# F5 WAF for NGINX overview

Type of document: Reference
Product: NGINX Gateway Fabric

---


F5 NGINX Gateway Fabric integrates with F5 WAF for NGINX to provide enterprise-grade web application firewall protection. WAF policies are compiled externally and deployed to the data plane via the `WAFPolicy` custom resource.

**Note:**  F5 WAF for NGINX requires NGINX Plus and a separate F5 WAF for NGINX subscription. Contact your F5 sales representative for licensing details. 

---

## Architecture

F5 WAF for NGINX uses a multi-container architecture. When WAF is enabled, each NGINX Pod is extended with two sidecar containers:

- **waf-enforcer**: Enforces WAF policies on incoming traffic.
- **waf-config-mgr**: Manages WAF configuration and distributes policy bundles to the enforcer.

Shared ephemeral volumes connect these containers to the main NGINX container.

```mermaid
graph LR
    CP[NGINX Gateway Fabric] -->|gRPC: config + policy bundle| Agent
    subgraph NginxPod["NGINX Pod"]
        Agent[NGINX Agent] -->|writes bundle| Vol[(Shared Volume)]
        NGINX[NGINX + WAF Module] --- Vol
        Enforcer[WAF Enforcer] --- Vol
        ConfigMgr[WAF Config Mgr] --- Vol
    end
    Client[Client] ==> NGINX ==> Backend[Backend Service]
```

---

## Enable WAF on the NginxProxy

WAF is enabled by setting `waf.enable: true` on an `NginxProxy` resource. This instructs NGINX Gateway Fabric to deploy the WAF sidecar containers alongside the NGINX Pod.

You can enable WAF at two levels:

- **All Gateways** — Set WAF on the GatewayClass-level `NginxProxy` so that every Gateway managed by this NGINX Gateway Fabric instance gets WAF sidecars by default. A per-Gateway `NginxProxy` can override this (for example, to disable WAF on a specific Gateway).
- **Per Gateway** — Create an `NginxProxy` and reference it from a Gateway's `spec.infrastructure.parametersRef`. Only that Gateway gets WAF sidecars.

For details on how GatewayClass and Gateway-level NginxProxy settings are merged, see [Data plane configuration](/ngf/how-to/data-plane-configuration.md).

### Enable WAF for all Gateways

To enable WAF at install time use the **NGINX Plus with WAF** tab in the [Helm install guide](/ngf/install/helm.md). This sets the WAF-enabled NGINX Plus image (`nginx-plus-f5waf`) and enables WAF on the GatewayClass-level `NginxProxy`, so every Gateway gets WAF sidecars by default.

To disable WAF for a specific Gateway, create a per-Gateway `NginxProxy` with `waf.enable: false` and reference it from that Gateway.

**Note:**  For additional WAF-related NginxProxy settings — including `disableCookieSeed`, `bundleFailOpen`, and custom WAF container images — see [Configure WAF settings](/ngf/waf-integration/configuration.md). 

### Enable WAF per Gateway

If you installed with the standard NGINX Plus image and want WAF on a specific Gateway only, create a per-Gateway `NginxProxy`. You must also set the NGINX image to `nginx-plus-f5waf`, since the standard `nginx-plus` image inherited from the GatewayClass does not include the WAF module:

```yaml
apiVersion: gateway.nginx.org/v1alpha2
kind: NginxProxy
metadata:
  name: waf-enabled-proxy
spec:
  waf:
    enable: true
  kubernetes:
    deployment:
      container:
        image:
          repository: private-registry.nginx.com/nginx-gateway-fabric/nginx-plus-f5waf
```

```yaml
apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Gateway
metadata:
  name: gateway
spec:
  gatewayClassName: nginx
  infrastructure:
    parametersRef:
      name: waf-enabled-proxy
      group: gateway.nginx.org
      kind: NginxProxy
  listeners:
  - name: http
    port: 80
    protocol: HTTP
```

For the full list of available images, see [Supported container images](/ngf/overview/technical-specifications.md#supported-container-images).

---

## Policy lifecycle

### Bundles

A WAF bundle is a compiled policy package produced by the [F5 WAF for NGINX compiler](/waf/configure/compiler.md). It contains the security policy, optional logging profile, [attack signatures](/waf/policies/attack-signatures.md), [threat campaign](/waf/policies/threat-campaigns.md) data, [bot signatures](/waf/policies/bot-signatures.md), and related metadata in a format that the WAF engine can load and enforce at runtime. Pre-compiling policies into bundles enables faster, more reliable WAF startup — policies are resolved and validated at build time rather than on the running data plane.

### Compilation

WAF policies must be compiled before they can be applied. Compilation takes a JSON policy definition (and optionally [global settings](/waf/configure/compiler.md) such as a cookie seed and [user-defined signatures](/waf/policies/user-signatures.md)) and produces a `.tgz` bundle. NGINX Gateway Fabric does not compile policies — its role begins at fetching a compiled bundle and deploying it to the data plane.

### Source types

The following policy source types are supported, selected via the `spec.type` field on the `WAFPolicy` resource:

| Type   | Description                                                                          |
|--------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `NIM`  | NGINX Instance Manager — fetched by policy name or UID via NGINX Instance Manager API|
| `N1C`  | NGINX One Console — fetched by policy name or object ID via NGINX One Console API    |
| `HTTP` | Direct HTTP/HTTPS URL to a compiled bundle file                                      |

For details on configuring each source type, see [Configure policy sources](/ngf/waf-integration/policy-sources.md).

---

## Policy attachment

`WAFPolicy` uses **inherited policy attachment**, following the [Gateway API policy attachment model](https://gateway-api.sigs.k8s.io/reference/policy-attachment/):

- A **Gateway-level** `WAFPolicy` protects all HTTPRoutes and GRPCRoutes attached to that Gateway automatically. New routes inherit protection without any additional configuration.
- A **Route-level** `WAFPolicy` can be applied to a specific HTTPRoute or GRPCRoute to override the Gateway-level policy for that route.
- More specific (route-level) policies take precedence over less specific (gateway-level) policies. The route-level policy completely replaces the gateway-level policy for that route — there is no merging.
- Only one `WAFPolicy` may target a given resource at a given level. If two policies target the same Gateway or Route, the second is rejected with `Accepted=False` and reason `Conflicted`.

```text
Gateway-level WAFPolicy → HTTPRoute (inherited automatically)

Route-level WAFPolicy   → Overrides Gateway-level for that route only
```

**Note:**  GRPCRoutes are protected in the same way as HTTPRoutes. To target a GRPCRoute, set `kind: GRPCRoute` in the `targetRefs` field. Built-in gRPC log profiles (`log_grpc_all`, `log_grpc_blocked`, `log_grpc_illegal`) are available for gRPC-specific security logging. 

---

## See also

- [Get started with F5 WAF for NGINX](/ngf/waf-integration/get-started.md)
- [Configure policy sources (NGINX Instance Manager, NGINX One Console, and HTTP)](/ngf/waf-integration/policy-sources.md)
- [Configure WAF settings](/ngf/waf-integration/configuration.md)
- [WAFPolicy and NginxProxy API reference](/ngf/reference/api.md)
- [F5 WAF for NGINX documentation](/waf/)