Tutorial: How to Configure WAF on OPNsense Using NGINX/NAXSI

[beki]

Hi Beloved OPNsense Community,

A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is a security mechanism positioned before a web application to inspect, filter, and stop harmful traffic. It serves as a mediator between the internet and your website or web application, scrutinizing HTTP requests and answers for any risks.

OPNsense provides NAXSI web application firewall (WAF) to protect web servers against cyber attacks. NAXSI WAF can be easily enabled by installing the NGINX web server plugin os-nginx on your OPNsense firewall.

This tutorial explores the Naxsi WAF, its operational mechanisms, and its capabilities, and provides guidance on configuring the WAF on the OPNsense firewall with the NGINX Naxsi module. Furthermore, we illustrate the process of establishing a whitelist or blacklist using the IP-based ACL functionality of the Nginx server.

Best Regards,

Zenarmor Team