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Hey 👋,
Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) are like the bouncers of the internet 🥷 — they stand at the door of a website, checking everyone’s requests and kicking out anything suspicious. They protect websites from attacks like SQL Injection, XSS, file inclusion, and more.
But here’s the thing: no security control is bulletproof. Just like a determined hacker can sweet-talk or trick a bouncer, skilled penetration testers and red teamers know how to bypass WAFs.
A WAF sits between the user and the web application, filtering traffic based on rules.
It can be:
- Network-based (hardware appliance in data centers)
- Cloud-based (AWS WAF, Cloudflare, Imperva)
- Host-based (software on the web server)
They block common attack payloads based on patterns. For example:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE id='1' OR '1'='1'A WAF will detect this as SQL Injection 🚨 and block it.
- Bug Bounty Hunting — Some high-paying bugs are hidden behind WAF rules.