How to Detect Frida Injection Attacks in Android & iOS Apps Using AI

Last updated February 11, 2025 by Appdome

This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI/ML in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Detect Frida Injection Attacks in Mobile apps.

What is a Frida Injection Attack?

A Frida Injection Attack is a method where attackers use the Frida instrumentation framework to inject malicious scripts into a running mobile app, enabling them to bypass security controls, modify API calls, extract encryption keys, disable protections, and manipulate app behavior in real time. Attackers exploit Frida to hook into sensitive functions, bypass authentication mechanisms, defeat SSL pinning, disable root detection, and tamper with transactions. This technique is widely used in fraud, reverse engineering, and mobile malware development, as it allows cybercriminals to dynamically alter an app’s execution flow without modifying the original binary. Advanced attackers may integrate AI-driven automation with Frida to systematically analyze and manipulate mobile apps at scale, further increasing security risks. Preventing Frida Injection Attacks is essential to safeguard sensitive data, protect app logic, and comply with security standards like PCI DSS, GDPR, and PSD2.

How Appdome Protects Mobile Apps Against Frida Injection Attacks?

Appdome’s dynamic Detect Frida Injection Attack plugin for Android and iOS prevents runtime injection by identifying and blocking Frida-based code manipulation, dynamic hooking, and unauthorized debugging. The plugin detects Frida server processes, Frida Gadget injection, memory modifications, and function hijacking attempts. Frida Gadget, a stealthy variant of Frida, is often embedded into modified apps or loaded dynamically at runtime to avoid detection. Appdome actively monitors for Frida Gadget’s presence and execution attempts, ensuring attackers cannot use it to manipulate app behavior. When Frida injection is detected, Appdome can terminate the session, block execution, or trigger enforcement actions to maintain app security. This protection provides real-time defense against live code injections and runtime attacks without requiring developer effort.

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Detect Frida Injection Attacks Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Detect Frida Injection Attacks , you’ll need:

How to Implement Detect Frida Injection Attacks in Mobile Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these simple steps to create self-defending Mobile Apps that Detect Frida Injection Attacks 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. Detect Frida Injection Attacks is compatible with: Obj-C, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, and more.
  2. Select the defense: Detect Frida Injection Attacks.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Detect Frida Injection Attacks feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Detect Frida Injection Attacks

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Detect Frida Injection Attacks feature

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Detect Frida Injection Attacks feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you enable Detect Frida Gadget you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Detect Frida Injection Attacks.

        Fusion Set applied Detect Frida Injection Attacks

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Detect Frida Injection Attacks 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 Detect Frida Injection Attacks feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Anti Fraud tab > Mobile Malware Prevention section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On Detect Frida Gadget > Detect Frida Injection Attacks.
        Note: The checkmark feature Detect Frida Injection Attacks is enabled by default, as shown below. Detect Frida Injection Attacks option

        Figure 4: Selecting Detect Frida Injection Attacks

    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 Detect Frida Injection Attacks protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Detect Frida Injection Attacks feature in Mobile Apps

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

    Figure 5: 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 Frida Injection Attacks has been added to each Mobile app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Detect Frida Injection Attacks and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for Frida Injection Attacks Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when Frida Injection Attacks is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for Frida Injection Attacks in Mobile Apps, use AddObserverForName in Notification Center, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for Frida Injection Attacks shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Frida Injection Attacks are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Detect Frida Injection Attacks Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Detect Frida Injection 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 x
Visible in ThreatScope™ x
Developer Parameters for Detecting Frida Injection Attacks Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF
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.

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 Frida Injection Attacks is detected.


The following is a code sample for native Mobile apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Detect Frida Injection 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.



Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Apps by using Detect Frida Injection 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 Detect Frida Injection 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:

Related Articles:

 

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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