8 Types of Cyberattacks a WAF is Designed to Stop

A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is your first line of defense against internet traffic that can be both legitimate and malicious. It helps protect your web applications, websites, and servers from various cyber-attacks by filtering out harmful traffic.

WAF (WAAP) is essential for web security as it quickly identifies and addresses vulnerabilities in applications and servers.

It effectively blocks different types of attacks, preventing malicious actors from exploiting these weaknesses and giving developers crucial time to fix them.

8 Web Application Attacks that WAF Prevents

1. DDoS Attacks

DDoS attacks seek to overwhelm a target web application/ website/ server with fake traffic, draining network bandwidth, and making it unavailable to legitimate users. DDoS attacks happen in several different ways including flooding, amplification, protocol-based, and reflection.

Some common yet dangerous types of DDoS attacks include SYN flood, DNS amplification, Smurf attacks, Ping of death, HTTP flood, etc.

A WAF mitigates DDoS attacks by continuously monitoring traffic patterns, detecting anomalies, and blocking malicious requests before they reach the application. WAFs utilize Global Threat Intelligence and Machine Learning to differentiate between legitimate and fake traffic.

With managed WAF solutions like AppTrana, the support team identify patterns of DDoS attacks and writes accurate rules to prevent DDoS attacks. Regardless of the attacker’s skill, there is always a detectable fingerprint left behind, which can be used to thwart any attacks.

2. SQL Injection Attacks

In these attacks, the attacker inserts malicious SQL code into user input fields, like submission or contact forms on web applications. This allows them to access the application’s backend database, where they can steal sensitive information, gain unauthorized administrative access, modify or delete data, and potentially take full control of the web application. Learn how to stop SQL injection attacks.

When a WAF is in place, it examines requests made to the server, identifying and blocking any attempts to inject SQL commands into query fields. By analyzing patterns and signatures associated with SQL injection attempts, the WAF can effectively neutralize these threats before they reach the database.

Check out the WAF coverage for critical MOVEit SQL Injection Vulnerability.

3. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Attacks

XSS attacks target users of vulnerable web applications or websites to gain control of their browsers. Attackers exploit application vulnerabilities to inject malicious scripts that run when the user loads the site. In reflected XSS attacks, the malicious code executes only if the user clicks a link, while in stored XSS attacks, the code is saved and executed every time the user visits the site. These attacks compromise personal information, leading to identity theft or session hijacking. They often occur due to unsanitized user input fields or outdated code like VBScript, ActiveX, or JavaScript.

A WAF blocks XSS attacks by filtering out malicious payloads before they reach the web application. When vulnerabilities are in third-party code or plugins, developers may need to wait for a patch, risking potential attacks. AppTrana WAAP addresses this by virtually patching XSS vulnerabilities at the WAF level. It uses advanced anomaly scoring, input validation, signatures, behavioral analysis, and threat intelligence to block attacks.

Check out the WAF coverage for Hotjar’s OAuth+XSS Flaw

4. Zero-day Attacks

Zero-day attacks are those where the organization knows about the existence of vulnerabilities in the hardware/ software only when the attack happens. These are unexpected and therefore, extremely damaging for businesses as they do not have quick fixes or patches to protect their application. The cyber-attackers, on the other hand, may have been snooping around the application way before and exploited the vulnerabilities as soon they found them.

Managed, intelligent WAFs equipped with ML capabilities are designed to not only block bad requests and analyze attack patterns but also whitelist users, challenge requests, and continuously manage policies and rules based on learning. By using behavioral analysis and anomaly detection to identify and block unusual patterns of web traffic that might indicate an exploit. It employs custom rules to target specific threats and validates and filters inputs to prevent malicious data from causing harm.

Also, explore our Monthly 0-day vulnerability report & AppTrana WAF coverage.

5. Business Logic Attacks

Business logic is the critical element connecting and passing information between the UI and databases and software systems, enabling users to effectively use the web application/ website. When there are gaps, errors, or overlaps in the business logic, it creates vulnerabilities that are often exploited by cyber-attackers for monetary and other advantages.

Attackers do not use malformed requests and malicious payloads to orchestrate business logic attacks. They use legitimate values and legal requests to exploit the circumstantial vulnerabilities in the application.

Managed WAFs are best equipped to tackle these attacks as they combine the scalability, speed, and accuracy of machines with the expertise, intelligence, and creative-thinking abilities of certified security professionals who understand the business.

6. Man-in-the-middle Attacks

These attacks happen when the attackers position themselves in between the application and legitimate users to extract confidential details such as passwords, login credentials, credit card details, etc. by impersonating one of the two parties.

The attack can be orchestrated through simple means like providing free, malicious hotspots in public locations that are not password protected. When victims connect to these hotspots, they give the full visibility of their online data exchange to the attacker. Advanced methods such as DNS cache poisoning, IP spoofing, ARP spoofing, etc. are used for interception of the connection, and HTTPS spoofing, SSL hijacking, SSL beast, etc. are used for decryption of the two-way SSL traffic without alerting the user or the application.

WAF can use threat intelligence and anomaly detection to identify unusual patterns that may indicate a MitM attack, such as unauthorized changes to data or attempts to intercept communications. By blocking suspicious requests and ensuring secure data transmission, WAF mitigates the risk of MitM attacks.

7. Local File Inclusion (LFI) & Remote File Inclusion (RFI) Attacks

LFI and RFI exploit vulnerabilities in web applications to include and execute unauthorized files on the server. LFI targets local files, potentially exposing sensitive data or allowing code execution, while RFI involves including files from a remote server, which can lead to full server compromise.

A Web Application Firewall (WAF) helps prevent these attacks by filtering incoming requests to block malicious file inclusion attempts. It scrutinizes file paths and URLs for suspicious patterns, ensuring that only legitimate file requests are processed and mitigating the risks associated with both LFI and RFI vulnerabilities.

8. Remote Code Execution (RCE) Attacks

A remote code execution attack occurs when an attacker can execute arbitrary code on a remote system, usually by exploiting vulnerabilities in a web application. This can lead to unauthorized access, data breaches, or complete control of the affected system.

By using signature-based detection, the WAF identifies known attack patterns that might indicate an attempt to exploit vulnerabilities for remote code execution. It also employs behavioral analysis to detect anomalies in traffic or application behavior that could suggest an ongoing RCE attack. Additionally, the WAF can filter and sanitize inputs to prevent the injection of malicious code.

For an in-depth look at the methods a WAF uses to block these and other malicious attacks, read our detailed blog on how a WAF works.

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