Flutter
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Flutter
Flutter is Google’s cross-platform UI toolkit that lets developers write a single Dart code-base which the Engine (native C/C++) turns into platform-specific machine code for Android & iOS.
The Engine bundles a Dart VM, BoringSSL, Skia, etc., and ships as the shared library libflutter.so (Android) or Flutter.framework (iOS). All actual networking (DNS, sockets, TLS) happens inside this library, not in the usual Java/Kotlin Swift/Obj-C layers. That siloed design is why the usual Java-level Frida hooks fail on Flutter apps.
Intercepting HTTPS traffic in Flutter
Thsi is a summary of this blog post.
Why HTTPS interception is tricky in Flutter
- SSL/TLS verification lives two layers down in BoringSSL, so Java SSL‐pinning bypasses don’t touch it.
- BoringSSL uses its own CA store inside libflutter.so; importing your Burp/ZAP CA into Android’s system store changes nothing.
- Symbols in libflutter.so are stripped & mangled, hiding the certificate-verification function from dynamic tools.
Fingerprint the exact Flutter stack
Knowing the version lets you re-build or pattern-match the right binaries.
Step | Command / File | Outcome |
---|---|---|
Get snapshot hash | bash\npython3 get_snapshot_hash.py libapp.so\n | adb4292f3ec25… |
Map hash → Engine | enginehash list in reFlutter | Flutter 3 · 7 · 12 + engine commit 1a65d409… |
Pull dependent commits | DEPS file in that engine commit | • dart_revision → Dart v2 · 19 · 6• dart_boringssl_rev → BoringSSL 87f316d7… |
Find get_snapshot_hash.py here.
Target: ssl_crypto_x509_session_verify_cert_chain()
- Located in
ssl_x509.cc
inside BoringSSL. - Returns
bool
– a singletrue
is enough to bypass the whole certificate chain check. - Same function exists on every CPU arch; only the opcodes differ.
Option A – Binary patching with reFlutter
- Clone the exact Engine & Dart sources for the app’s Flutter version.
- Regex-patch two hotspots:
- In
ssl_x509.cc
, forcereturn 1;
- (Optional) In
socket_android.cc
, hard-code a proxy ("10.0.2.2:8080"
).
- In
- Re-compile libflutter.so, drop it back into the APK/IPA, sign, install.
- Pre-patched builds for common versions are shipped in the reFlutter GitHub releases to save hours of build time.
### Option B – Live hooking with Frida (the “hard-core” path)
Because the symbol is stripped, you pattern-scan the loaded module for its first bytes, then change the return value on the fly.
// attach & locate libflutter.so
var flutter = Process.getModuleByName("libflutter.so");
// x86-64 pattern of the first 16 bytes of ssl_crypto_x509_session_verify_cert_chain
var sig = "55 41 57 41 56 41 55 41 54 53 48 83 EC 38 C6 02";
Memory.scan(flutter.base, flutter.size, sig, {
onMatch: function (addr) {
console.log("[+] found verifier at " + addr);
Interceptor.attach(addr, {
onLeave: function (retval) { retval.replace(0x1); } // always 'true'
});
},
onComplete: function () { console.log("scan done"); }
});
Run it:
frida -U -f com.example.app -l bypass.js
Porting tips
- For arm64-v8a or armv7, grab the first ~32 bytes of the function from Ghidra, convert to a space-separated hex string, and replace
sig
. - Keep one pattern per Flutter release, store them in a cheat-sheet for fast reuse.
Forcing traffic through your proxy
Flutter itself ignores device proxy settings. Easiest options:
- Android Studio emulator: Settings ▶ Proxy → manual.
- Physical device: evil Wi-Fi AP + DNS spoofing, or Magisk module editing
/etc/hosts
.