Azure web application firewall

Azure Web Application Firewall Skill

This skill provides expert guidance for Azure Web Application Firewall. Covers troubleshooting, best practices, decision making, limits & quotas, security, configuration, integrations & coding patterns, and deployment. It combines local quick-reference content with remote documentation fetching capabilities.

How to Use This Skill

IMPORTANT for Agent: Use the Category Index below to locate relevant sections. For categories with line ranges (e.g., L35-L120), use read_file with the specified lines. For categories with file links (e.g., [security.md](security.md)), use read_file on the linked reference file

IMPORTANT for Agent: If metadata.generated_at is more than 3 months old, suggest the user pull the latest version from the repository. If mcp_microsoftdocs tools are not available, suggest the user install it: Installation Guide

This skill requires network access to fetch documentation content:

• Preferred: Use mcp_microsoftdocs:microsoft_docs_fetch with query string from=learn-agent-skill. Returns Markdown.
• Fallback: Use fetch_webpage with query string from=learn-agent-skill&accept=text/markdown. Returns Markdown.

Category Index

Category	Lines	Description
Troubleshooting	L36-L40	Diagnosing and fixing Azure WAF issues on Front Door and Application Gateway, including rule matches, false positives, blocked requests, and configuration or logging problems.
Best Practices	L41-L48	Best practices for configuring, tuning, and hardening WAF on Front Door and Application Gateway, including geomatch rules, exclusions, and security posture improvements.
Decision Making	L49-L54	Guidance on planning and migrating from legacy WAF configs to full WAF policies, and managing the lifecycle, upgrades, and versions of Azure WAF managed rule sets.
Limits & Quotas	L55-L60	Details on WAF limits like max request/body size, file upload constraints, rule engine behavior under high load, and how to configure or tune these limits on Application Gateway.
Security	L61-L70	Configuring and governing WAF security: IP restrictions, DRS rule groups, exclusions/exceptions, hardening settings, and enforcing policies with Azure Policy.
Configuration	L71-L111	Configuring WAF policies and rules for Front Door and Application Gateway: custom/managed rules, rate limiting, geo-filtering, bot/CAPTCHA, exclusions, logging, and sensitive data protection.
Integrations & Coding Patterns	L112-L122	Using WAF with other Azure services: integrating logs with Sentinel/Log Analytics, automating incident response, investigating events, and protecting APIM/Azure OpenAI via Front Door WAF.
Deployment	L123-L129	How to deploy and manage Application Gateway WAF v2 using Bicep, ARM templates, Terraform, and upgrade existing WAF configurations to WAF policies.

Troubleshooting

Topic	URL
Troubleshoot Azure Front Door WAF behavior and rules	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-faq

Best Practices

Topic	URL
Implement WAF best practices in Azure Front Door	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-best-practices
Tune Azure Front Door WAF rules and exclusions	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-tuning
Apply best practices for WAF on Application Gateway	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/best-practices
Apply geomatch WAF rules to strengthen web app security	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/geomatch-custom-rules-examples

Decision Making

Topic	URL
Migrate Azure Application Gateway WAF configs to full policies	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/migrate-policy
Plan Azure WAF managed ruleset lifecycle and upgrades	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ruleset-support-policy

Limits & Quotas

Topic	URL
Understand Azure Application Gateway WAF limits and behavior	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/application-gateway-waf-faq
Configure WAF request and file upload size limits on Application Gateway	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/application-gateway-waf-request-size-limits

Security

Topic	URL
Configure IP restriction rules in Front Door WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-configure-ip-restriction
Understand Azure WAF Front Door DRS rule groups	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-drs
Configure WAF exclusion lists for Azure Front Door	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-exclusion
Configure WAF exception lists for Application Gateway	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/application-gateway-exceptions
Harden Azure WAF with security configurations	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/secure-web-application-firewall
Enforce WAF governance using Azure Policy	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/shared/waf-azure-policy

Configuration

Topic	URL
Configure CAPTCHA challenges in Azure Front Door WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/captcha-challenge
Configure WAF exception lists for Azure Front Door	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/front-door-exceptions
Configure custom block responses for Front Door WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-configure-custom-response-code
Define custom WAF rules for Azure Front Door	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-custom-rules
Configure Azure Front Door WAF custom and managed rules	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-custom-rules-powershell
Set up WAF exclusion rules on Azure Front Door	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-exclusion-configure
Configure geo-filtering rules in Azure Front Door WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-geo-filtering
Configure monitoring and logging for Front Door WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-monitor
Enable and configure bot protection in Front Door WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-policy-configure-bot-protection
Configure Azure Front Door WAF policy-level settings	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-policy-settings
Configure rate limiting policies in Front Door WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-rate-limit
Create and tune WAF rate-limit rules on Front Door	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-rate-limit-configure
Create a geo-filtering WAF policy with PowerShell	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-front-door-tutorial-geo-filtering
Configure log scrubbing on Azure Front Door WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-sensitive-data-protection-configure-frontdoor
Enable sensitive data protection for Front Door WAF logs	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/waf-sensitive-data-protection-frontdoor
Reference for Application Gateway WAF CRS and DRS rules	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/application-gateway-crs-rulegroups-rules
Customize Application Gateway WAF rules using Azure CLI	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/application-gateway-customize-waf-rules-cli
Customize Application Gateway WAF rules in Azure portal	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/application-gateway-customize-waf-rules-portal
Customize Application Gateway WAF rules with PowerShell	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/application-gateway-customize-waf-rules-powershell
Configure WAF exclusion lists on Application Gateway	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/application-gateway-waf-configuration
Configure and analyze Application Gateway WAF metrics	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/application-gateway-waf-metrics
Associate WAF policies with existing Application Gateways	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/associate-waf-policy-existing-gateway
Configure bot protection rules for Azure Application Gateway WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/bot-protection
Configure custom block response codes and pages for Application Gateway WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/configure-custom-response-code
Create WAF v2 custom rules with Azure PowerShell	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/configure-waf-custom-rules
Create and attach WAF policies to Azure Application Gateway	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/create-waf-policy-ag
Configure HTTP DDoS ruleset for Application Gateway WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/ddos-ruleset
Use Application Gateway WAF Insights dashboards	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/insights
Configure per-site WAF policies with PowerShell	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/per-site-policies
Understand and scope WAF policies on Application Gateway	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/policy-overview
Create rate-limiting custom rules for Application Gateway WAF v2	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/rate-limiting-configure
Configure rate limiting for Azure Application Gateway WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/rate-limiting-overview
Configure sensitive data protection in WAF logs	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/waf-sensitive-data-protection
Set up WAF log scrubbing on Application Gateway	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/waf-sensitive-data-protection-configure
Enable and manage logging for Azure WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/web-application-firewall-logs
Manage WAF policies centrally with Azure Firewall Manager	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/shared/manage-policies
Use JavaScript challenge for bot mitigation in WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/waf-javascript-challenge

Integrations & Coding Patterns

Topic	URL
Automate WAF incident response with Microsoft Sentinel	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/automated-detection-response-with-sentinel
Protect APIM-hosted APIs with Front Door WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/protect-api-hosted-apim-by-waf
Secure Azure OpenAI endpoints using Front Door WAF	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/afds/protect-azure-open-ai
Analyze Application Gateway WAF logs with Log Analytics	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/log-analytics
Investigate Azure WAF events with Security Copilot	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/waf-copilot
Detect new web threats using WAF and Sentinel	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/waf-new-threat-detection
Integrate Azure WAF logs with Microsoft Sentinel	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/waf-sentinel

Deployment

Topic	URL
Deploy Azure Application Gateway WAF v2 using Bicep	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/quick-create-bicep
Deploy Azure Application Gateway WAF v2 via ARM template	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/quick-create-template
Upgrade Azure Application Gateway WAF configuration to policy	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/ag/upgrade-ag-waf-policy
Provision Application Gateway WAF v2 with Terraform	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/web-application-firewall/quickstart-web-application-firewall-terraform