How to Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection in Android & iOS Apps

Last updated November 27, 2023 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 Frida Dynamic Injection in Mobile apps.

What is Frida Dynamic Injection?

Frida Dynamic Injection is a technique that allows users to seamlessly inject JavaScript snippets or their own libraries into native mobile applications across operating systems such as iOS, Android, and more. This process is unique in that it permits the injection without necessitating any changes to the application’s binary. After the injection, Frida establishes a two-way communication channel with the inserted scripts. This not only facilitates real-time interactions but also offers the flexibility to unload these scripts when no longer needed. All alterations and insights are confined directly to the app’s memory space. For a developer, this might sound like a powerful debugging or analysis tool. However, from a security perspective, it means that unauthorized entities could potentially monitor user interactions or even modify app behaviors, without tampering with the actual binary of the application.

 

Why Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection?

Preventing Frida dynamic injection is crucial for maintaining the integrity and security of applications. Given that Frida can inspect all actions taken by a user within an app and even alter its behavior, it presents a significant security risk. Malicious actors can exploit this technique to steal sensitive information, manipulate app functionalities, or introduce rogue behaviors. Frida, while a powerful tool for legitimate debugging and analysis, can also serve as a gateway for cyberattacks if left unchecked. Ensuring that applications are safeguarded against such dynamic injections is paramount to preserving user trust, protecting data, and ensuring that apps function as their developers intended.

 

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection Plugins:

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

How to Implement Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection in Mobile Apps Using Appdome

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

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

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection feature

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

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

        Fusion Set applied Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection

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

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

        Figure 4: Selecting Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection

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

    After building Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection 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 Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection has been added to each Mobile app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

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

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

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

Threat-Event™ Elements Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection
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 Preventing Frida Dynamic Injection 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 Dynamic Injection is detected.


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


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 Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection. 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 Frida Dynamic Injection

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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