Install Burp CA as a system-level CA on the device
It does require a rooted device
Last updated
It does require a rooted device
Last updated
Since the "traditional" way of installing a user certificate doesn’t work anymore in Nougat and above, the easiest solution is to install the Burp CA to the system trusted certificates. You can see all the system CAs that are bundled with an Android device by going to Settings -> Security -> Trusted Credentials and viewing system CAs. You’ll see the similar CAs you’d see in a browser bundle.
Trusted CAs for Android are stored in a special format in /system/etc/security/cacerts. If you have root privileges, it's possible to write to this location and drop in the Burp CA (after some modification).
The first step is to get the Burp CA in the right format. Using Burp Suite, export the CA Certificate in DER format and save it as cacert.der
Android wants the certificate to be in PEM format, and to have the filename equal to the subject_hash_old value appended with .0.
Use openssl to convert DER to PEM, then output the subject_hash_old and rename the file:
It can be using adb to copy the certificate over, but since it has to be copied to the /system filesystem, you have to remount it as writable. As root, this is easy with adb remount.
Sometimes you have to use /sdcard instead of /sdcard/ (removing the / at the end) because could have conflict. Of course you can use another path if is more suitable for you.
Then just drop into a shell (adb shell) and move the file to /system/etc/security/cacerts . After that change the permissions to 644:
Lastly, a full reboot is needed in the device with either adb reboot or a power cycle.
After the device reboots, browsing to Settings -> Security -> Trusted Credentials should show the new “Portswigger CA” as a system trusted CA.
Now it’s possible to set up the proxy and start intercepting any and all app traffic with Burp :)
