How to connect Burp Suite to Genymotion

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Keywords: Burp suite, openssl, ADB, gmsaas, PortSwigger CA

Document ID: https://genymotion.com/blog/tutorial/burp-suite-genymotion#split1

Prerequisites

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.

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

Step 2 – Upload and install the Burp Suite Certificate

Method 1: As a user certificate

To intercept basic traffic, such as simple HTTP, you will just need to add the certificate in the user certificate store.

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 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.

6. To verify whether the certificate is properly installed, go to Android settings, and click Trusted credentials.

Method 2: As a system CA certificate

If you need to intercept more traffic, especially SSL (HTTPS), you will need to install the certificate as a certified CA system certificate, in the root store.

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

A. Connect the device to ADB

If you are using Genymotion Desktop, you can skip this step as ADB will automatically be connected to the first running local virtual device.

For Genymotion SaaS and Genymotion PaaS, please refer to the following documentation:

B. Install the certificate

The method will differ depending on the Android image of your virtual device.

Android 14+

Android 14+ images are not rooted by default, so make sure that the device is rooted before going any further.

Please refer to for instructions.

2. Install Magisk. 3. Install the certificate as user certificate.

Follow the instructions from the previous chapter: “Method 1: As a user certificate”.

4. Install the Cert-Fixer plugin for Magisk.

1. Download Cert-Fixer.zip from . 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-Fixer.zip from the Download folder (/sdcard/Download) 5. Wait for the plugin to install. When done, click “Reboot” to reboot the device.

After a reboot, the Burp Suite CA certificate (“PortSwigger CA”) should now be installed as a system certificate.

> The Cert-Fixer 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.

Android 12-13

Android 12 & 13 images are not rooted by default, so make sure that the device is rooted before going any further.

Please refer to for detailed instructions.

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: 

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: 

mv Burp_cert.pem 9a5ba575.0

3. Install the certificate.

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

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: 

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 11 and below

Android 10 & 11 images are not rooted by default, so make sure that the device is rooted before going any further.

Please refer to for detailed instructions.

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:

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:

2. Install the certificate.

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

adb root # switch to root user
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: 

adb root
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:

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.

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

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 92.68.1.84 and is listening to port 8080, then the command should look like: 

adb shell settings put global http_proxy 92.68.1.84:8080

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

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

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: 

adb shell settings put global http_proxy :0

About Genymotion Desktop (local setup only)

If Genymotion Desktop and Burp Suite run on the same host computer, you can use the following configuration for the proxy in the virtual device.

With VirtualBox (Windows)

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 127.0.0.1:8080, 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: 

adb shell settings put global http_proxy 10.0.3.2:8080

With QEMU (Linux/Mac)

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): 

adb shell settings put global http_proxy localhost:3333

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

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.