How to Use Trusted Root Certificates, Prevent MiTM Attacks in Android & iOS Apps

Last updated January 14, 2024 by Appdome

This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI/ML in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Prevent Running with Untrusted Root Certificates in Mobile apps.

How can a Mobile App Run with an Untrusted Certificate?

Mobile devices come with an OEM list of built-in public certificate authorities (CA). However, certificates and CAs can be altered by hackers or installed on devices and apps in malicious ways (without anyone knowing). This makes it hard to know if the list of CAs currently installed on the device can actually be trusted (because they could have been altered).

Why Prevent Running a Mobile App with Untrusted Root Certificates?

Appdome maintains an up-to-date list of root certificates which is continuously updated with the various worldwide trusted CA authorities (such as Verisign and Go-Daddy). Appdome inspects certificates and CAs at runtime to ensure that alterations have not been made.

When an SSL/TLS session is initiated with a mobile app,  Appdome compares the CAs currently installed on the mobile device against the updated list of trusted CAs that Appdome maintains. If the CAs on the device do not match the trusted CA list maintained by Appdome, the session is dropped.

 

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Trusted Root Certificates Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Prevent Running with Untrusted Root Certificates , you’ll need:

How to Implement Prevent Running with Untrusted Root Certificates in Mobile Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these simple steps to create self-defending Mobile Apps that Prevent Running with Untrusted Root Certificates without an SDK or gateway:

  1. Designate the Mobile App to be protected.

    1. Upload an app via the Appdome Mobile Defense platform GUI or via Appdome’s DEV-API or CI/CD Plugins.

    2. Mobile App Formats: .ipa for iOS, or .apk or .aab for Android
    3. Trusted Root Certificates is compatible with: Obj-C, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, and more.
  2. Select the defense: Trusted Root Certificates.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Trusted Root Certificates feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Trusted Root Certificates

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Trusted Root Certificates feature

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Trusted Root Certificates feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you enable MiTM Prevention you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Trusted Root Certificates.

        Fusion Set applied Trusted Root Certificates

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Trusted Root Certificates protection
        Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      4. 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): fusion Set Detail Summary image

        Figure 3: Fusion Set Detail Summary

      5. 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:
        1. Refer to the Appdome API Reference Guide for API building instructions.
        2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository.
    1. Add the Trusted Root Certificates feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Security tab > Secure Communication section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On MiTM Prevention > Trusted Root Certificates.
        Note: The checkmark feature Trusted Root Certificates is enabled by default, as shown below.

        (a) Choose to monitor this attack vector by checking the Threat Events checkbox associated with Trusted Root Certificates 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.
        Trusted Root Certificates option

        Figure 4: Selecting Prevent Running with Untrusted Root Certificates

        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.

      3. Select the Threat-Event™ in-app mobile Threat Defense and Intelligence policy for Trusted Root Certificates:
        1. 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 Running with Untrusted Root Certificates.

        2. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Detection

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects untrusted Root Certificates 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 Trusted Root CertificatesPrevent Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

        3. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Defense

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against Running with Untrusted Root Certificates (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 Trusted Root CertificatesPrevent Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

      4. Configure the User Experience Options for Trusted Root Certificates:
        With Threat-Events™ OFF, Appdome provides several user experience options for mobile brands and developers.
        1. 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.
        2. Short message Option. This is available for mobile devices that allow a banner notification for security events.
        3. Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.

          Localized Message

          Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s Running with Untrusted Root Certificates

        4. Trusted Root Certificates Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Trusted Root Certificates 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.
    2. Initiate the build command either by clicking Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 4) or via your CI/CD as described in Section 2.1.4.
    Congratulations!  The Trusted Root Certificates protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Trusted Root Certificates feature in Mobile Apps

    After building Trusted Root Certificates, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Trusted Root Certificates protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Trusted Root Certificates protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Trusted Root Certificates shown in Certificate secure

    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 Trusted Root Certificates has been added to each Mobile app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Trusted Root Certificates and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for Running with Untrusted Root Certificates Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when Running with Untrusted Root Certificates are detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for Running with Untrusted Root Certificates in Mobile Apps, use AddObserverForName in Notification Center, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for Running with Untrusted Root Certificates shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Running with Untrusted Root Certificates are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Prevent Running with Untrusted Root Certificates Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Trusted Root Certificates
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 Running with Untrusted Root Certificates 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
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), Mobile developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Mobile applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when Running with Untrusted Root Certificates are detected.


The following is a code sample for native Mobile apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Trusted Root Certificates:


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.



Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Mobile Apps by using Trusted Root Certificates. 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 Trusted Root Certificates

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:

Related Articles:

How to Prevent SSL Cookie Hijacking & Mobile MiTM Attacks

How to Prevent MiTM Attacks in iOS Apps

How to Enforce TLS Certificate Roles, 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.

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