How to Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking

Last updated February 4, 2024 by Appdome

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

What is Strandhogg Task Hijacking?

Strandhogg Task Hijacking is an attack that targets the way an application manages its activities. This attack is possible in apps configured to allow exported activities, which are activities that can be accessed by external components or apps enabling them to launch onto the app as tasks.

A ‘task’ refers to a collection of activities that a user interacts with when trying to complete an action within the app. These activities are arranged in a stack known as the back stack in the order in which each activity is opened.

Consider an online stock trading app displaying multiple shares. Clicking on a share opens another screen, which allows several activities. For instance, clicking ‘Deposit’ opens a deposit window, and so forth. Malicious actors use StrandHogg to gain access to personal and confidential information such as login credentials, phone conversations, SMS messages, and photos.

How Does Appdome Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking?

To prevent a scenario in which malicious apps misuse these exported activities to perform various harmful actions, Appdome mitigates the attack by adjusting the app’s task usage so that an attacking app cannot exploit its windows. These enhancements lock the app’s activities, effectively countering both Strandhogg 1.0 and 2.0 attack attempts when the app is in the foreground.

Strandhogg 2.0 exploits the Android multi-tasking system to access recently opened apps. To counteract this, Appdome has developed a defense that explicitly removes the app from the multi-task background app menu, thereby protecting the app from being exploited.

IMPORTANT: To successfully protect against Strandhogg 2.0 in devices running up to and including Android 14 it is necessary to omit the app from the recent apps tab. This step is crucial due to the specific way Strandhogg 2.0 exploits the functionalities of the recent apps tab.

We recognize that removing the app from the recent apps menu, particularly when the user is on the login screen, may cause some apps to exhibit unexpected behavior as a result of the enhanced security. In such cases, developers can add the problematic activities to the ‘trusted activities’ list. Appdome will not enforce stringent security measures on activities in this list, and the end user should not experience any interference with the app’s usability.

Prerequisites for Using Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking:

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

Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking on Android apps using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Prevent Strandhogg Task 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. Android Formats: .apk or .aab
    4. Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking Compatible With: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps
  2. Build the feature: Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking.

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

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

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking 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 Strandhogg Task Hijacking feature via Appdome Console, to add the Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking 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. Copy 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, Circle 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 Strandhogg Task Hijacking feature via Appdome Console

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

      1. Where: Inside the Appdome Console, go to Build > Anti Fraud Tab > Mobile Malware Prevention section.
      2. How: Check whether is toggled On (enabled), otherwise enable it . The feature Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking is enabled by default, as shown below. Toggle (turn ON) Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking, as shown below.
        If needed, Customize the Threat Notification to be displayed to the mobile end-user in a standard OS dialog notification when Appdome Prevents Strandhogg Task Hijacking.
        Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking option

        Figure 3: Prevent Strandhogg Task 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.

      3. When you select the Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking 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 Strandhogg Task Hijacking

        Fusion Set applied Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking

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

      4. Optional Configuration with Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking:
        1. Trust Specified Activities Only

          Specify the class name of the activity to exclude from Overlay detection

      5. Click Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 3).
    Congratulations!  The Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking feature in Android Apps

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

Using Threat-Events™ for Strandhogg Task Hijacking Intelligence and Control in Android Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when Strandhogg Task Hijacking is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for Strandhogg Task Hijacking in Android Apps, use registerReceiver in the Application OnCreate, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for Strandhogg Task Hijacking shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Strandhogg Task Hijacking are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking
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 Strandhogg Task Hijacking 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

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Android developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Android applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when Strandhogg Task Hijacking is detected.


The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking:


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 Android Apps by using Prevent Strandhogg Task Hijacking. 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 Strandhogg Task Hijacking

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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