Enable to add a cookie to the reply in order for FortiWeb to be able to track the state of web applications across multiple requests (i.e., to implement HTTP sessions). Also configure Session Timeout.

This feature adds the FortiWeb’s own session support, and does not duplicate or require that your web applications have its own sessions. For details, see HTTP sessions & security.

Note: Enabling this option is required if:

• you select features requiring session cookies, such as DoS Protection, Start Pages, Page Access, or Hidden Fields Protection
• in any policy, you will select an auto-learning profile with this profile
• you want to include this profile’s traffic in the traffic log

Note: This feature requires that the client support cookies. RPC clients and browsers where the person has disabled cookies do not support FortiWeb HTTP sessions, and therefore also do not support FortiWeb features that are dependent upon them.

Type the HTTP session timeout in seconds.

After this time elapses during which there were no more subsequent requests, after which the FortiWeb appliance will regard the next request as the start of a new HTTP session.

This option appears only if Session Management is enabled. The default is 1200 (20 minutes). The valid range is from 20 to 3,600 seconds.

Select the X-Forwarded-For: and X-Real-IP: HTTP header settings to use, if any. For details, see Defining your proxies, clients, & X-headers.

Note: Configuring this option is required if the true IP address of the client is hidden from FortiWeb because a load balancer or other web proxy is deployed in front. In that case, you must configure an X-header rule so that FortiWeb will block only requests related to the original client. Otherwise, it may block all requests whenever any attack occurs, since all requests will appear to originate from the proxy’s IP.

Select the name of the signature set, if any, that will be applied to matching requests. Also configure Enable AMF3 Protocol Detection.

Attack log messages for this feature vary by which type of attack was detected. For a list, see Blocking known attacks & data leaks.

Enable to scan requests that use action message format 3.0 (AMF3) for:

• cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks
• SQL injection attacks
• common exploits

and other attack signatures that you have enabled in Signatures.

AMF3 is a binary format that can be used by Adobe Flash/Flex clients to send input to server-side software.

Caution: To scan for attacks or enforce input rules on AMF3, you must enable this option. Failure to enable the option will cause the FortiWeb appliance to be unable to scan AMF3 requests for attacks.

Enable to validate that XML elements and attributes in the request’s body conform to the W3C XML 1.1 standard, the XML 2.0 standard, or both. Malformed XML, such as without the final > or with multiple >> in the closing tag, is often an attempt to exploit an unhandled error condition in a web application’s XHTML or XML parser.

If the request fails the validation, FortiWeb takes the specified action.

Attack log messages contain Illegal XML Format when this feature detects malformed XML.

Caution: If your back-end web servers require extensive protection for a vulnerable XML parser, you should add 3rd-party XML protection to your security architecture. Unlike XML protection profiles in previous versions of FortiWeb, Illegal XML Format does not scan for conformity with the document object model (DOM)/DTD/W3C Schema, recursive payloads, Schema poisoning, or other advanced XML attacks. It also cannot encrypt or sign XML elements. Failure to provide adequate XML protection could allow attackers to penetrate your network.

• Alert — Accept the request and generate an alert email, log message, or both.
• Alert & Deny — Block the request and generate an alert, log message, or both.
• Period Block — Block requests for the number of seconds specified by Block Period. The range is 1 to 3600. See also Monitoring currently blocked IPs.
  
  Note: If FortiWeb is deployed behind a NAT load balancer and this option is enabled, to prevent FortiWeb from blocking all connections when it detects a violation of this type, define an X-header that indicates the original client’s IP (see Defining your proxies, clients, & X-headers).

In addition, select a severity level and trigger policy.

Available only when Enable XML Protocol Detection is On.

Enable to scan for illegal formatting in JSON data. If FortiWeb detects illegal formatting, it takes the specified action.

• Alert — Accept the request and generate an alert email, log message, or both.
• Alert & Deny — Block the request and generate an alert, log message, or both.
• Period Block — Block requests for the number of seconds specified by Block Period. The range is 1 to 3600. See also Monitoring currently blocked IPs.
  
  Note: If FortiWeb is deployed behind a NAT load balancer and this option is enabled, to prevent FortiWeb from blocking all connections when it detects a violation of this type, define an X-header that indicates the original client’s IP (see Defining your proxies, clients, & X-headers).

In addition, select a severity level and trigger policy.

Available only when Enable JSON Protocol Detection is On.

Select the name of a combination source IP, rate limit, HTTP header, and URL access policy, if any, that will be applied to matching requests. See Combination access control & rate limiting.

Attack log messages contain Custom Access Violation when this feature detects a violation.

Select the name of padding oracle protection rule, if any, that will be applied to matching requests. See Defeating cipher padding attacks on individually encrypted inputs.

Attack log messages contain Padding Oracle Attack when this feature detects a violation.

Select the name of HTTP header security policy, if any, to apply to matching responses.

For details, see Addressing security vulnerabilities by HTTP Security Headers.

Select the name of cross-site request forgery protection rule, if any, to apply to matching requests. See Defeating cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks.

Available only when Session Management is selected.

Select the name of the parameter validation rule, if any, that will be applied to matching requests. See Validating parameters (“input rules”).)

Attack log messages contain Parameter Validation Violation when this feature detects a parameter rule violation.

Select the name of the hidden fields protection rule, if any, to use to protect hidden fields on your website. See Preventing tampering with hidden inputs.

Attack log messages contain Hidden Field Manipulation when this feature detects tampering.

This option appears only when Session Management is enabled.

Select an existing file security policy, if any, that will be applied to matching HTTP requests. See Limiting file uploads.

Attack log messages contain Illegal File Size when this feature detects an excessively large upload.

Select the name of an HTTP parameter constraint, if any, that will be applied to matching requests. See HTTP/HTTPS protocol constraints.

Attack log messages for this feature vary by which type of constraint was violated.

Select the name of a brute force login attack profile, if any, that will be applied to matching requests. See Preventing brute force logins.

Attack log messages contain Brute Force Login Violation when this feature detects a brute force login attack.

Select the name of the URL access policy, if any, that will be applied to matching HTTP requests. See Restricting access to specific URLs.

Attack log messages contain URL Access Violation when this feature detects a URL matched by this policy.

Select the page access rule, if any, that defines the URLs that must be accessed in a specific order. See Enforcing page order that follows application logic.

Attack log messages contain Page Access Violation when this feature detects an illegal request order.

This option appears only when Session Management is enabled.

Select the start pages rule, if any, that represent legitimate entry points into your web pages and web services. See Specifying URLs allowed to initiate sessions.

Attack log messages contain Start Page Violation when this feature detects a session attempting to initiate illegally.

This option appears only when Session Management is enabled.

Select an existing allow method policy, if any, that will be applied to matching HTTP requests. See Specifying allowed HTTP methods.

Attack log messages contain HTTP Method Violation when this feature detects a non-allowed HTTP request method.

Enable to detect source IP addresses that a FortiGate unit is currently preventing from interacting with the network and protected systems. Then, select the action that FortiWeb takes if it detects a quarantined IP address:

• Alert — Accept the request and generate an alert email, log message, or both.
• Alert & Deny — Block the request and generate an alert, log message, or both.

Note: If FortiWeb is deployed behind a NAT load balancer and this option is enabled, to prevent FortiWeb from blocking all connections when it detects a violation of this type, define an X-header that indicates the original client’s IP (see Defining your proxies, clients, & X-headers).

In addition, select a severity level and trigger policy.

For information on configuring communication with the FortiGate that provides the list of quarantined IP addresses, see Receive quarantined source IP addresses from FortiGate.

Enable to exempt popular search engines’ spiders from DoS sensors, brute force login sensors, HTTP protocol constraints, combination rate & access control (called “advanced protection” and “custom policies” in the web UI), and blocking by geographic location (Geo IP).

This option improves access for search engines. Rapid access rates, unusual HTTP usage, and other characteristics that may be suspicious for web browsers are often normal with search engines. If you block them, your websites’ rankings and visibility may be affected.

By default, this option allows all popular predefined search engines. Known search engine indexer source IPs are updated via FortiGuard Security Service. To specify which search engines are exempt, click the Details link. A new frame appears on the right side of the protection profile. Enable or disable each search engine, then click Apply. See also Blacklisting content scrapers, search engines, web crawlers, & other robots.

Note: X-header-derived client source IPs (see Defining your proxies, clients, & X-headers) do not support this feature in this release. If FortiWeb is deployed behind a load balancer or other web proxy that applies source NAT, this feature will not work.

Select the name of a URL rewriting rule set, if any, that will be applied to matching requests.

For details, see Rewriting & redirecting.

Select the name of an authorization policy, if any, that will be applied to matching requests. For details, see Offloading HTTP authentication & authorization.

If the client fails to authenticate, it will receive an HTTP 403 Access Forbidden error message.

Select the name of a device reputation security policy, if any, so that FortiWeb can carry out violation actions according to the risk level of devices defined in a device reputation security policy.

This option appears only if Device Tracking is enabled. If a device reputation security policy is not selected when Device Tracking is enabled, violation actions will be carried out as defined in the individual policy and rule selected in the protection profile. For details, see Blocking client devices with poor reputation.

Type a URL including the FQDN/IP and path, if any, to which a client will be redirected if:

• its request violates any of the rules in this profile, and
• the Action for the rule is set to Redirect.

For example, you could enter:

www.example.com/products/

If you do not enter a URL, depending on the type of violation and the configuration, the FortiWeb appliance will log the violation, may attempt to remove the offending parts, and could either reset the connection or return an HTTP 403 Access Forbidden or 404 File Not Found error message.

Enable to include the reason for redirection as a parameter in the URL, such as reason=Parameter%20Validation%20Violation, when traffic has been redirected using Redirect URL. The FortiWeb appliance also adds fortiwaf=1 to the URL to detect and cancel a redirect loop (if the redirect action would otherwise recursively triggers an attack event).

By default, this option is disabled.

Caution: If the FortiWeb appliance is protecting a redirect URL, enable this option to prevent infinite redirect loops.