Generated banner for Waf
Generated logo for Waf

Waf

AWSOfficialPublished by AWS

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Security
  • Apache-2.0
  • No issues found

From the author

Configures AWS WAF to filter web traffic: creating web access control lists (web ACLs) on CloudFront, Application Load Balancers, API Gateway, and AppSync; AWS Managed Rules tuned in Count mode; rate-based rules for HTTP floods; IP set and geographic match rules; Bot Control (Common and Targeted); turning bot labels into a confidence signal; stripping spoofed inbound x-amzn-waf-* headers; recovering the real client IP behind a CDN; Fraud Control (account takeover and account creation fraud prevention); and logging and request sampling. Use when the user wants to protect a web application or API from common exploits, bots, credential stuffing, fake-account creation, or HTTP floods at the application layer (layer 7). Routes to the right per-task procedure in references. Do NOT use for L3/L4 DDoS protection (shieldadvanced skill), multi-account WAF rollout (firewallmanager skill), CloudFront configuration (cloudfront skill), or Route 53 health checks or records (route53 skill).
— the description by AWS

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill acts as a central router for configuring AWS WAF to secure web applications and APIs. It provides structured procedures for creating web ACLs, managing rule sets, implementing bot and fraud control, and configuring logging. The skill emphasizes a secure-by-design approach, requiring logging to be enabled before tuning and enforcing strict header-stripping to prevent spoofing. It covers the full lifecycle of WAF management, from initial setup and association with resources like CloudFront and ALB to advanced mitigation strategies for volumetric abuse and credential stuffing.

What it does

  • Creates and associates web ACLs with CloudFront, ALB, API Gateway, and AppSync.
  • Configures AWS Managed Rules, rate-based rules, and custom IP or geographic match rules.
  • Implements Bot Control and Fraud Control to prevent account takeover and fake-account creation.
  • Provides workflows for logging, request sampling, and tuning rules in Count mode.
  • Enforces security best practices like header stripping and least-privilege IAM.
  • Routes users to specific, self-contained procedures for complex WAF tasks.

When to use it

  • When you need to protect a web application or API from layer 7 exploits and HTTP floods.
  • When implementing bot detection or fraud prevention for login and signup endpoints.
  • When you need to tune managed rules to reduce false positives without blocking legitimate traffic.
  • When you need to recover the real client IP or secure forwarded headers behind a CDN.
  • When you need to manage AI and LLM crawler traffic.

Advantages

  • Reduces risk of misconfiguration by enforcing a logical, step-by-step tuning workflow.
  • Prevents accidental blocking of legitimate traffic through mandatory Count-mode tuning.
  • Ensures security consistency by mandating header-stripping when forwarding signals.
  • Provides clear guidance on WCU budget management and rule group selection.
  • Centralizes complex WAF procedures into a single, reliable reference source.

Usage examples

“How do I set up AWS WAF to block HTTP floods on my Application Load Balancer?”
The agent will guide you through creating a regional web ACL, associating it with your ALB, and configuring a rate-based rule to throttle requests based on IP or session token.
“I am seeing false positives from the Core Rule Set. How do I fix this?”
The agent will instruct you to check your WAF logs to identify the specific rule ID triggering the block, then use the RuleActionOverrides feature to set that specific rule to Count mode.
“How can I protect my login page from credential stuffing?”
The agent will guide you through enabling Fraud Control (Account Takeover Prevention) and configuring the necessary logging and signal-forwarding rules.
“I need to allow traffic only from specific countries. What is the procedure?”
The agent will provide the steps to create a geographic match rule and configure the web ACL's default action to block traffic outside of your allowed list.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/aws/waf/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip waf.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by AWS

AWS WAF

Overview

Domain expertise for configuring AWS WAF, the web application firewall that filters HTTP and HTTPS traffic to CloudFront distributions, Application Load Balancers, API Gateway REST APIs, and AppSync GraphQL APIs. Covers web ACL creation and association, AWS Managed Rules, rate-based rules, match rules (IP set and geographic), Bot Control and the signal-forwarding workflows built on top of it, Fraud Control for logins and signups, AI and LLM crawler management, and the logging that every tuning workflow depends on.

This skill is a router. Each customer task maps to a procedure file under references/. Read the matching reference in full before acting, then follow its constraints and steps. The reference files are self-contained: each carries its own decision tables, constraints, procedure, and troubleshooting.

Execute commands using the AWS MCP server when connected (sandboxed execution, audit logging, observability). Fall back to the AWS CLI otherwise. A web ACL's scope is fixed at creation: a CloudFront web ACL must be created in us-east-1 with CLOUDFRONT scope, while a regional web ACL (Application Load Balancer, API Gateway, AppSync) is created in the resource's Region with REGIONAL scope.

Which WAF task do you need?

GoalReference
Create a web ACL and attach it to a resourcecreating a web ACL and associating it with a resource
Set up logging and sampling before tuning anythingsetting up logging and request sampling
Add AWS Managed Rules and tune false positivesadding managed rules and tuning with count mode
Throttle HTTP floods and brute forceadding rate-based rules
Allow or block by IP range or countryusing ip sets and geographic match rules
Detect and control bots (the on-ramp)protecting against bots with bot control
Collapse bot labels into one confidence signalturning bot control labels into a confidence signal
Forward all signals to the origin with one ruleforwarding signals with dynamic label interpolation
Decide what the app does with the forwarded signaladaptive mitigation playbook for forwarded signals
Stop attackers from spoofing forwarded headersstripping inbound waf headers before trusting them
Recover the real client IP behind a CDNrecovering the real client ip behind a cdn
Protect logins and signups from fraudprotecting logins and signups with fraud control
See and manage AI and LLM crawler trafficseeing and managing ai crawler traffic

Routing notes

  • Logging comes before tuning. Every Count-mode tuning workflow assumes logging and request sampling are on. If the customer has not set up logging, run that reference first; otherwise Count-mode tuning has nothing to read.

  • Web ACL scope is fixed at creation. A CloudFront web ACL is CLOUDFRONT scope in us-east-1; a regional resource needs a REGIONAL web ACL in its own Region. Scope cannot be changed later, so the creating reference settles it before anything is built.

  • Bot Control is a chain, not one task. Protecting against bots is the on-ramp (turn on, choose Common vs Targeted, observe). Turning labels into a confidence signal, forwarding that signal, and deciding what the application does with it are three separate references that build on it in that order. The header-stripping reference is the mandatory safety companion whenever a signal is forwarded to the origin.

  • Common vs Targeted is not a soft choice. Common only catches self-identifying bots and known-bad IPs. For login, checkout, or any high-value endpoint facing evasive bots, Targeted with the application integration SDK is required. The bots reference pushes Targeted for real bot threats rather than presenting it as optional.

  • Rate limiting vs Fraud Control. Rate-based rules blunt volumetric HTTP floods. Credential stuffing and fake-account creation are account-based abuse that rate limiting misses; those go to the Fraud Control reference (ATP and ACFP), not the rate-based reference.

  • Forwarded headers need the strip rule. Any time the customer forwards a signal or the client IP to the origin in x-amzn-waf-* headers, the inbound-header-stripping reference is required to prevent spoofing. The confidence-signal, interpolation, and client-IP references all point at it.

  • What lives in other skills. L3/L4 DDoS protection and Shield cost-protection credits are the shieldadvanced skill. Multi-account WAF rollout is the firewallmanager skill. CloudFront and Application Load Balancer configuration are their own skills. This skill builds the WAF rules; it does not configure the resources it protects.

Security Considerations

AWS WAF is itself a security control, so misconfiguration directly weakens an application's defenses. Apply these across every reference:

  • Least-privilege IAM. You MUST grant only the specific wafv2: actions a task needs (for example wafv2:CreateWebACL, wafv2:GetWebACL, wafv2:UpdateWebACL, wafv2:AssociateWebACL, wafv2:PutLoggingConfiguration) rather than wafv2:* or the AWSWAFFullAccess managed policy.

  • Ephemeral credentials. You MUST use IAM roles with temporary credentials (such as an EC2 instance profile, SSO session, or aws sts assume-role) rather than long-lived IAM user access keys when running these WAF CLI commands.

  • Monitor configuration changes. You SHOULD enable AWS CloudTrail on wafv2 management events and set CloudWatch alarms on critical web ACL configuration changes (such as DeleteWebACL and UpdateWebACL rule removals) and on the web ACL's BlockedRequests and CountedRequests metrics, so rule changes and sudden spikes in blocked or counted traffic are detected.

  • Misconfiguration opens access. A web ACL that is created but never associated, or one whose default action is left at Allow with no enforcing rules, filters nothing. You MUST confirm the web ACL is associated and that its posture matches the intended default (block vs allow) before reporting setup complete.

  • Protect log destinations. Logs can capture credentials and session data. You MUST redact sensitive fields (such as the authorization header and cookie) and MUST enable encryption at rest on the log destination (CloudWatch Logs, Amazon S3, or Amazon Data Firehose).

  • Header-spoofing risk. Any x-amzn-waf-* signal forwarded to the origin can be forged inbound. You MUST add the inbound-header-stripping rule whenever a signal or client IP is forwarded (see stripping-inbound-waf-headers-before-trusting-them).

Additional Resources

Files

LICENSE


                                 Apache License
                           Version 2.0, January 2004
                        http://www.apache.org/licenses/

   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION

   1. Definitions.

      "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
      and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.

      "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
      the copyright owner that is granting the License.

      "Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
      other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
      control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
      "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
      direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
      otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
      outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.

      "You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
      exercising permissions granted by this License.

      "Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
      including but not limited to software source code, documentation
      source, and configuration files.

      "Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
      transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
      not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
      and conversions to other media types.

      "Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
      Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
      copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
      (an example is provided in the Appendix below).

      "Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
      form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
      editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
      represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
      of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
      separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
      the Work and Derivative Works thereof.

      "Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
      the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
      to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
      submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
      or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
      the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
      means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
      to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
      communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
      and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
      Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
      excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
      designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."

      "Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
      on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
      subsequently incorporated within the Work.

   2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
      publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
      Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.

   3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
      use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
      where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
      by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
      Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
      with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
      institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
      cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
      or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
      or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
      granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
      as of the date such litigation is filed.

   4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
      Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
      modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
      meet the following conditions:

      (a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
          Derivative Works a copy of this License; and

      (b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
          stating that You changed the files; and

      (c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
          that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
          attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
          excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
          the Derivative Works; and

      (d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
          distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
          include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
          within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
          pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
          of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
          as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
          documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
          within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
          wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
          of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
          do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
          notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
          or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
          that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
          as modifying the License.

      You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
      may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
      for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
      for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
      reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
      the conditions stated in this License.

   5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
      any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
      by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
      this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
      Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
      the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
      with Licensor regarding such Contributions.

   6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
      names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
      except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
      origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.

   7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
      agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
      Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
      WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
      implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
      of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
      PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
      appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
      risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.

   8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
      whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
      unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
      negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
      liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
      incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
      result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
      Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
      work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
      other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
      has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

   9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
      the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
      and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
      or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
      License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
      on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
      of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
      defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
      incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
      of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Needs an MCP server

Security

No issues found by our static scan· No issues found

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Published by
AWS
Publisher
AWS (Official)
Source
aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws · skills/specialized-skills/networking-and-content-delivery-skills/waf · commit 0a218f8
Licence
Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
  • NOTICE (added by AutoGineer from NOTICE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by AWS or AWS.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download waf.zip