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Difficulty: EasyThreat Protection and Web Application Firewall (WAF)

A company hosts a web application behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). A SysOps administrator is tasked with protecting the application from SQL injection and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. Which AWS service should the administrator configure to meet this requirement?

  1. AWS WAFAnswer
  2. B
    Network Access Control Lists (Network ACLs)
  3. C
    AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS)
  4. D
    AWS Systems Manager Run Command

Answer

AWS WAF is the correct service because it inspects HTTP/HTTPS traffic at Layer 7 and can block common web exploits like SQL injection and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).
The correct service is AWS WAF because it operates at the application layer (Layer 7) and allows administrators to configure web access control lists (Web ACLs) that scan incoming HTTP/HTTPS requests for malicious patterns, including SQL injection and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). It can be directly associated with resources such as Application Load Balancers, CloudFront, and Amazon API Gateway.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the type of threat that needs to be blocked.
The threats are SQL injection and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), which are Layer 7 (application layer) web application vulnerabilities.
Different AWS services operate at different layers of the OSI model, and the correct service must be capable of inspecting HTTP/HTTPS payloads.
2
Evaluate the capabilities of the available AWS security and management options.
Network ACLs operate at Layer 4 (IP/port level). AWS KMS is for key management/encryption. AWS Systems Manager Run Command is for OS administration. AWS WAF is a Layer 7 web application firewall designed specifically to inspect application payloads.
Matching the requirements to the correct service capabilities ensures a secure design.
3
Select the service designed for Layer 7 threat protection.
AWS WAF is the appropriate service to associate with the Application Load Balancer.
AWS WAF provides out-of-the-box managed rules and custom rule options to detect and block SQL injection and XSS patterns.

Key Concept

AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall) operates at the application layer (Layer 7) to inspect HTTP/HTTPS requests and protect applications from common web exploits like SQL injection (SQLi) and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).
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Topics

Threat Protection and Web Application Firewall (WAF)

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