Certificate pinning android retrofit example example. This helps protect against Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks, where Background Certificate and Public Key Pinning is a guide to understanding the current state of PKI security and significant changes in the threat model for TLS connections. Oct 14, 2024 · Sample App for Learning SSL Pinning To demonstrate SSL pinning, I have created a simple Android application that tests both valid and invalid SSL certificates. Aug 30, 2015 · 14 Using com. Jan 4, 2024 · Certificate pinning can be explained with a simple words: Is this connection secure with a valid certificate and is it signed by the CA I’m expecting?. I am using retrofit and OkHttp for making requests. Pretty much all my ideas for posts comes from work and this one is no different SSL pinning is a technique to prevent MITM attacks by binding a specific SSL/TLS certificate to a particular server or service. The idea behind Certificate Pinning is that we actually pins the public key hash of a particular host within our client side app. Dec 7, 2023 · Retrofit relies on the underlying OkHttpClient for network operations, including certificate pinning. Certificate Pinning in ktor kmm on Android devices below android 7 After testing network_security_config file with android 28, I see the certificate pinning working when using ktor kmm (using OkHttp) However, in devices below android 7, Is there any way to setup . Mar 26, 2015 · I am creating an android application which uses https for communication with the server. com both pin1 and pin2 will be used. Network security configuration TrustStore and sslSocketFactory OKHTTP with certificatePinner Retrofit with custom OKHTTP Jun 5, 2025 · Learn everything about SSL Pinning Android – from implementation to testing and best practices. It is quite straight forward to implement SSLPinDetect is a tool for analyzing Android APKs to detect SSL pinning implementations by scanning for known patterns in decompiled code. Jika salah satu CA tersebut berhasil disusupi atau pihak ketiga memasang sertifikat palsu di perangkat, aplikasi Anda masih akan terhubung. Pinning certificates defends against attacks on certificate authorities. This strategy maximizes connectivity, but it is subject to certificate authority attacks such as the 2011 DigiNotar attack. Warning: Certificate Pinning is Dangerous! Pinning certificates limits your server team's abilities to update their TLS certificates. The typical Android solution is to bundle the hash of the certificate, or the exact data of the certificate into the application. The connection is then Sep 29, 2025 · Certificate transparency opt-in: Restrict an app's secure connections to use provably logged certificates. Step-by-step guide and code snippets included. com with the actual server you want to establish a secure connection with. 0; And I've noticed that the hash check is not conjunctive but rather disjun Sep 22, 2023 · Not to worry, we'll walk you through the process of getting a certificate and, more importantly, show you how to successfully utilize certificate pinning in your Android applications. X but I'm running into an Exception: javax. This proactive step is crucial to thwart potential man-in-the-middle attacks that could jeopardize data security within the app. The previous version of this guide was focused on providing clear, simple, actionable guidance for securing the Jan 6, 2021 · Retrofit Android với Certificate Pinning,Giao tiếp an toàn với server từ ứng dụng Android với Certificate Pinning May 24, 2023 · Implementing Certificate Pinning in a Flutter App Using the http Package Certificate pinning is a vital security mechanism that ensures secure communication between a client and a server. It also assumes your HTTPS servers’ certificates are signed by a certificate authority. kt, . 0. 9 with OKHTTP3 client and I am trying to add certification pinning. If it doesn't match, the connection is rejected. Https Certificate pinning for Flutter. Oct 18, 2022 · One of the most basic ways to do this is SSL Certificate Pinning. Jan 11, 2024 · This attribute poses a significant challenge for certificate pinning. net. retrofit:retrofit:1. It is a Dec 12, 2023 · Securing Android Applications: A Comprehensive Guide to SSL Pinning Techniques Introduction: In the ever-evolving landscape of mobile application security, implementing SSL/TLS alone is not always … Jul 5, 2016 · SSL Pinning is ensuring that any client SSL request first validates that the server’s certificate exactly matches the bundle’s certificate previously stored in the application. If an Android app has pinned an old certificate and the server updates its certificate post-expiration, the app would reject connections to the server, mistaking it for a potential security threat. Types of SSL Certificate Pinning Pin the certificate: Comparing the server certificate with the certificate stored in the app. But how to get these values for pinning if I decide to rotate server certificate. Learn more about it here. The key differences lie in the configuration nuances specific to each library, showcasing how developers can tailor their approach based on the chosen networking solution. I get the following error: HTTP FAILED: javax. It will show a prompt, you can simply follow it. java) By default, OkHttp trusts the certificate authorities of the host platform. If you pin against the public key you do not need to update your mobile app each time a certificate is rotated in the server, once you will sign it with the same public key, and you can read the article Hands On Mobile APi Security There are two ways to reduce the risk of trusting public CAs in Android apps: limiting the trusted set of certificates or implementing certificate pinning. Once you get that email, open it from your Android device and download it. Below is the relevant code: String hostname = "xxxxxx. To get the SHA256 hash of the public key you will need the certificate file. Now add this client to our retrofit network call. SSLHandshakeException: Pin verification failed (8) Remember to revert the PIN hash after testing. Dec 14, 2016 · I am using Retrofit 1. Here how I tried to disable SSL verification in my app. For example: Aug 11, 2017 · I´m using Certificate Pinning successfully since a few months now, with OkHTTP 3. OkClient client = new Jun 11, 2015 · I have a . okhttp:okhttp:2. 9. 3. I have pinned 2 certificates (current and backup) at the client by embedding them in the app. The followi Feb 14, 2024 · This guide delves deep into the implementation of certificate pinning, offering detailed code examples, an exploration of Android’s Network Security Configuration for pinning, and strategies to counteract bypass techniques such as those employed by Frida. js Dec 23, 2016 · With certificate pinning it is possible to mitigate or severely reduce the effectiveness of MiTM attacks enabled by spoofing a back-end server’s SSL certificate. Android device is encrypting the data using server's public key, and then the server can decode it using it's private key. By configuring your app to use secure certificates, you can ensure your users only receive and send data to the appropriate servers. Oct 15, 2019 · In my Android application, I need to use certificate pinning. SSL Pinning is a security technique used in mobile app development to enhance the security of network communication between the app and the server. Feb 25, 2025 · Mobile Pentesting: Implementing Certificate Pinning with Retrofit/Okhttp3 Hi, there. Network security configuration TrustStore and sslSocketFactory OKHTTP with certificatePinner Retrofit with custom OKHTTP May 29, 2020 · Here I will discuss four ways we can achieve SSL pinning in Android apps. Oct 12, 2021 · Note: Many blog posts and tools for certificate pinning on Android instead mention/use option 2 - public key pinning. I’ll share my insights and experiences on the topic, and together, we’ll understand why implementing this in our apps can significantly reduce security risks. Recently I updated the used Retrofit version to 2. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) pinning involves Oct 22, 2018 · We will be pinning this hash value in our app using the CertificatePinner which can be added to the OkHttpClient. It’s Batistella here again. It helps security researchers and penetration testers identify SSL pinning mechanisms used in mobile applications. SSL (Secure socket layer) Certificate Pinning is the process for associating a host with its certificate or public key. Nov 29, 2022 · Recently I was working on one Android application that implements Certificate Pinning with a SHA256 hash using retrofit. Jul 11, 2024 · SSL Pinning mitigates these risks by ensuring that the app communicates only with a server presenting the pinned certificate or public key. For example: I have certificate 'X' and this certificate is going to be rotated in two month with certificate 'Y'. Mar 7, 2025 · The SSL pinning (or public key, or certificate pinning) is a technique mitigating Man-in-the-middle attacks against the secure HTTPS communication. xml file I recommend you to use the Mobile Certificate Pinning Generator to extract the live pin being used by the domain you want to pin against and to build for you the correct configuration. If it was successfully installed, you can see that certificate in your device's "Settings-> Trusted Credentials Certificate Pinning (. May 21, 2024 · This section focuses on securing network communications in Android applications using Retrofit, OkHttp, and various security mechanisms such as interceptors, certificate pinning, JWT token Dec 20, 2019 · Learn what certificate pinning is, when to use it, how to implement it in Android, and how it can prevent a MitM attack. Learn how to set up SSL pinning in your Flutter app and keep hackers away from sensitive data. 📌📌 This project will show the implementation of SSL pinning with public key of the server certificate using retrofit okhttp client. 8. The result is the SHA-256 public key fingerprint that you can use in your Android application for certificate pinning. SSLPeerUnverifiedException: Certificate pinning failure! Also, the code in the example doesn't look like it's ever been used/compiled because the line: Oct 26, 2017 · Your code is for supporting a self-signed certificate, which requires more than pinning. Preventing man-in-the-middle attacks On Android, as a fallback: auto-detection of remaining pinning failures, to attempt auto-patching of obfuscated certificate pinning (in fully obfuscated apps, the first request may fail, but this will trigger additional patching so that all subsequent requests work correctly). What is Certificate Pinning? Certificate pinning is a security measure that allows an application to specify which certificates are trusted for a particular domain. 0 + Retrofit 2. Apr 24, 2015 · To avoid mistakes while building the network_security_config. 4. Use these APIs whenever possible. You can use libraries like OkHttp or Retrofit for HTTP requests, which support certificate pinning out of the box. Aug 18, 2023 · In this article, we will explore how to implement SSL pinning using Retrofit, a popular networking library, in an Android app built with Kotlin. These works fine for standard http requests. squareup. Traditionally, SSL certificate pinning is done by Learn how to disable SSL certificate verification in Retrofit for Android and fix common issues. Mar 14, 2025 · This guide provides a complete Android implementation for dynamic SSL pinning, using both server-fetched certificates and Firebase Remote Config as a fallback. So during SSL Handshake, we are actually checking if the public key hash matches with the web server that we are connecting to. Now we can take a look at the code implementation. Mar 31, 2024 · Table content: What is SSL? What is SSL Pinning? SLL Pinning Works Advantages Considerations & Best practices How to Implement in Android? What is SSL? SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. Instead of relying solely on the operating system's trust store, the app checks if the server's certificate matches a known good certificate or public key. Continue Ssl pinning android retrofit SSL connections use Retrofit 2. It ensures that the app trusts only a specific SSL certificate or public key, even if a valid certificate from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) is presented by an attacker. xx"; CertificatePinner certificatePinner = new The SSL pinning (or public key, or certificate pinning) is a technique mitigating Man-in-the-middle attacks against the secure HTTPS communication. May 24, 2016 · In my android app I want to use certificate pinning when communicating with the server. It's free to sign up and bid on jobs. We give insight, on the certificates: therefore, it allows to obtain in the encoding part in Android on self-signed certificates. To create the truststore we will use this handy script from nelenkov slightly modified for our purposes: Feb 26, 2025 · Mobile Pentesting: Implementing mTLS (mutual TLS) with Retrofit/Okhttp3 Hi there. This allows Apps that support versions of Android earlier than N to implement SSL pinning in a way that is future Jan 10, 2022 · Pin There, Done That! Understanding and Defeating Certificate Pinning in Android Applications In this post, we will be looking at how certificate pinning is implemented in Android applications and … Example of certificate pinning on Android. Some applications use a technique referred to as TLS/SSL pinning or certificate pinning, which embeds the fingerprint of the original server certificate in the application itself. I am back here once again. I saw this code that uses the keystore that is stored in the raw folder. The Android documentation provides an example of how SSL validation can be customized within the app's code (in order to implement pinning) in the Unknown CA implementation document. Tagged with mobile, android, security, https. Aug 18, 2023 · Secure Communication with SSL Pinning using Retrofit in Android In the age of advanced mobile applications, security and privacy have become paramount concerns. But, I did not understand it. Server keystore has a private key and 2 certificates, the server's and a root certificate. Jun 3, 2021 · How To Use SSL Certificate On AndroidThis video show how to use local SSL on Android, either use network security config and Retrofit, so you can simulate ht Oct 18, 2022 · One of the most basic ways to do this is SSL Certificate Pinning. Dec 20, 2023 · In essence, whether using Retrofit or Ktor, certificate pinning remains a critical aspect of securing network connections. Contribute to diefferson/http_certificate_pinning development by creating an account on GitHub. http_certificate_pinning API docs, for the Dart programming language. Jan 20, 2022 · Implement SSL pinning using okhttp in Android to increase communication Security Jul 4, 2018 · Recently, I've been testing the certificate pinning implementation provided by OkHttp using version 4. If you want certificate pinning of an ordinary certificate from a certificate authority, the Medium post that you link to is fine. Sep 23, 2024 · Dynamic SSL pinning is an advanced security mechanism used in Android applications to ensure that the app communicates securely with a server by validating the server’s SSL/TLS certificate at For example: *. Enhance app security by preventing man-in-the-middle attacks. The guide presents step-by-step instructions for implementing SSL Pinning using OkHttp and Retrofit, including obtaining and converting server certificates, and integrating them into Android apps. I have got crt file and public key [SHA-256] from the server. The connection is then validated via X509TrustManager. I have read this link regarding the implementation of Native Layer SSL Certificate Pinning. Note: To support Certificate Pinning in an older version of Android. Sep 14, 2017 · We were hesitant to write this tutorial, but due to the many, many requests: in this tutorial you will learn how to ignore the connection's security handshake and let Retrofit accept any, even bad SSL certificates. Secure your mobile apps from MITM attacks now! May 5, 2017 · 0 I did certificate pinning on Android (using Retrofit) like says in OkHttp3 docs (put wrong value -> got exception -> put expected values). Search for jobs related to Certificate pinning android retrofit or hire on the world's largest freelancing marketplace with 24m+ jobs. Aug 29, 2021 · Encryption in Android takes advantage of this property. com pinned with pin1 and a. Add a Network Security Configuration file The Network Security Configuration feature uses an XML file where you specify the settings for your app. SSL pinning also knew as Public Key Pinning is an attempt to solve these issues, ensuring that the certificate chain used is the one your app expects by checking a particular public key or certificate appears in the chain Using SSL in an Android app is easy, however ensuring that the connection is really secure is a different matter. I'm using Retrofit and OkHttp3 to consume web service and I already define the pinning on hashcode of the certificate. I am totally frustrated to understand Aug 31, 2016 · To summarize, pinning a certificate means that your app is verifying that the site the app is communicating with is the actual site by comparing the certificate presented by the site to one bundled in the app. The Android framework verifies certificates and hostnames using these APIs. The previous version of this guide was focused on providing clear, simple, actionable guidance for securing the Jun 10, 2021 · Recently I was working on a chat application for the android platform, everything regarding the remote/networking implementation worked flawlessly. Jul 27, 2017 · I'm trying to use certificate pinning on Android with Retrofit. In this article, we will explore how to implement SSL Pinning in your Android applications using two popular networking libraries: OkHttp and Retrofit. Mengapa Certificate Pinning? Tanpa pinning, Android akan mempercayai semua Certificate Authority (CA) yang sudah di­-bundle di sistem. Mar 15, 2024 · Android Trust anchor for certification path not found for Self signed certificate using Okhttp My Server is using Self-Signed certificate. Now your App is secured with SSL Certificate Pinning. 0 and OKHTTP on self-certified certificates can be easily reached using TrustManager ã, and KeyManagerFactory (if you have a private key). Nov 18, 2024 · Implementing certificate pinning in Android is relatively straightforward. io. Feb 7, 2020 · I tried disable SSL verification in my app, but app crashes in Android 10 in some devices. Feb 6, 2021 · Root certificate: this is also known as Certificate Authority (CA), if we pin against this Root Certificate, that means we need to use the Certificate key of the Hosting service provider. Jul 10, 2014 · I'm trying to get this certificate pinning library to work on android 2. However, implementing pinning validation from scratch should be avoided, as implementation mistakes are extremely likely and usually lead to severe vulnerabilities. p12 certificate file, and I use the SSL Converter to convert it to a . Then I use that pem certificate file in my android code like this: OkHttpClient okHttpClient = Apr 16, 2020 · 🤔Adding SSL Certificates into your Android App with Retrofit When this task was assigned to me in the project I’m working, I thought: this will be easy and it was 🙂, but it wasn’t 🙃 … Jun 3, 2014 · In order to pin a certificate, you first need to create a truststore containing this certificate. TrustKit Android works by extending the Android N Network Security Configuration in two ways: It provides support for the <pin-set> (for SSL pinning) and <debug-overrides> functionality of the Network Security Configuration to earlier versions of Android, down to API level 17. Pinning was discussed at the Virginia chapter’s presentation Securing Wireless Channels in the Mobile Space. Apr 29, 2019 · PUBLIC KEY PINNING I am implementing SSL pinning in our android app. I used the Retrofit networking library and socket. May 2, 2025 · SSL Pinning using Public Key In Android SSL Pinning (also known as Certificate Pinning or Public Key Pinning) is a security technique where an app, instead of trusting any certificate signed by a … Jun 8, 2016 · The easiest way I can think of is to send an email to yourself with the self-signed certificate attached. Oct 31, 2023 · In light of our previous article on Certificate Pinning in Mobile Apps , which we strongly recommend you familiarize yourself with, it is evident that robustly adopting certificate pinning is vital for network-enabled mobile applications. Apr 14, 2025 · Learn how SSL certificate pinning enhances web security and discover its benefits and weaknesses with this comprehensive guide. Oct 22, 2018 · Note : The below example shows certificate pinning for a public website, you would need to use openssl to generate sha256 hash for other websites, for more info on that please refer : https Oct 22, 2018 · FreshByte Labs Certificate Pinning in Retrofit,Android using CertificatePinner Usage Scenario : We may have often connected our client side apps to a lot of web servers. I'm trying to evaluate a valid Verisign-signed certificate. ssl. I didn't fin Encodes the hash in base64 format, which is the format Android expects for certificate pinning. 0; And I've noticed that the hash check is not conjunctive but rather Mar 13, 2025 · Dynamically adding SSL Pinning in an Android app involves updating the pinned certificates without requiring an app update. Jun 10, 2021 · Recently I was working on a chat application for the android platform, everything regarding the remote/networking implementation worked flawlessly. It also prevents connections through man-in-the-middle certificate authorities either known or unknown to the application's user. 6 and Retrofit 1. Certificate pinning in Android An example project that demonstrates how to pin certificates to a default Apache HTTP client that is shipped with Android. Nov 13, 2025 · Another Android ssl certificate pinning bypass for various methods - frida_multiple_unpinning. 0 on an Android app, trying to communicate with an server REST API over HTTPS, that uses a self signed certificate. Blackbox tool to disable SSL certificate validation - including certificate pinning - within iOS and macOS applications. Aug 1, 2020 · How to implement SSL Pinning in your Flutter App SSL pinning is an important security feature that can protect Flutter applications from network hijacking attacks. I am using Okhttp + Retrofit for api calls. Feb 3, 2021 · Recently, I've been testing the certificate pinning implementation provided by OkHttp using version 4. Certificate pinning: Restrict an app's secure connection to particular certificates. 0 and with this started using OkHttp 3. Apr 19, 2022 · Before reading this article make sure you have read this post. Jul 30, 2019 · To get the pin for the server certificate by IP address you can try this bash script: Sep 11, 2023 · SSL pinning, also known as certificate pinning or public key pinning, is a security mechanism used in Android (and other platforms) to enhance the security of SSL/TLS connections between Jun 13, 2023 · Three simple methods to implement certificate pinning in Android app to increase communication security. pem certificate file. SSLPeerUnverifiedException: No peer certificate The gradle file seems to suggest you intent to support android 2 However, when access to the app was given to the audit team, they broke the SSL Pinning and they are suggesting to use the Native Layer SSL certificate Pinning implementation, instead of Java layer SSL certificate pinning. I used in my app Retrofit and Okhttp. Contribute to ikust/hello-pinnedcerts development by creating an account on GitHub. Sep 13, 2024 · Now SSL Pinning is required in every project, SSL certificate pinning plays a crucial role in protecting against Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks. This includes revoked, expired or self-signed SSL certificates. Then select the downloaded certificate to install it. To make sure your app exchanges data with the correct server, it's certificate must be issued by one of the Certificate Authorities (CA). Here's an example of how certificate pinning can be implemented in Retrofit: Sep 8, 2020 · Learn how to implement SSL Pinning with OkHTTP and Retrofit for Android. May 31, 2023 · By following these steps, you can implement SSL pinning in your Retrofit client and ensure secure communication with the server by verifying the SSL certificate. What Learn how to secure your Android app with SSL Pinning using OkHttp Retrofit. Sep 22, 2023 · Not to worry, we'll walk you through the process of getting a certificate and, more importantly, show you how to successfully utilize certificate pinning in your Android applications. com pinned with pin2, to check a. Apr 24, 2025 · 3. Important Note: Make sure to replace example. Aug 28, 2021 · Android — Configure Retrofit to use certificate and server’s private key Quick intro to certificates and keys When developing mobile apps, it is very likely that you communicate with some Jun 23, 2023 · By implementing SSL pinning in your Android app, you demonstrate a commitment to securing your users’ data and maintaining the integrity of your application’s network communication. Utilizing these, developers can specify trusted certificates, allowing only connections to servers Learn how to disable SSL certificate verification in Retrofit for Android and fix common issues. openssl s_client output - SSL Pinning in Android: Shield Your App from man in the middle attacks Certificate pinning represents a critical security enhancement for mobile applications that communicate with backend servers Apr 3, 2018 · According to the documentation here , it should be failing with javax. One crucial aspect of ensuring Jul 6, 2024 · SSL Pinning mitigates these risks by ensuring that the app communicates only with a server presenting the pinned certificate or public key. Android SSL certificate pinning with retrofitI want to do certificate pinning in android app. We may build our apps this way easily, but how can we ensure that we are communicating with the right web servers that we actually intend to communicate with? Jun 29, 2025 · The Android HttpURLConnection documentation includes examples for handling request and response headers, publishing content, managing cookies, using proxies, caching responses, and more. If you pin against the public key you do not need to update your mobile app each time a certificate is rotated in the server, once you will sign it with the same public key, and you can read the article Hands On Mobile APi Security SSLPinDetect is a tool for analyzing Android APKs to detect SSL pinning implementations by scanning for known patterns in decompiled code. You can take a look at CWAC- netsecurity or Dexprotector. 0 with com. Jul 28, 2017 · In logcat, you will see: I/Failure: javax. Warning: ignoring SSL certificate validity is incredibly dangerous and opens up your app and users for all kinds of Nov 18, 2024 · In this post, I want to walk you through what certificate pinning is, how it works, and why it's such an important security measure for Android apps. js Jan 1, 2024 · New term define — Certificate Pinning It is a security mechanism used in web and mobile applications to enhance the security of communication between a client (such as a mobile app) and a server Dec 23, 2016 · With certificate pinning it is possible to mitigate or severely reduce the effectiveness of MiTM attacks enabled by spoofing a back-end server’s SSL certificate. Well, in my last post, I showed how to implement a certificate pinning for a mobile Jun 26, 2019 · In this article we will learn what certificate pinning is, when to use it, how to implement it in an Android app, and how it can prevent a MitM attack. An example is CertificatePinner from popular OkHttp library. Following this and this links from Google docs, I android ssl-certificate okhttp certificate-pinning android-network-security-config Nouman Bhatti May 29, 2020 · Here I will discuss four ways we can achieve SSL pinning in Android apps. Traditionally, SSL certificate pinning is done by Dec 2, 2023 · Android’s TrustManager and SSLSocketFactory classes facilitate SSL pinning implementation.