threatEventReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
String message = intent.getStringExtra("message"); // Message shown to the user
String reasonData = intent.getStringExtra("reasonData"); // Threat detection cause
String reasonCode = intent.getStringExtra("reasonCode"); // Event reason code
// Current threat event score
String currentThreatEventScore = intent.getStringExtra("currentThreatEventScore");
// Total threat events score
String threatEventsScore = intent.getStringExtra("threatEventsScore");
// Replace '<Context Key>' with your specific event context key
// String variable = intent.getStringExtra("<Context Key>");
// Your logic goes here (Send data to Splunk/Dynatrace/Show Popup...)
}
};
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.TIRAMISU) {
registerReceiver(threatEventReceiver, intentFilter, Context.RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED);
} else {
registerReceiver(threatEventReceiver, intentFilter);
}
Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Android Apps by using Prevent MiTM Attacks. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.
Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Prevent MiTM Attacks
After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:
- Customizing, Configuring & Branding Secure Mobile Apps.
- Deploying/Publishing Secure mobile apps to Public or Private app stores.
- Releasing Secured Android & iOS Apps built on Appdome.
Related Articles:
How to Prevent Session Hijacking Attacks, Prevent MiTM Attacks in Android & iOS Apps
How to Prevent MiTM Attacks in iOS Apps
How Do I Learn More?
If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.
Thank you!
Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.