This article is about a sub-type of network firewall. For the primary topic of firewalls, see Firewall (computing).
An application firewall is a form of firewall that controls input/output or system calls of an application or service. It operates by monitoring and blocking communications based on a configured policy, generally with predefined rule sets to choose from. The application firewall can control communications up to the application layer of the OSI model, which is the highest operating layer, and where it gets its name. The two primary categories of application firewalls are network-based and host-based.
Gene Spafford of Purdue University, Bill Cheswick at AT&T Laboratories, and Marcus Ranum described a third-generation firewall known as an application layer firewall. Marcus Ranum's work, based on the firewall created by Paul Vixie, Brian Reid, and Jeff Mogul, spearheaded the creation of the first commercial product. The product was released by DEC, named the DEC SEAL by Geoff Mulligan - Secure External Access Link. DEC's first major sale was on June 13, 1991, to Dupont.
Under a broader DARPA contract at TIS, Marcus Ranum, Wei Xu, and Peter Churchyard developed the Firewall Toolkit (FWTK) and made it freely available under license in October 1993.[1] The purposes for releasing the freely available, not for commercial use, FWTK were: to demonstrate, via the software, documentation, and methods used, how a company with (at the time) 11 years experience in formal security methods, and individuals with firewall experience, developed firewall software; to create a common base of very good firewall software for others to build on (so people did not have to continue to "roll their own" from scratch); to "raise the bar" of firewall software being used. However, FWTK was a basic application proxy requiring the user interactions.
In 1994, Wei Xu extended the FWTK with the Kernel enhancement of IP stateful filter and socket transparent. This was the first transparent firewall, known as the inception of the third generation firewall, beyond a traditional application proxy (the second generation firewall), released as the commercial product known as Gauntlet firewall. Gauntlet firewall was rated one of the top application firewalls from 1995 until 1998, the year it was acquired by Network Associates Inc, (NAI). Network Associates continued to claim that Gauntlet was the "worlds most secure firewall" but in May 2000, security researcher Jim Stickley discovered a large vulnerability in the firewall, allowing remote access to the operating system and bypassing the security controls.[2]Stickley discovered a second vulnerability a year later, effectively ending Gauntlet firewalls' security dominance.[3]
Description
Application layer filtering operates at a higher level than traditional security appliances. This allows packet decisions to be made based on more than just source/destination IP Address or ports and can also use information spanning across multiple connections for any given host.
Network-based application firewalls operate at the application layer of a TCP/IP stack[4] and can understand certain applications and protocols such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Domain Name System (DNS), or Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). This allows it to identify unwanted applications or services using a non standard port or detect if an allowed protocol is being abused.[5]
Modern versions of network-based application firewalls can include the following technologies:
Web application firewalls (WAF) are a specialized version of a network-based appliance that acts as a reverse proxy, inspecting traffic before being forwarded to an associated server.
Host-based application firewalls
A host-based application firewall monitors application system calls or other general system communication. This gives more granularity and control, but is limited to only protecting the host it is running on. Control is applied by filtering on a per process basis. Generally, prompts are used to define rules for processes that have not yet received a connection. Further filtering can be done by examining the process ID of the owner of the data packets. Many host-based application firewalls are combined or used in conjunction with a packet filter.[6]
Due to technological limitations, modern solutions such as sandboxing are being used as a replacement of host-based application firewalls to protect system processes.[7]
Implementations
There are various application firewalls available, including both free and open source software and commercial products.
Mac OS X
Starting with Mac OS X Leopard, an implementation of the TrustedBSD MAC framework (taken from FreeBSD), was included.[8] The TrustedBSD MAC framework is used to sandbox services and provides a firewall layer given the configuration of the sharing services in Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard. Third-party applications can provide extended functionality, including filtering out outgoing connections by app.
Linux
This is a list of security software packages for Linux, allowing filtering of application to OS communication, possibly on a by-user basis:
ModSecurity - also works under Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris and other versions of Unix. ModSecurity is designed to work with the web-servers IIS, Apache2 and NGINX.
Portmaster by Safing[9] is an activity monitoring application. It is also available on Windows.
Web Application Firewall, Open Web Application Security Project
Web Application Firewall Evaluation Criteria, from the Web Application Security Consortium
Safety in the cloud(s): 'Vaporizing' the Web application firewall to secure cloud computing
January 03, 2023
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This article is about a sub type of network firewall For the primary topic of firewalls see Firewall computing This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Application firewall news newspapers books scholar JSTOR February 2010 Learn how and when to remove this template message An application firewall is a form of firewall that controls input output or system calls of an application or service It operates by monitoring and blocking communications based on a configured policy generally with predefined rule sets to choose from The application firewall can control communications up to the application layer of the OSI model which is the highest operating layer and where it gets its name The two primary categories of application firewalls are network based and host based Contents 1 History 2 Description 2 1 Network based application firewalls 2 2 Host based application firewalls 3 Implementations 3 1 Mac OS X 3 2 Linux 3 3 Windows 3 4 Network appliances 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksHistory EditGene Spafford of Purdue University Bill Cheswick at AT amp T Laboratories and Marcus Ranum described a third generation firewall known as an application layer firewall Marcus Ranum s work based on the firewall created by Paul Vixie Brian Reid and Jeff Mogul spearheaded the creation of the first commercial product The product was released by DEC named the DEC SEAL by Geoff Mulligan Secure External Access Link DEC s first major sale was on June 13 1991 to Dupont Under a broader DARPA contract at TIS Marcus Ranum Wei Xu and Peter Churchyard developed the Firewall Toolkit FWTK and made it freely available under license in October 1993 1 The purposes for releasing the freely available not for commercial use FWTK were to demonstrate via the software documentation and methods used how a company with at the time 11 years experience in formal security methods and individuals with firewall experience developed firewall software to create a common base of very good firewall software for others to build on so people did not have to continue to roll their own from scratch to raise the bar of firewall software being used However FWTK was a basic application proxy requiring the user interactions In 1994 Wei Xu extended the FWTK with the Kernel enhancement of IP stateful filter and socket transparent This was the first transparent firewall known as the inception of the third generation firewall beyond a traditional application proxy the second generation firewall released as the commercial product known as Gauntlet firewall Gauntlet firewall was rated one of the top application firewalls from 1995 until 1998 the year it was acquired by Network Associates Inc NAI Network Associates continued to claim that Gauntlet was the worlds most secure firewall but in May 2000 security researcher Jim Stickley discovered a large vulnerability in the firewall allowing remote access to the operating system and bypassing the security controls 2 Stickley discovered a second vulnerability a year later effectively ending Gauntlet firewalls security dominance 3 Description EditApplication layer filtering operates at a higher level than traditional security appliances This allows packet decisions to be made based on more than just source destination IP Address or ports and can also use information spanning across multiple connections for any given host Network based application firewalls Edit See also Web application firewall Network based application firewalls operate at the application layer of a TCP IP stack 4 and can understand certain applications and protocols such as File Transfer Protocol FTP Domain Name System DNS or Hypertext Transfer Protocol HTTP This allows it to identify unwanted applications or services using a non standard port or detect if an allowed protocol is being abused 5 Modern versions of network based application firewalls can include the following technologies Encryption offloading Intrusion prevention system Data loss preventionWeb application firewalls WAF are a specialized version of a network based appliance that acts as a reverse proxy inspecting traffic before being forwarded to an associated server Host based application firewalls Edit A host based application firewall monitors application system calls or other general system communication This gives more granularity and control but is limited to only protecting the host it is running on Control is applied by filtering on a per process basis Generally prompts are used to define rules for processes that have not yet received a connection Further filtering can be done by examining the process ID of the owner of the data packets Many host based application firewalls are combined or used in conjunction with a packet filter 6 Due to technological limitations modern solutions such as sandboxing are being used as a replacement of host based application firewalls to protect system processes 7 Implementations EditThere are various application firewalls available including both free and open source software and commercial products Mac OS X Edit Starting with Mac OS X Leopard an implementation of the TrustedBSD MAC framework taken from FreeBSD was included 8 The TrustedBSD MAC framework is used to sandbox services and provides a firewall layer given the configuration of the sharing services in Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard Third party applications can provide extended functionality including filtering out outgoing connections by app Linux Edit This is a list of security software packages for Linux allowing filtering of application to OS communication possibly on a by user basis AppArmor Kerio Control a commercial Product ModSecurity also works under Windows Mac OS X Solaris and other versions of Unix ModSecurity is designed to work with the web servers IIS Apache2 and NGINX Portmaster by Safing 9 is an activity monitoring application It is also available on Windows Systrace ZorpWindows Edit WinGateNetwork appliances Edit These devices may be sold as hardware software or virtualized network appliances Next Generation Firewalls Cisco Firepower Threat Defense Check Point Fortinet FortiGate Series Juniper Networks SRX Series Palo Alto Networks SonicWALL TZ NSA SuperMassive SeriesWeb Application Firewalls LoadBalancers A10 Networks Web Application Firewall Barracuda Networks Web Application Firewall Load Balancer ADC Citrix NetScaler F5 Networks BIG IP Application Security Manager Fortinet FortiWeb Series KEMP Technologies ImpervaOthers CloudFlare Meraki Smoothwall Snapt IncSee also EditModSecurity Computer security Content control software Proxy server Information security Application security Network securityReferences Edit Firewall toolkit V1 0 release Retrieved 2018 12 28 Kevin Pulsen May 22 2000 Security Hole found in NAI Firewall securityfocus com Retrieved 2018 08 14 Kevin Pulsen September 5 2001 Gaping hole in NAI s Gauntlet firewall theregister co uk Retrieved 2018 08 14 Luis F Medina 2003 The Weakest Security Link Series 1st ed IUniverse p 54 ISBN 978 0 595 26494 0 What is Layer 7 How Layer 7 of the Internet Works Cloudflare Retrieved Aug 29 2020 Software Firewalls Made of Straw Part 1 of 2 Symantec com Symantec Connect Community 2010 06 29 Retrieved 2013 09 05 What is sandbox software testing and security Definition from WhatIs com SearchSecurity Retrieved 2020 11 15 Mandatory Access Control MAC Framework TrustedBSD Retrieved 2013 09 05 Safing Portmaster safing io Retrieved 2021 11 04 External links EditWeb Application Firewall Open Web Application Security Project Web Application Firewall Evaluation Criteria from the Web Application Security Consortium Safety in the cloud s Vaporizing the Web application firewall to secure cloud computing Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Application firewall amp oldid 1107711221, wikipedia, 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