Important: As of 01/18/2022, WAF Automation on AWS for WAF Classic has been deprecated. For the latest features and updates, we encourage customers to use Security Automations for AWS WAF, which supports the latest WAFV2.
What does this AWS Solution do?
You can use AWS WAF to create custom, application-specific rules that block attack patterns to ensure application availability, secure resources, and prevent excessive resource consumption.
The Security Automations for AWS WAF solution supports the latest version of AWS WAF (AWS WAFV2) service API.
Benefits
Leverage the Security Automation for AWS WAF solution out of-the-box, or build your own set of WAF rules.
The solution configures two native AWS WAF rules that are designed to protect against common SQL injection or XSS patterns in the URI, query string, or body of a request.
The AWS CloudFormation template automatically launches and configures the AWS WAF settings and protective features you choose to include during initial deployment.
When activated, AWS CloudFormation provisions an Amazon Athena query and a scheduled AWS Lambda function responsible for orchestrating Athena executing, processing result output, and updating AWS WAF.
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Security Automations for AWS WAF
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Security Automations for AWS WAF
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AWS Solution overview
The Security Automations for AWS WAF solution provides fine-grained control over the requests attempting to access your web application. The diagram below presents the architecture you can build using the solution's implementation guide and accompanying AWS CloudFormation template.
At the core of the design is an AWS WAF web ACL that acts as central inspection and decision point for all incoming requests. The protective functions you choose to activate determine the custom rules that are added to your web ACL.
Security Automations for AWS WAF architecture
AWS Managed Rules (A): This set of AWS managed core rules provides protection against exploitation of a wide range of common application vulnerabilities or other unwanted traffic.
Manual IP lists (B and C): This component creates two specific AWS WAF rules that allow you to manually insert IP addresses that you want to block or allow. You can also configure IP retention and remove expired IP addresses from these IP lists.
SQL Injection (D) and XSS (E): The solution configures two native AWS WAF rules that are designed to protect against common SQL injection or cross-site scripting (XSS) patterns in the URI, query string, or body of a request.
HTTP flood (F): This component helps protect against attacks that consist of a large number of requests from a particular IP address, such as a web-layer DDoS attacks or a brute-force login attempt. This feature supports thresholds of less than 100 requests within a 5 minute period.
Scanners and Probes (G): This component parses application access logs searching for suspicious behavior, such as an abnormal amount of errors generated by an origin. It then blocks those suspicious source IP addresses for a customer-defined period of time.
IP Reputation Lists (H): This component is the IP Lists Parser AWS Lambda function which checks third-party IP reputation lists hourly for new ranges to block.
Bad Bots (I): This component automatically sets up a honeypot, which is a security mechanism intended to lure and deflect an attempted attack.
Security Automations for AWS WAF
Version 3.2.3
Last updated: 12/2022
Author: AWSEstimated deployment time: 15 min
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