Forum Discussion
Testing a WAF policy
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.
Thanks Mohamed_Ahmed_Kansoh ,
I will be using in
- Rapid Deployment mode without any modification.
- Keeping it as Transparent.
- 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 🙂
- whispererJul 27, 2023MVP
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.
- Jul 27, 2023
Hi Ashis_K_Patra ,
Okay , Create another identical virtual server that hosts the same application and attach the same AWAF policy to it.
Disable the AWAF policy in the production virtual server first.
Enforce AWAF policy into blocking Second
Test anything through the TEST Virtual server.
After fininshing , remove this TEST Virtual sevrer , Apply your AWAF Policy again on the original or profuction Virtual server after makeing sure it meets your need from security.
This is after assuming you that you can reach internally to the subnet of your virtual servers.
I hope I gave you some insights- Ashis_K_PatraJul 27, 2023Altocumulus
Dear Mohamed_Ahmed_Kansoh,
Thank you for your help, I can understand now,
One last question: When we will remove the WAF policy from Test and use the same policy in the Prod,
- DID the policy will have all the learnings recorded from Test and will be applied in Prod?
- OR we need to record the learnings from TEST and do changes in the Prod ?
- Jul 27, 2023
Hi Ashis_K_Patra ,
No everything will be recoreded in your AWAF policy even if you disable it from virtual server to another.
this not affect on Policy learning suggestions or settings.
By the way , you can test it on a lab >>>
Create AWAF policy and test some traffic and disable it on the current Virtual server then attach it to another >>> you will find all settings exist , and If you leant traffic from the newly virtual server and move this Policy to another Virtual server you will find all learnt suggestions and so on.
By the way , you can attach single AWAF policy in multiple Virtual sever >>> but don't do this in your current scenario as you want to test without affecting the production encironment.
Also For your info , you can use two or more AWAF policies with single virtual server , but by using iRules or LTM policy.
Recent Discussions
Related Content
* Getting Started on DevCentral
* Community Guidelines
* Community Terms of Use / EULA
* Community Ranking Explained
* Community Resources
* Contact the DevCentral Team
* Update MFA on account.f5.com