Safe3/uusec-waf

What it solves

UUSEC WAF is a high-performance Web Application Firewall designed to protect websites and APIs from security threats. It specifically addresses the challenge of "0-day" vulnerabilities—attacks that exploit unknown flaws—by moving beyond traditional static rule-based detection to more dynamic, intelligent defense mechanisms.

How it works

The system employs a three-layer defense strategy:

1. Traffic Layer: Uses machine learning anomaly detection to learn the characteristics of normal traffic and create parameter whitelists, allowing it to block unknown attacks without needing manual rule updates. It also uses semantic analysis engines (for SQL, XSS, RCE, and LFI) to understand the intent of HTTP content rather than relying on simple pattern matching.
2. System Layer: Implements Host Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS) to intercept low-level attacks at the kernel level, such as unauthorized process creation or privilege escalation.
3. Runtime Layer: Uses Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) integrated into engines like Java JVM and PHP Zend to track execution context and block attacks during application runtime.

Who it’s for

It is designed for website managers and security administrators who need industrial-grade API and web protection, particularly those looking for a free, scalable alternative to commercial WAFs or basic tools like ModSecurity.

Highlights

• Intelligent 0-day Defense: Leverages ML to automatically identify and block threats based on traffic anomalies.
• Semantic Analysis: Dedicated engines for SQL, XSS, RCE, and LFI to reduce false positives and bypasses.
• Multi-Layer Protection: Combines traffic filtering, system-level HIPS, and application-level RASP.
• Flexible Rule Engine: Supports both user-friendly rule creation and advanced Lua scripting for custom security logic.
• CDN Acceleration: Includes a custom cache cleaning feature supporting regular expression matching for URL paths.