Your web applications are the digital front door to your business. They handle customer data, process transactions, and deliver essential services. This central role also makes them a prime target for cybercriminals. While network firewalls protect your perimeter, they are often blind to attacks that exploit vulnerabilities within the applications themselves. This is where a Web Application Firewall (WAF) becomes indispensable.
The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Top 10 is a regularly updated report outlining the most critical security risks to web applications. A dedicated WAF is specifically designed to defend against these and other sophisticated threats. By inspecting traffic at the application layer, it can identify and block malicious requests that a traditional firewall would miss.
1. Injection Attacks (e.g., SQL Injection)
Injection attacks remain one of the most prevalent and damaging threats to web applications. They occur when an attacker inserts malicious code into a query or command, which the application's backend interpreter then executes. The most notorious variant is SQL Injection (SQLi).
In an SQLi attack, an adversary may enter a piece of SQL code into a web form field (such as a username or search box) instead of the expected plain text. If the application does not properly validate this input, the malicious code can be executed directly on the database server. This could allow the attacker to bypass authentication, steal sensitive data like customer lists and credit card numbers, modify or delete data, and even gain administrative control over the database.
How FortiWeb Helps:
A WAF is your first line of defence against injection attacks. The FortiWeb platform uses multiple techniques to detect and block these threats before they reach your application servers.
- Signature-Based Detection: It maintains a database of thousands of known attack signatures, including common SQLi patterns, and blocks any matching requests.
- Behavioural Analysis: FortiWeb learns the normal structure and parameters of your application's SQL queries. It can then identify and block any request that deviates from this established baseline, providing protection even against unknown or modified attack techniques.
- Input Validation: It enforces strict validation rules on all user input, ensuring that only data in the expected format is passed to the application, effectively neutralising malicious payloads.
2. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
Cross-Site Scripting, or XSS, is another type of injection attack where a malicious script is injected into a trusted website. Unlike SQLi, which targets the server, XSS targets the application's users. The attacker's script is executed in the victim's browser, allowing the adversary to hijack user sessions, deface websites, or redirect users to malicious sites.
There are three main types of XSS:
- Stored XSS: The malicious script is permanently stored on the target server, such as in a database or a comment field. Every user who views the infected page will have the script executed.
- Reflected XSS: The script is embedded in a URL and is executed when the victim clicks the link.
- DOM-based XSS: The vulnerability exists in the client-side code, and the attack payload is executed as a result of modifying the Document Object Model (DOM) environment in the victim's browser.
How FortiWeb Helps:
FortiWeb provides robust protection against all forms of XSS by inspecting both inbound requests and outbound server responses.
- Sanitising User Input: It automatically strips malicious scripts from user-submitted data before it is processed or stored by the application.
- Response Inspection: It can scan outbound HTML pages to detect and block any malicious scripts that may have found their way into the application, preventing them from being sent to the user's browser.
- Virtual Patching: For known vulnerabilities in your application code, FortiWeb can apply virtual patches that block exploit attempts, protecting the application until developers can release a permanent fix.
3. Broken Authentication and Session Management
Broken authentication vulnerabilities allow attackers to compromise user accounts and sessions. This can happen through various means, such as exposing session IDs in URLs, not invalidating sessions properly upon logout, or allowing weak passwords.
A common attack is session hijacking, where an attacker steals a valid session token or cookie. Once they have this token, they can impersonate the legitimate user and gain access to their account and data without needing a password.
How FortiWeb Helps:
FortiWeb strengthens authentication and session management by acting as a vigilant gatekeeper.
- Cookie Security: It can encrypt cookies and enforce security attributes like
HttpOnlyandSecure, which prevent scripts from accessing them and ensure they are only transmitted over encrypted connections. - Session Tracking: It monitors session IDs and can detect anomalies, such as a session being used from multiple IP addresses simultaneously, which could indicate a hijacking attempt.
- Brute-Force Protection: FortiWeb detects and blocks automated brute-force login attempts by tracking failed login rates from specific IP addresses and temporarily blocking them.
4. Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Cross-Site Request Forgery is an attack that tricks a logged-in user into performing an unwanted action on a web application in which they are currently authenticated. For example, a user could be tricked into clicking a malicious link that transfers money from their bank account or changes their email address without their knowledge.
The attack works because the browser automatically includes authentication cookies with the forged request. The application sees a legitimate request coming from a trusted user and has no way of knowing it was not intentionally initiated.
How FortiWeb Helps:
FortiWeb can defeat CSRF attacks by ensuring that every state-changing request is intentional.
- CSRF Tokens: It can embed a unique, unpredictable token into web forms. When the form is submitted, the application can check for the presence of this token. Since an attacker's forged request will not contain the correct token, the application will reject it. FortiWeb can manage this process automatically without requiring changes to the application code.
5. Zero-Day Exploits (Protection Against the Unknown)
A zero-day exploit is an attack that targets a previously unknown software vulnerability. Since developers are unaware of the flaw, no patch or signature exists, making it incredibly difficult for traditional security tools to defend against. Defending against the unknown is one of the most critical functions of a modern WAF.
This is where a reliance on attack signatures alone falls short. Security must move beyond simply recognising known threats and start understanding what constitutes normal, legitimate behaviour for an application.
How FortiWeb Helps:
This is where the advanced capabilities of a solution like FortiWeb are most critical. It employs a multi-layered approach that does not rely solely on signatures.
- AI-Based Machine Learning: FortiWeb utilizes two layers of machine learning to construct a precise model of your application's normal behavior. It learns every parameter, URL, and user interaction. Any request that deviates from this known-good model is flagged as a potential threat, even if it does not match any known attack signature.
- Threat Intelligence Integration: It is continuously updated by FortiGuard Labs' global threat intelligence, providing protection against the latest discovered threats and attack campaigns from around the world. This ensures that the window of exposure for newly discovered vulnerabilities is as short as possible.
Conclusion
Web applications are too valuable and too exposed to be left protected by network firewalls alone. The threats outlined in the OWASP Top 10 are sophisticated and target the very logic of your applications. A Web Application Firewall is no longer an optional extra; it is an essential component of a comprehensive security strategy.
By deploying a solution like FortiWeb, you place a specialised guard in front of your applications. It intelligently distinguishes between legitimate users and malicious actors, blocking attacks like SQL injection and XSS while using machine learning to defend against the zero-day threats of tomorrow. Investing in a robust WAF is a direct investment in protecting your data, your customers, and your reputation.
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