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Ashis_K_Patra's avatar
Ashis_K_Patra
Icon for Altocumulus rankAltocumulus
Jul 26, 2023

Testing a WAF policy

Hello All,

I am trying to create a WAF policy and Test it as well which will be applied to the Virtual Server. Hence would like to know 

  1. Is there any checklist i need to follow while cretaing my WAF policy. Please share me if there.
  2. What are the things i need to take into considerations while creating a WAF policy
  3. After creating, Is there any WAF tester available?
  4. How can I test it in my production Environment.
  5. Would like to know the complete process fo testing scenarios.
  • Hi Ashis_K_Patra , 

    It depends on each application. 

    But it's good to start your AWAF policy by ( Rapid deployment with transparent mode  ) and define your server technologies well. 

    and start your way to fine tune your policy depending on learning. 

    there is no standard way to implement your policy it depends on what are you going to achieve from this AWAF policy for EX >> you want to use ( Positive security module or negative security module ) 
    you need to restrict parameters , file types , URIs , you want to configure Cookies protections or not and stuff like this.

    you have to narrow your options to start from it , AWAF has a huge features , you have to define your needs from AWAF policy first. 

    About testing >>> you can use the policy in test environment to simulate your application , then enforce your policy into blocking mode and test all features that you configured. such as try to perform and attack script and see if the AWAF policy blocked it or there is missing configs needed , check a disallowed url and see if AWAF blockes your or still need further configuration , and stuff like this. 


    • Ashis_K_Patra's avatar
      Ashis_K_Patra
      Icon for Altocumulus rankAltocumulus

      Thanks Mohamed_Ahmed_Kansoh ,

      I will be using in

      1. Rapid Deployment mode without any modification.
      2. Keeping it as Transparent.
      3. And put the Signatures in Staging stage.

      Later on we will analyse the logs and then we will decide on the modification, part. And then we can apply the policy in Negative Security Model.

      So, regaridng the testing, I dont have a test environment, however I have UAT Applications hosted in my Prod enviroment and I will be testing in those apps first and based on the result I will implemnet in the Prod app.

      So, I need your help in testing some scenarios, if there are any tools (kindly share link). and what could be the testing scenarios in a prod enviroment. 

      This part is new to me and learning to implement with some test scenarios. Please guide me 🙂 

      • whisperer's avatar
        whisperer
        Icon for MVP rankMVP

        A tool used by many to test we applications behind the F5 security modules is Burb suite by portswigger:

        https://portswigger.net/burp/enterprise

        Once you have policies in place, you can test using this tool. More than likely it will generate violations which you then review and accept.

        Also, if you have a good number of testers or your application team has a scripted unit testing suite, you can white list their IPs and more quickly train the F5 security models on what is expected behavior for the application.

        Hope this helps. Best is to work in tandem with the application team or developers and have them assist in configuring entities and expected behaviors in terms of parameters.

    • whisperer's avatar
      whisperer
      Icon for MVP rankMVP

      Your question is loaded. I would suggest professional services. This forum can't explain WAF and all security implications.

  • Can someone please help on this, at least on the Tetsing scenarios and testing tool details ? I posted my entire questions in order to explain the scenario.