How to Prevent Code Injection & Process Injection in Mobile Apps

Last updated April 1, 2024 by Appdome

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

What is Code Injection?

Dynamic and Static Code Injection are techniques used by attackers to inject malicious code into an app in order to get that code executed by the app or the server. The attacker’s goal is to gain access to data and to obtain some level of control of the app. For instance, attackers can use app form input fields to dynamically send the malicious code to the app or the server with which the app communicates. Another Code Injection method is patching and re-packaging the original app.

Why Prevent Code Injection in Mobile Apps?

Code injection attacks can lead to data loss and security breaches. Such attacks can target databases, authentication protocols, and other critical flows of the app. Therefore, it is important to perform data validation and automatic code injection detection for the app’s outbound data stream.

Prerequisites for Using Prevent Code Injection:

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

Prevent Code Injection on Mobile apps using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Mobile Apps that Prevent Code Injection 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 Code Injection Compatible With: Obj-C, C+, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, and more
  2. Build the feature: Prevent Code Injection.

    1. Building Prevent Code Injection by using Appdome’s DEV-API:

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

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

      3. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2.1-2.2.2 of this article, Building the Prevent Code Injection feature via Appdome Console, to add the Prevent Code Injection feature to this Fusion Set.

      4. 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): fusion Set Detail Summary image

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

      5. 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
    2. Building the Prevent Code Injection feature via Appdome Console

      To build the Prevent Code Injection protection by using Appdome Console, follow the instructions below.

      1. Where: Inside the Appdome Console, go to Build > Anti Fraud Tab > Mobile Cheat Prevention section.
      2. When you select the Prevent Code Injection 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 Code Injection

        Fusion Set applied Prevent Code Injection

        Figure 4: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Prevent Code Injection protection

      3. Select the Threat-Event™ in-app mobile Threat Defense and Intelligence policy for Prevent Code Injection:
        1. Threat-Events™ OFF > In-App Defense

          If the Threat-Events™ setting is cleared (not selected). Appdome will detect and defend the user and app by enforcing Prevent Code Injection.

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

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects app hooking and hooking frameworks 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™ for Prevent Code Injection Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

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

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against Code Injection (same as Appdome Enforce) and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence 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 Prevent Code Injection Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

      4. Optional Configuration with Prevent Code Injection:
        1. Prevent app Hooking and Hooking Frameworks

          A hook is a means of executing custom code (function) either before, after, or instead of existing code. For example, a function may be written to “hook” into the login process of a mobile application and alter the authentication workflow (for example, the attacker can inject code that asks the user to input their social security number or re-type their password). Fraudsters use dynamic instrumentation toolkits like Frida to hook into the application and interact with the running processes and inject their own JavaScript code replacing the original code.

      5. Click Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 3).
    Congratulations!  The Prevent Code Injection protection is now added to the mobile app

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

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

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

Threat-Event™ Elements Prevent Code Injection Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Prevent Code 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
Visible in ThreatScope™
Developer Parameters for Preventing Code Injection Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME CodeInjectionDetected
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF 6907
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
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
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occured event
buildDate Appdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatform OS name of the current device
carrierName Carrier name of the current device
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
reason Reason for the detection
data Data related to the detection

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 Code Injection is detected.

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


Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Mobile Apps by using Prevent Code 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 Code 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:

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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