Use Burp Suite with Genymotion Desktop

Prerequisites

  • Burp suite
  • openssl (optional)

Step 1 – Setting up Burp Suite

  1. In Burp Suite, go to the Proxy tab.
  2. Click on Proxy Settings

Here, we will choose to listen to port 8080 from all interfaces:

Burp Suite Proxy Settings window.
  • Click import/export CA certificate > Export > Certificate in DER format
  • Choose a path and name it anything with a .der extension
  • Click Next

Note

We will use the name Burp_cert.der as an example for this tutorial.

Step 2 – Upload and install the Burp Suite Certificate

  1. Start your device.
  2. Drag’n drop the Burp_cert.der file you generated to the device display.
  3. Go to Android Settings and search install a certificate. In the results, click Install certificates from SD Card and select CA certificate. Click install anyway to bypass the warning.
  4. Navigate to /sdcard/Download and click on Burp_cert.der.
  5. If you are using Android 9 or below, you may be requested to set a secure lock screen. Comply and set a lock:
Android Encryption & credentials options screen

To verify whether the certificate is properly installed, go to Android settings, search and click Trusted credentials. You should see the certificate in the USER tab:

Android Trusted credentials page

Warning

This method alters the Android system significantly and may break the device. Use with extreme care and only if necessary!

Important

Installing System certificates on Android 14 requires Magisk 23.0 and a third party plugin.

1. Root the device

Android 14 is not rooted by default, so make sure that the device is rooted before going any further. Please refer to Genymotion Desktop on-line documentation for more details.

2. Install Magisk

Follow the instructions from our FAQ to install Magisk: How to install Magisk on Genymotion?

3. Install the certificate as user certificate

Follow the instructions from the tab “as user certificate”

4. Install the Cert-Fix plugin for Magisk

  1. Download Cert-Fixer.zip from Cert-Fixer github repository.
  2. Upload the file to the device. You can either use adb push Cert-Fixer.zip /sdcard/Download or simply drag’n drop the file to the device display.
  3. Open Magisk and go to the Plugins section.
  4. Click “Install from storage” and select Cert-Fixed.zip from the Download folder (/sdcard/Download)
    Magisk plugin window with "Install from storage" button.
  5. Wait for the plugin to install. When done, click “Reboot” to reboot the device.
    Magisk plugin installation log window.

After a reboot, the Burp Suite CA certificate (“PortSwigger CA”) should now be installed as a system certificate:
Trusted credentials window showing the Burp Suite CA certificate

Warning

The Cert-Fix plugin will copy any user certificate as system certificate on boot. If you don’t need to install any other system certificates, make sure to disable the plugin to avoid installing system certificates by mistake.

1. Root the device

Android 12-13 images are not rooted by default, so make sure that the device is rooted before going any further. Please refer to Genymotion Desktop on-line documentation for more details.

2. Convert the certificate

We need to convert the Burp certificate into PEM format. Use openssl to convert DER to PEM, then output the subject_hash_old:

Bash
openssl x509 -inform DER -in Burp_cert.der -out Burp_cert.pem # Convert DER certificate to PEM
openssl x509 -inform PEM -subject_hash_old -in Burp_cert.pem |head -1 # Display subject_hash_old

Then, rename the file with the output hash from the last command. For example, if the hash is 9a5ba575, then rename the file as 9a5ba575.0:

Bash
mv Burp_cert.pem 9a5ba575.0

3. Install the certificate

First, we need to make the /system partition writeable:

Bash
adb root # switch to root
adb shell 'mount -o rw,remount /' # remount the system with write permission
adb push <cert>.0 /system/etc/security/cacerts/ # upload the certificate
adb shell chmod 644 /system/etc/security/cacerts/<cert>.0 # Change the certificate permissions

For example, with the 9a5ba575.0 certificate:

Bash
adb root
adb shell 'mount -o rw,remount /'
adb push 9a5ba575.0 /system/etc/security/cacerts/
adb shell chmod 644 /system/etc/security/cacerts/9a5ba575.0

Reboot the device.

After the device has rebooted, browsing to Settings -> Security -> Trusted Credentials should show the new “Portswigger CA” as a system trusted CA:
Android system window showing trusted credentials with System certificates.

1. Convert the certificate

We need to convert the Burp certificate into PEM format. Use openssl to convert DER to PEM, then output the subject_hash_old:

Bash
openssl x509 -inform DER -in Burp_cert.der -out Burp_cert.pem # Convert DER certificate to PEM
openssl x509 -inform PEM -subject_hash_old -in Burp_cert.pem |head -1 # Display subject_hash_old

Then, rename the file with the output hash from the last command. For example, if the hash is 9a5ba575, then rename the file as 9a5ba575.0:

Bash
mv Burp_cert.pem 9a5ba575.0

2. Install the certificate

First, we need to make the /system partition writeable:

Bash
adb remount # remount the system with write permission
adb push <cert>.0 /system/etc/security/cacerts/ # upload the certificate
adb shell chmod 644 /system/etc/security/cacerts/<cert>.0 # Change the certificate permissions

For example, with the 9a5ba575.0 certificate:

Bash
adb remount
adb push 9a5ba575.0 /system/etc/security/cacerts/
adb shell chmod 644 /system/etc/security/cacerts/9a5ba575.0

Reboot the device.

After the device has rebooted, browsing to Settings -> Security -> Trusted Credentials should show the new “Portswigger CA” as a system trusted CA:
Android system settings window showing trusted credentials with system certificates.

Step 3 – Set Android global proxy to Burp Suite proxy

Though it is possible to use Android settings, we recommend using ADB command line tool which is more reliable and easier to handle.

Note

If you do not have, or wish to install, Android SDK tools, you can use Genymotion ADB built-in tool. Please refer to Genymotion Desktop user guide for more information.

To set the global proxy, use the following adb command:

Bash
adb shell settings put global http_proxy <burp_proxy_ip>:<burp_listening_port>

<burp_proxy_ip> is the IP of the host machine where Burp Suite is running, <burp_listening_port> is Burp Suite Listening port.

For example, if Burp is running on a host machine with IP 192.168.1.84 and is listening to port 8080, then the command should look like:

Bash
adb shell settings put global http_proxy 192.168.1.84:8080

From then, Internet traffic should be redirected to Burp Suite.

Note

Though this setting is global, applications may have their own proxy settings which cannot be controlled this way. The only solution in this case is to use a third party Android application, such as ProxyDroid, to redirect all trafic from the device to Burp Suite proxy.

Disable global proxy

Important

If the proxy is still set after stopping the device, Wifi may be disabled the next time you start the device. To avoid this, make sure to unset the global proxy before stopping the device.

Use the following ADB command to unset the proxy:

Bash
adb shell settings put global http_proxy :0

Extras

Genymotion Desktop and Burp Suite run on the same host

With VirtualBox

You can use the IP address 10.0.3.2 from the virtual device to reach Burp Suite: IP 10.0.3.2 is a VirtualBox alias to your host loopback interface (i.e., 127.0.0.1 on your host machine).

So, if Burp Suite listens to *:8080, it can be accessed from the virtual device using the IP 10.0.3.2:8080. All you need is to set Android global proxy to this address and port:

Bash
adb shell settings put global http_proxy 10.0.3.2:8080

With QEMU

Unlike VirtualBox, there is no loopback interface when using QEMU. However, it is possible to use adb reverse to bind a virtual device local port to a host local port.

First set Android global proxy to localhost:3333 (or any other available port):

Bash
adb shell settings put global http_proxy localhost:3333

If Burp Suite listens to *:8080, we then need to use:

Bash
adb reverse tcp:3333 tcp:8080

In this example, this will bind the virtual device local TCP port 3333 to your host machine local TCP port 8080.

Script with gmtool to automate the process

Note

The following scripts require gmtool advanced commands which are only available with a paying license.

You can use scripts to combine gmtool and adb to automatically set the proxy and start a device, and unset the proxy while stopping the device. See examples below.

Start script example

Shell script (Linux, macOS):

ShellScript
#!/bin/bash
## Start your device with gmtool.
## We assume Genymotion is installed in your Home folder.
$home/genymotion/gmtool admin start "your_device_name"
## Set Burp Suite proxy as global proxy to the device.
## We use proxy IP 10.0.3.2 and port 8080. Replace with your own settings.
## We use Genymotion built-in ADB.
$home/genymotion/tools/adb shell settings put global http_proxy 10.0.3.2:8080

Batch script (Windows):

BAT (Batchfile)
@echo off
REM Start your device with gmtool.
REM We assume Genymotion is installed in "C:\Program Files".
C:\Program Files\Genymobile\Genymotion\gmtool.exe admin start "your_device_name"
REM Set Burp Suite proxy.
REM We use proxy IP 10.0.3.2 and port 8080. Replace with your own settings.
REM We use Genymotion built-in ADB
C:\Program Files\Genymobile\Genymotion\tools\adb shell settings put global http_proxy 10.0.3.2:8080

Stop script example

Shell script (Linux, macOS):

ShellScript
#!/bin/bash
## Remove the global proxy settings.
$home/genymotion/tools/adb shell settings put global http_proxy :0
## Stop the running device.
$home/genymotion/gmtool admin stop "your_device_name"

Batch script (Windows):

BAT (Batchfile)
@echo off
REM Remove the global proxy settings.
C:\Program Files\Genymobile\Genymotion\tools\adb shell settings put global http_proxy :0
REM Stop the running device.
C:\Program Files\Genymobile\Genymotion\gmtool.exe admin stop "your_device_name"

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