How to Prevent Session Hijacking Attacks in Android & iOS Apps

Learn to Prevent Session Hijacking in Mobile apps, in mobile CI/CD with a Data-Driven DevSecOps™ build system.

What is Session Hijacking?

The Session Hijacking attack exploits the web session control mechanism, which is normally managed for a session token.
Session Hijacking attack compromises the session token by stealing or predicting a valid session token to gain unauthorized access to the Web Server.

The session token could be compromised in different ways; Some of the most common are: Predictable session token, Session Sniffing, and Man-in-the-middle attack.

Why Prevent Session Hijacking in Mobile Apps?

In a session hijacking attack, a hacker takes control of a user’s browsing session to gain access to their personal information and passwords.
If a hacker can steal a user’s session ID, they may also be able to infect the user’s device with malware. This can allow them to gain control of the target’s device and steal their data.

Appdome detects, prohibits, and protects app connections from session hijacking by validating the server SSL certificate chain’s authenticity and providing authenticity proof to the server on behalf of the client.

Prerequisites for Using Prevent Session Hijacking:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Prevent Session Hijacking , you’ll need:

• Appdome account (create a free Appdome account here)

• A license for Pin to Host/MiTM Prevention

• Mobile App (.ipa for iOS, or .apk or .aab for Android)

• Signing Credentials (see Signing Secure Android apps and Signing Secure iOS apps)

Prevent Session Hijacking on Mobile apps using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these simple steps to create self-defending Mobile Apps that Prevent Session Hijacking without an SDK or gateway:

1. Upload the Mobile App to Appdome.

   1. Upload an app to Appdome’s Mobile App Security Build System

   2. Upload Method: Appdome Console or DEV-API
   3. Mobile App Formats: .ipa for iOS, or .apk or .aab for Android
   4. Prevent Session Hijacking Compatible With: Obj-C, C+, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, and more

2. Build the feature: Prevent Session Hijacking.

   1. Building Prevent Session Hijacking by using Appdome’s DEV-API:

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Prevent Session Hijacking feature as shown below:
      

      Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Prevent Session Hijacking feature
      Note: Naming the Fusion Set to correspond to the protection(s) selected is for illustration purposes only (not required).

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2.1-2.2.2 of this article, Building the Prevent Session Hijacking feature via Appdome Console, to add the Prevent Session Hijacking feature to this Fusion Set.

      3. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set, as shown in Figure 1 above, and get the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below):

         Figure 2: Fusion Set Detail Summary
         Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      4. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, App Center, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Cirlce CI or other system:

         1. Build an API for the app – for instructions, see the tasks under Appdome API Reference Guide
         2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository
   Secure Communication MOBILEBot™ Defense

   2. Building the Prevent Session Hijacking feature via Appdome Console

      To build the Prevent Session Hijacking protection by using Appdome Console, follow the instructions below.

      1. Where: Inside the Appdome Console, go to Build > Security Tab > Secure Communication section.

         Like all other options in ONEShield™, Prevent Session Hijacking is turned on by default, as shown below:

         Figure 3: Prevent Session Hijacking option
         Note: The App Compromise Notification contains an easy to follow default remediation path for the mobile app end user. You can customize this message as required to achieve brand specific support, workflow or other messaging.

      2. How: Check whether MiTM Prevention is toggled On (enabled), otherwise enable it . You can see that the feature Prevent Session Hijacking is enabled by default, as shown below.

         Figure 3: Prevent Session Hijacking option

      3. When you enable MiTM Prevention you'll notice that your Fusion Set you created in step 2.1.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Prevent Session Hijacking

         

         Figure 4: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Prevent Session Hijacking protection

      4. Click Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 3).

   Congratulations!  The Prevent Session Hijacking protection is now added to the mobile app

3. Certify the Prevent Session Hijacking feature in Mobile Apps.

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

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