An organization’s internet-facing website was compromised when an attacker exploited a buffer overflow. Which of the following should the…

A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is specifically designed to protect internet-facing

web applications from various attacks, including buffer overflows. It operates at the

application layer (Layer 7), inspecting HTTP/S traffic for malicious patterns, oversized

payloads, or other anomalies indicative of attempts to exploit vulnerabilities like buffer

overflows. By filtering such requests before they reach the web server, a WAF provides

the most direct and specialized protection against these types of attacks on a website.

A. NGFW (Next-Generation Firewall): While NGFWs offer advanced firewall

capabilities, including some Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) functions that might

detect known buffer overflow signatures, they are generally less specialized than

WAFs for nuanced web application attacks. A WAF provides more precise,

application-aware protection.

C. TLS (Transport Layer Security): TLS encrypts data in transit, ensuring

confidentiality and integrity between the client and the server. However, it does not

inspect the content of the encrypted traffic and therefore cannot prevent a buffer overflow

payload from being delivered and exploited by the application.

D. SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network): SD-WAN is a network

architecture focused on optimizing network traffic routing and management across

geographically dispersed locations. It does not inherently provide security

mechanisms to protect web applications from vulnerabilities like buffer overflows.

Cloudflare. "What is a buffer overflow attack?"

URL: https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ddos/glossary/buffer-overflow-attack/

Specific section: The article states, "Web application firewalls (WAFs) can also prevent

buffer overflow attacks by filtering out malicious requests."

Cisco. "What Is a Web Application Firewall (WAF)?"

URL: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/security/web-application-firewall.html

Specific section: The article mentions, "A WAF can help protect web applications from

attacks such as cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, and buffer overflows."

Vikram, A., Reddy,

V. D., & Reddy,

K. C.

S. (2022). "A systematic literature review on

web application firewalls." 2022 International Conference on Applied Artificial Intelligence

and Computing (ICAAIC).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICAAIC53929.2022.9792704

Specific section: Abstract/Introduction (summarizing capabilities). The paper notes that

WAFs are proficient in detecting and preventing known attacks like "buffer overflows".

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). RFC 8446: "The Transport Layer Security

(TLS) Protocol Version 1.3."

URL: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8446

Specific section: Section 1 (Introduction). Describes TLS as providing confidentiality and

integrity for communication, not application payload inspection for exploits.

Microsoft Azure. "What is Azure Web Application Firewall?"

URL: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/overview

Specific section: Overview. Describes WAF's role in protecting against common exploits,

which include attack vectors like buffer overflows.