October 31, 2022 2 min to read

WAF vs Firewall

We both are not same bruhh .

Before start differences, let’s understand the WAF. WAF stands for the Web Application Firewall that operates as application firewall for the HTTPS applications. It implements set of rules for a HTTP conversation and due to these rules, WAF prevents from XSS (Cross site scripting) and SQL injections.

WAF is more focused on Web Applications .A WAF is a firewall primarily used for protecting applications, APIs to Webhooks, providing protection by assessing what the traffic is trying to do and blocking it if necessary, especially if the actions in the traffic are deemed malicious.

General view of WAF

Let’s look at the OSI model for the both WAF and Firewall

Now it’s time for the tabular comparison

	WAF	Firewall
OSI Layer	Layer 3 to 7	Layer 3 to 4
Deployment Architecture	Reverse Proxy	Layer 3 Gateway
Access Control Granularity	Port, protolcol, IP Address	Port, protolcol, IP Address
Threat Detection , Prevention Technique	Signatures, Protocol Anomaly Detection, App-specific Anomaly Detection	NA
Protocol Coverage	Web-centric: HTTP(s), XML, SOAP,SPDY	Any
DDos Protection	Application Layer	N/w layer (Basics)
Web Application Protection	Extensive, Including full Application Layer coverage	Minimal
SSL	Yes	NA

Key Point Takeaways :-

Network Firewall operates at the 3rd and 4th layers of OSI Layer Architecture, while WAF operates at the 3rd through 7th layers of OSI Layer Architecture.
Network firewall uses Layer 3 gateway deployment architecture. In addition, WAF uses reverse proxy deployment architecture.
WAF and Network Firewall both have the same Access control granularity, Port, Protocol and IP address.
Network Firewall does not have any Threat detection/prevention methods. However, WAF has Signatures, Protocol anomaly detectors, and app-specific anomaly detection tools.
A Network firewall covers all protocol types, while WAF covers Web-centric protocols such as HTTP(s), XML and SOAP.
Network Firewall provides DDoS protection for Network Layer while WAF offers it for the Application Layer.
Network Firewalls offer minimal protection for Web applications, while WAF provides extensive protection that includes full application layer coverage.