How to Prevent Code Injection & Process Injection in Mobile Apps

Last updated November 7, 2024 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 Code Injection in Mobile apps.

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 Appdome's Prevent Code Injection Plugins:

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

How to Implement Prevent Code Injection in 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. 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 Code Injection is compatible with: Obj-C, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, and more.
  2. Select the defense: Prevent Code Injection.

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

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

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

        Fusion Set applied Prevent Code Injection

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

      1. Navigate to Build > Anti Fraud tab > Mobile Cheat Prevention section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On > Prevent Code Injection.

        (a) Choose to monitor this attack vector by checking the Threat Events checkbox associated with Prevent Code Injection 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.
        Prevent Code Injection option

        Figure 4: Selecting Prevent Code Injection

        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.

      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 not selected. Appdome will detect and defend the user and app by enforcing 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™ to Prevent Code InjectionPrevent 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 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 Prevent Code InjectionPrevent Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

      4. Configure the User Experience Options for Prevent Code Injection:
        With Threat-Events™ OFF, Appdome provides several user experience options for mobile brands and developers.
        1. 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.
        2. Short message Option. This is available for mobile devices that allow a banner notification for security events.
        3. Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.

          Localized Message

          Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s Code Injection

        4. Prevent Code Injection Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Prevent Code Injection 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.
      5. 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.

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

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

    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 Prevent Code Injection has been added to each Mobile app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Prevent Code Injection and other mobile app security features are in each build of 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
messageMessage displayed for the user on event
failSafeEnforceTimed enforcement against the identified threat
externalIDThe external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersionOS version of the current device
deviceModelCurrent device model
deviceManufacturerThe manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppTokenThe task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfoInfo about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmnPLMN of the device. Only available for Android devices.
deviceIDCurrent device ID
reasonCodeReason code of the occurred event
buildDateAppdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatformOS name of the current device
carrierNameCarrier name of the current device. Only available for Android.
updatedOSVersionIs the OS version up to date
deviceBrandBrand of the device
deviceBoardBoard of the device
buildUserBuild user
buildHostBuild host
sdkVersionSdk version
timeZoneTime zone
deviceFaceDownIs the device face down
locationLongLocation longitude conditioned by location permission
locationLatLocation latitude conditioned by location permission
locationStateLocation state conditioned by location permission
wifiSsidWifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatusWifi SSID permission status
reasonReason for the detection
dataData related to the detection
threatCode

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:


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 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:

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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