How to Detect StrongR Frida in Android Apps Using AI
This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI/ML in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Detect StrongR Frida in Android apps.
What is StrongR Frida?
StrongR Frida and similar custom Frida builds are designed to bypass traditional Frida detection by obfuscating their presence and modifying runtime behaviors. Attackers use these variants to dynamically instrument Android apps, bypass SSL pinning, defeat root detection, intercept cryptographic operations, and manipulate app workflows without being detected. These Frida modifications allow attackers to analyze, modify, or exploit mobile apps while evading security measures. As StrongR Frida and similar tools continue evolving, they become harder to detect, enabling increasingly sophisticated attacks on Android apps, financial transactions, and authentication flows. Defending against these threats requires proactive detection of custom-built Frida variants and evasion techniques used in penetration testing and mobile app attacks.
How Appdome Protects Android Apps Against StrongR Frida
Appdome’s dynamic Detect StrongR Frida plugin detects and blocks StrongR Frida and other advanced, custom, and non-official Frida variants used to bypass traditional Frida detection. The plugin identifies unauthorized process modifications, hooking attempts, and behavior anomalies associated with customized Frida tools, such as anti-Frida bypasses, root detection bypasses, and SSL pinning bypass scripts. By preventing StrongR Frida from executing within Android apps, Appdome ensures runtime integrity, safeguarding apps from dynamic analysis and unauthorized modifications. Mobile developers can use Appdome’s Threat-Events™ to collect data on StrongR Frida detection and customize responses when such threats are found.
Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Detect StrongR Frida Plugins:
To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Detect StrongR Frida , you’ll need:
- Appdome account (create a free Appdome account here)
- A license for Detect StrongR Frida
- Mobile App (.apk or .aab for Android)
- Signing Credentials (see Signing Secure Android apps and Signing Secure iOS apps)
How to Implement Detect StrongR Frida in Android Apps Using Appdome
On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Detect StrongR Frida without an SDK or gateway:
-
Designate the Mobile App to be protected.
-
Upload an app via the Appdome Mobile Defense platform GUI or via Appdome’s DEV-API or CI/CD Plugins.
-
Android Formats: .apk or .aab
-
Detect StrongR Frida is compatible with: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps.
-
-
Select the defense: Detect StrongR Frida.
-
-
Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Detect StrongR Frida feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.
-
When you select the Detect StrongR Frida you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Detect StrongR Frida.
Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Detect StrongR Frida 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
-
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:
-
Refer to the Appdome API Reference Guide for API building instructions.
-
Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository.
-
Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Detect StrongR Frida feature as shown below:Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Detect StrongR Frida feature
-
-
Add the Detect StrongR Frida feature to your security template.
-
Navigate to Build > Anti Fraud tab > Mobile Malware Prevention section in the Appdome Console.
-
Toggle OnDetect StrongR Frida.
(a) Choose to monitor this attack vector by checking the Threat Events checkbox associated with Detect StrongR Frida 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 Detect StrongR Frida
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 Detect StrongR Frida:
-
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 StrongR Frida.
-
Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Detection
When this setting is used, Appdome detects a StrongR Frida attack 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 Detect Detect StrongR Frida Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.
-
Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Defense
When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against StrongR Frida (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 Detect Detect StrongR Frida Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.
-
-
Configure the User Experience Options for Detect StrongR Frida:
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.
-
Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.
Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s StrongR Frida
-
Detect StrongR Frida Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Detect StrongR Frida 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.
-
Congratulations! The Detect StrongR Frida protection is now added to the mobile app -
-
Certify the Detect StrongR Frida feature in Android Apps
After building Detect StrongR Frida, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Detect StrongR Frida protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Detect StrongR Frida 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 Detect StrongR Frida has been added to each Android app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Detect StrongR Frida and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.
Using Threat-Events™ for StrongR Frida Intelligence and Control in Android Apps
Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when StrongR Frida is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for StrongR Frida in Android Apps, use registerReceiver in the Application OnCreate, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for StrongR Frida shown below.
The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for StrongR Frida are:
Threat-Event™ Elements | Detect StrongR Frida Method Detail |
---|---|
Appdome Feature Name | Detect StrongR Frida |
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 Detecting StrongR Frida Threat-Event™ | |
Threat-Event NAME | FridaCustomDetected |
Threat-Event DATA | reasonData |
Threat-Event CODE | reasonCode |
Threat-Event REF | 6905-1 |
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. |
reason | Reason for the detection |
data | Data related to the detection |
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 StrongR Frida is detected.
The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Detect StrongR Frida:
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("FridaCustomDetected");
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 Detect StrongR Frida. 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 Detect StrongR Frida
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 Detect Frida Gadget in Mobile Apps Using AI
- How to Detect Frida Injection Attacks in Android & iOS Apps Using AI
- How to Prevent Android Objection Framework in Mobile Apps Using AI
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.