I recently read a lot of post and article about securing sensitive info into a React Native app. From what I understand, you can't fully protect your sensitive info but only make hacker's life harder to get them.
So, from that point of view, I would like to know if it wouldn't be "safer" to get those sensitive info (i.e. API keys) from an external server (i.e. Rest API).
I explain:
I know about MitM attacks, but would it be safer (and more flexible) to have my mobile app calling my API to get API keys on request thru HTTPS? This way, no sensitive info remains in the app binary files.
And to secure MitM attacks, I could frequently change those API key values so they would remains valid only on a short period of time.
I would like to hear anyone about PROS and CONS of such a system.
CodePudding user response：
APIs Misconceptions
To prepare you for my answer I will first clear out some usual misconceptions around public/private APIs and about who vs what is really accessing your backend.
Public and Private APIs
I often see that developers think that their APIs are private, because they have no docs for it, have not advertise it anywhere, and many other reasons.
The truth is that when you release a mobile app all the APIs it communicates with are now belonging to the public domain and if this APIs don't have an authentication and authorization mechanism in place then all data behind it can be accessed by anyone in the internet that reverse engineers how your mobile app works. Even when APIs have authentication in place they may be vulnerable to bad implementations of it and some have a total lack of authorization mechanisms or buggy ones as per OWASP API Security Top 10 vulnerability list.
The Difference Between WHO and WHAT is Accessing the API Server
I wrote a series of articles around API and Mobile security, and in the article Why Does Your Mobile App Need An Api Key? you can read in detail the difference between who and what is accessing your API server, but I will extract here the main takes from it:
The what is the thing making the request to the API server. Is it really a genuine instance of your mobile app, or is it a bot, an automated script or an attacker manually poking around your API server with a tool like Postman?
The who is the user of the mobile app that we can authenticate, authorize and identify in several ways, like using OpenID Connect or OAUTH2 flows.
So think about the who as the user your API server will be able to Authenticate and Authorize access to the data, and think about the what as the software making that request in behalf of the user.
API Keys Service
I know about MitM attacks, but would it be safer (and more flexible) to have my mobile app calling my API to get API keys on request thru HTTPS? This way, no sensitive info remains in the app binary files.
While you indeed don't have any sensitive info in the app binary files you haven't solved the problem. In my opinion you are more exposed, because you are now getting the API keys from an public and open API endpoint.
I say it's open because you don't have any safeguard that what is making the request to it are indeed a genuine and untampered version of your mobile app.
So, now all an attacker needs to do is to MitM attack your mobile app or decompile it to see from which API endpoint you grab the API keys to make the requests, and then replicate the procedure from their automated scripts/bots, therefore doesn't really matter that you don't have them hardcoded in the app binary any more.
API Keys Rotation
And to secure MitM attacks, I could frequently change those API key values so they would remains valid only on a short period of time.
In light of the above explanation , on the API Keys Service section, you can even make the API keys restricted to be used only for one single request that the attacker will still succeed, because the attacker will be able to query the API endpoint to obtain API keys as if he was what the backend expects, a genuine and untampered version of your mobile app.
So, to be clear I am in favour of API keys rotation but only if you can get them into your mobile app from a secured external source, but your approach is open to be accessed by anyone on the internet.
I would like to hear anyone about PROS and CONS of such a system.
The system you are describing is not advisable to implement, because without being secured it's just a security disaster asking to occur. Securing it with an API key it's just going back to the initial problem with the disadvantage that your giving back to the mobile the sensitive info you want to keep away from hackers.
The best approach for you is to use a Reverse Proxy to keep the API keys private and secured from prying eyes.
The Reverse Proxy Approach
So, from that point of view, I would like to know if it wouldn't be "safer" to get those sensitive info (i.e. API keys) from an external server (i.e. Rest API).
What you are looking for is to implement a Reverse Proxy, that is usually used to protect access to third party APIs and your own APIs, by having the mobile app delegating the API requests to the Reverse Proxy, instead of asking for the API keys to make them from inside the mobile app.
The Reverse Proxy approach will avoid to have several API keys harcoded in the mobile app, but you still need one API key to protect access to the Reverse Proxy, therefore you are still vulnerable to the MitM attacks and to static reverse engineering of your mobile app.
The advantage now is that all your sensitive API keys are private and in an environment you can control and employ as many security measures you need to ensure that the request are indeed from what your backend expects, a genuine and untampered version of your mobile app.
Learn more about using a Reverse Proxy by reading the article I wrote Using a Reverse Proxy to Protect Third Party APIs:
In this article you will start by learning what Third Party APIs are, and why you shouldn’t access them directly from within your mobile app. Next you will learn what a Reverse Proxy is, followed by when and why you should use it to protect the access to the Third Party APIs used in your mobile app.
While the article focus on third party APIs the principle also applies to use with your own APIs.
Preventing MitM Attacks
When certificate pinning is implemented in a mobile app to secure the https channel then the sensitive data on the API requests is more safeguarded from being extracted.
I recommend you to read the section Preventing MitM Attacks in this answer I gave to another question where you will learn how to implement static certificate pinning and how to bypass it.
Despite being possible to bypass certificate pinning I still strongly recommend it to be implemented, because it reduces the attack surface on your mobile app.
A Possible Better Solution
I recommend you to read this answer I gave to the question How to secure an API REST for mobile app?, especially the sections Hardening and Shielding the Mobile App, Securing the API Server and A Possible Better Solution.
The solution will be the use of a Mobile App Attestation solution that will allow your backend to have an high degree of confidence that the request is from what it expects, a genuine and untampered version of your mobile app.
Do You Want To Go The Extra Mile?
In any response to a security question I always like to reference the excellent work from the OWASP foundation.
For APIS
The OWASP API Security Project seeks to provide value to software developers and security assessors by underscoring the potential risks in insecure APIs, and illustrating how these risks may be mitigated. In order to facilitate this goal, the OWASP API Security Project will create and maintain a Top 10 API Security Risks document, as well as a documentation portal for best practices when creating or assessing APIs.
For Mobile Apps
OWASP Mobile Security Project - Top 10 risks
The OWASP Mobile Security Project is a centralized resource intended to give developers and security teams the resources they need to build and maintain secure mobile applications. Through the project, our goal is to classify mobile security risks and provide developmental controls to reduce their impact or likelihood of exploitation.
OWASP - Mobile Security Testing Guide:
The Mobile Security Testing Guide (MSTG) is a comprehensive manual for mobile app security development, testing and reverse engineering.