How to Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection in Android & iOS Apps

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

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 Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection:

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

• Appdome account (create a free Appdome account here)
• A license for Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection
• Mobile App (.ipa for iOS, or .apk or .aab for Android)
• Signing Credentials (see Signing Secure Android apps and Signing Secure iOS apps)

Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection on 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. 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 Frida Dynamic Injection Compatible With: Obj-C, C+, Java, JS, C#, C++, Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, and more

2. Build the feature: Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection.

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

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

      Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Prevent Frida Dynamic 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 2.2.1-2.2.2 of this article, Building the Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection feature via Appdome Console, to add the Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection 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

   2. Building the Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection feature via Appdome Console

      To build the Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection 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.

         Like all other options in ONEShield™, Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection is turned on by default, as shown below:

         Figure 3: Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection 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 Block Frida is toggled On (enabled), otherwise enable it . You can see that the feature Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection is enabled by default, as shown below.

         Figure 3: Prevent Frida Dynamic Injection option

      3. When you enable Block Frida 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 Frida Dynamic Injection

         

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

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

   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:

   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