Release notes
This topic describes the feature releases and updates of Web Application Firewall (WAF) by month, in reverse chronological order.
For more information about WAF release notes, see What's new.
September 2026
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | Scenario-specific Protection - API Security - API Asset Discovery | API Security supports Swagger export and parameter structure display | The API Security module now supports the Swagger format and can completely export the parameter structures of API requests and responses, including detailed information such as field types, lengths, and formats. This feature helps customers more intuitively understand API definitions and facilitates automated security testing, risk verification, and compliance audits, improving the efficiency of API asset management and security operations. | September 28, 2026 | All | |
New feature | Scenario-specific Protection - Bot Management - Web Protection | Bot Management enhances the identification and verification capabilities for AI agent crawlers | Bot Management enhances the capabilities of identifying and verifying new types of AI agent automated access, improving protection against malicious scraping and business abuse, and optimizing the access experience of legitimate users. | September 28, 2026 | All | |
New feature | Provisioning - Hybrid Cloud - SDK integration | Hybrid Cloud WAF supports APISix plugin-based onboarding | Hybrid Cloud WAF now supports plugin-based deployment for Apache APISix gateways. Customers can install the WAF plugin to onboard traffic and enable security detection without modifying gateway source code or adjusting underlying configuration templates. This feature significantly reduces the onboarding threshold and O&M risks for APISix users in hybrid cloud environments, and improves the compatibility and deployment flexibility of the non-Alibaba Cloud gateway ecosystem. | September 28, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Scenario-specific Protection - API Security - API Risk Detection | API Security enhances the identification of personal information outside the Chinese mainland | The sensitive data identification capability of API Security now supports the personal identity information of the Philippines and Europe, helping global enterprises improve privacy compliance and sensitive data protection for business outside the Chinese mainland. | September 28, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Scenario-specific Protection - API Security - API Asset Discovery | The batch management capability of the API Security whitelist is enhanced | The API Security whitelist supports batch import and batch operations, which improves whitelist maintenance efficiency in large-scale API scenarios and reduces the management costs of one-by-one configuration. | September 28, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Scenario-specific Protection - API Security - API Risk Detection | The data masking capability of API Security is enhanced | The data masking capability of API Security is further enhanced to improve the accuracy and stability of sensitive data processing in complex business scenarios. | September 28, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Security Operations - Security Operations Agent - Security Operations Agent | The intelligent rule recommendation capability of Security Operations Agent is enhanced | Security Operations Agent adds a visualized operations dashboard and extends the coverage of intelligent rule recommendations, providing more intuitive operational insights and more comprehensive automated protection recommendations. | September 28, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Mitigation Settings - Basic Web Protection - Basic Rule Engine | Web core protection rules enhance the defense against SpEL expression injection attacks | Web core protection rules add detection and interception capabilities against SpEL expression injection attacks, improving the protection coverage of Java and Spring framework applications against new types of injection attacks. | September 28, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Mitigation Settings - Basic Web Protection - Protocol Compliance Engine | Web core protection rules enhance the security detection of file uploads | Web core protection rules further enhance the security detection capabilities for uploaded file content, improving the identification and interception of malicious scripts and probing payloads in uploaded files. | September 28, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Mitigation Settings - Basic Web Protection - Basic Rule Engine | Dedicated protection against kkFileView SSRF vulnerabilities is added | Web core protection rules add dedicated detection capabilities against server-side request forgery (SSRF) vulnerabilities in kkFileView, helping reduce the risks of unauthorized access and internal network probing for related services. | September 28, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Scenario-specific Protection - Bot Management - App Protection | The App Protection SDK completes the privacy compliance transformation | The WAF App Protection SDK has completed a dedicated privacy compliance transformation, strictly following the latest platform privacy policy requirements and optimizing the data collection scope and permission request logic. Customers who use this SDK can ensure that their mobile apps meet app store review and privacy regulation compliance requirements while integrating WAF protection, avoiding the risk of app removal caused by SDK compliance issues. | September 28, 2026 | All | |
New feature | Scenario-specific Protection - AI Application Protection - Asset Management | AI Application Protection supports ALB protected objects | The AI Application Protection module of Web Application Firewall (WAF) now supports Application Load Balancer (ALB) instances as protected objects. When you create or edit AI application protection assets, you can directly associate ALB instances that are onboarded to WAF without manually configuring domain names. This simplifies the onboarding process of AI service traffic protection and improves the efficiency of unified management of AI applications on the cloud. | September 14, 2026 | All | |
New feature | Provisioning | The console supports standardized onboarding of AI gateways to WAF protection | The Web Application Firewall (WAF) console adds a standardized onboarding entry for AI gateways, which allows AI gateway services to be onboarded to WAF for security protection with one click in a standardized manner. You can quickly complete the configuration between AI gateways and WAF in the console. This lowers the security onboarding threshold for AI infrastructure and ensures the security and compliance of AI gateway traffic. | September 14, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Mitigation Settings - Custom Rules | The configuration capability of ATO response matching conditions is enhanced | The Account Security (ATO) module further enhances the response matching condition configuration capabilities and supports more flexible definitions of response content matching rules, improving the accuracy of identifying account threats such as abnormal logins and credential stuffing. | September 14, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Security Operations - Security Reports - Security Reports | Security Reports are upgraded in display effects and query performance | The Security Reports module of Web Application Firewall (WAF) is comprehensively upgraded, with optimized data display effects and API response performance. Report pages load faster and data is presented more clearly and intuitively, helping you more efficiently analyze the business security posture and evaluate protection effectiveness. | September 14, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Scenario-specific Protection - API Security | The risk detection capabilities of API Security are upgraded | The risk identification and detection capabilities of API Security are further upgraded, improving the accuracy, efficiency, and stability of API asset discovery, risk detection, and security event analysis. | September 14, 2026 | All |
2026
August 2026
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | Scenario-specific Protection - Bot Management - App Protection | Bot Management App Protection supports more legitimate package signature configurations | Bot Management App Protection further extends the configuration capabilities of legitimate package name and package signature combinations to meet complex business scenarios such as multi-channel packages and multi-brand packages, improving the flexibility and accuracy of protection policies. | August 31, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Scenario-specific Protection - API Security | The API Security overview page is comprehensively upgraded to improve risk insight efficiency | Web Application Firewall comprehensively reconstructs the Agentic API Security overview page and optimizes the information architecture and visual presentation. The new overview page highlights core metrics such as the number of API assets, protected APIs, risky APIs, and attack trends on the first screen, and adds analysis modules such as risk level distribution and top risky assets. The upgraded page helps users more quickly grasp the overall API security posture, precisely locate high-risk issues, and supports drilling down from the overview to details or handling entries, significantly improving the decision-making efficiency of security operations. | August 31, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Security Operations - Security Reports - Security Reports | The tag statistics capabilities of bot traffic analysis are upgraded | The bot traffic analysis report further enhances the tag statistics and classification display capabilities, helping users more accurately identify automated traffic characteristics and providing data support for developing differentiated bot protection strategies. | August 31, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Security Operations - Log Service - Log Service | Log Service supports switching between pay-as-you-go Logstores | The log service of Web Application Firewall now supports switching between Logstores (log repositories) in pay-as-you-go mode. You can flexibly change log storage instances based on business requirements to optimize log management costs and resource allocation, meeting diversified log audit and analysis requirements. | August 31, 2026 | All | |
New feature | Scenario-specific Protection - Bot Management - Web Protection | The default template for Bot Management - Web Protection is released | The default template feature for Bot Management - Web Protection is added. Newly onboarded protected objects can enable protection with one click by using the default template, which simplifies the configuration process and improves protection coverage. | August 17, 2026 | All | |
New feature | Scenario-specific Protection - Bot Management - Risk Identification | Account Security (ATO) becomes generally available | Account Security (ATO) exits public preview and becomes generally available. It provides dedicated protection against account threats such as credential stuffing, brute-force attacks, and spam registration. Both subscription and pay-as-you-go users can activate this feature. | August 17, 2026 | All | |
New feature | Provisioning - cloud native mode - MSE onboarding | MSE onboarding supports the domain name mode | Microservices Engine (MSE) onboarding to WAF now supports the domain name mode to meet onboarding requirements in specific business scenarios. | August 17, 2026 | All | Enable WAF protection for MSE cloud-native gateway instances |
Feature optimization | Scenario-specific Protection - Bot Management - Web Protection | Whitelist labeling logic of Bot Management optimized | The whitelist labeling logic of Bot Management is optimized. Whitelisted IP addresses are displayed more clearly, helping you intuitively distinguish whitelisted traffic from protected traffic. | August 17, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Scenario-specific Protection - AI Application Protection - Content Moderation | Log fields of AI Application Protection enhanced | A correlation identifier field is added to AI Application Protection logs, helping you locate and analyze the logs more conveniently. | August 17, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Scenario-specific Protection - API Security - API Risk Detection | Sensitive data detection accuracy of API Security improved | The sensitive data detection rules for Alibaba Cloud AK/SK key pairs in API Security are optimized, improving detection accuracy in various business signature scenarios. | August 17, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Basic Capability Billing - Basic Service Billing | Billing experience and capacity policies of WAF 3.0 optimized | The billing policies and capacity management logic of WAF 3.0 are optimized, further improving the availability and stability of your business under high-load scenarios. | August 17, 2026 | All | |
New feature | Application Protection | SSO capability of Application Identity Authentication added | WAF 3.0 adds the Application Identity Authentication feature, which allows you to configure SSO for protected objects. You can create application authentication templates and associate them with protected objects. Integration with Alibaba Cloud IDaaS and third-party PAM tools is supported, enabling unified authentication and access control for backend applications and improving business security. | August 3, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Provisioning - CNAME record mode | TLS configuration experience for CNAME record mode and Hybrid Cloud optimized | The TLS version selection experience is optimized for CNAME record mode, cloud native mode, and Hybrid Cloud: 1. TLS 1.3 can be enabled independently, simplifying configuration. 2. The descriptions for TLS version selection are updated to clarify the compatibility and security differences between versions. 3. Cloud native mode further enhances cipher suite support to meet security requirements in different business scenarios. | August 3, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Security Operations - Security Operations Agent | Status messages of Security Operations Agent optimized | The user interface messages of the WAF Security Operations Agent are optimized: 1. When automatic application is disabled and no new rules are found, the message "The agent has completed this round of learning. No new optimization items are found." is displayed. 2. When automatic application is enabled and no new rules are found, the message "The agent has completed this round of learning. The optimization rules have been automatically applied." is displayed. This gives you a clearer view of the current status of the agent. | August 3, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Provisioning - cloud native mode - MSE onboarding | Information displayed in the MSE onboarding list optimized | A Domain column is added to the Microservices Engine (MSE) onboarding list, helping you view and manage the domain names of MSE instances onboarded to WAF more intuitively. | August 3, 2026 | All | Enable WAF protection for MSE cloud-native gateway instances |
July 2026
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | Scenario-specific Protection - AI Application Protection | AI Application Protection supports APIG and ALB onboarding | AI Application Protection supports service-oriented onboarding through API Gateway (APIG) and Application Load Balancer (ALB), covering more diverse business scenarios. | July 20, 2026 | All | |
New feature | Scenario-specific Protection - Bot Management | AI crawler analysis released in Bot Management with rule optimizations | 1. AI crawler analysis is added to Bot Management to help identify and defend against crawler attacks targeting AI models. 2. The naming of AI crawler categories is optimized for better readability. 3. Bot protection for web onboarding is migrated and integrated with AI crawler rules. | July 20, 2026 | All | |
New feature | Mitigation Settings - Advanced Settings | WAF integrates SSO capability | WAF adds single sign-on (SSO) integration, supporting IDaaS and third-party PAM tools. You can configure application authentication templates to implement precise access control for protected objects. | July 20, 2026 | All | |
New feature | Scenario-specific Protection - Bot Management - Web Protection | Bot Management improves identification of friendly crawlers of mainstream search engines | Bot Management adds identification of friendly crawlers from the Yahoo search engine, further improving the precise identification of crawlers from mainstream search engines such as Baidu, Google, Yahoo, 360, Bing, Sogou, Yandex, and Toutiao Search, and reducing false blocks of legitimate search engine traffic. | July 6, 2026 | All | |
New feature | Scenario-specific Protection - Bot Management - Web Protection | AI crawler analysis added | Bot Management releases the AI crawler analysis feature, which uses AI technologies to more accurately identify and counter advanced crawler behavior based on large models or complex algorithms, strengthening defense against automated threats. | July 6, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Security Operations - Security Reports | Security Reports query and Overview view enhanced | 1. Enhanced query conditions: The Web core protection module of Security Reports adds the Attack Type query condition, allowing filtering by common web attack types such as SQL injection and XSS. The simple search mode is displayed by default, with more filter dimensions available. 2. Completed Bot Management report metrics: When the action of a Bot protection rule is JavaScript validation or slider CAPTCHA, the pass rate metric is displayed. 3. Improved Overview view: A bandwidth trend chart is added to the Overview page, and the drill-down interaction of the Attack Type Distribution chart is optimized. | July 6, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Scenario-specific Protection - AI Application Protection - Asset Management | Asset management experience of AI Application Protection optimized | 1. Standardized naming: Asset fields in AI Application Protection are uniformly renamed "AI assets" to more accurately reflect business attributes. 2. Improved UI experience: The sensitive information type tag selection on the API Security details page is further improved for a better configuration experience. | July 6, 2026 | All | |
Feature optimization | Mitigation Settings - Advanced Settings - IP address book | Whitelist policy configuration made more flexible | To improve configuration flexibility, WAF increases the number of whitelist policies that are supported. The console wording is also optimized: the "Add to whitelist" button is renamed "Add whitelist policy" to more accurately reflect the feature semantics. | July 6, 2026 | All |
June 2026
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | Scenario-specific Protection - API Security - API Compliance Audit and Provenance Auditing | API Security policies support whitelist configuration based on User-Agent type | The security event whitelist policy in API Security adds a match condition that supports whitelist configuration based on User-Agent (Agent) type. This solves the problem of frequently updating IP whitelists caused by dynamic client IP changes and improves O&M efficiency. | June 22, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
New feature | Asset Center | One-click protection configuration dialog added to quickly enable core protection | To raise the initial security protection level, the WAF console adds a smart guidance dialog. When key protection features are not enabled, the system prompts you to enable the following capabilities with one click: 1. scanning protection: identifies and blocks common automated scanning behavior. 2. API Security: automatically inventories API assets and monitors sensitive data leakage risks. 3. Intelligent whitelist: automatically optimizes rules based on service traffic characteristics to reduce false blocks. 4. Threat Intelligence: collaboratively defends against known malicious IPs based on Alibaba Cloud threat intelligence. You can flexibly select items to enable based on business needs for comprehensive protection. | June 8, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
New feature | Mitigation Settings - Basic Web Protection - Basic Rule Engine Protection | Basic Web Protection supports deep detection of DEFLATE-compressed traffic | The WAF Basic Web Protection engine adds support for the DEFLATE compression algorithm, automatically decompressing request bodies and performing deep security detection, covering attack detection in more compression formats. | June 8, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
New feature | Scenario-specific Protection - API Security - API Risk Detection | API Security adds detection of credit card data transmitted in plaintext and unauthenticated MCP services | API Security enhances risk detection with the following new checks: 1. Credit card data transmitted in plaintext: identifies whether API responses contain unencrypted sensitive information such as credit card numbers, preventing data leakage. 2. Unauthenticated MCP services: detects unauthorized access risks of Model Context Protocol (MCP) service interfaces, safeguarding AI application interfaces. | June 8, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
New feature | Security Operations - Security Reports | Security Reports OpenAPI supports bandwidth data queries | The OpenAPI capabilities of WAF Security Reports are extended with a bandwidth data query interface. You can use the API to obtain WAF instance bandwidth usage within a specified time range, facilitating integration into your own monitoring system for automated O&M and resource cost analysis. | June 8, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
New feature | Scenario-specific Protection - Bot Management - Web Protection | Bot Management supports Friendly Bot Allowlist configuration | A Friendly Bot Allowlist configuration option is added to Bot Management. You can select and enable predefined allowlist rules for friendly bots (such as search engine crawlers and monitoring services) in the console, avoiding false blocks of normal business crawler traffic and simplifying Bot policy configuration. | June 8, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
New feature | Provisioning - Hybrid Cloud | Hybrid Cloud WAF fully upgraded to support Bot Management, AI protection, and unified logs | Hybrid Cloud WAF capabilities are continuously upgraded: 1. Advanced protection: the Hybrid Cloud dedicated-line architecture supports Bot Management, Threat Intelligence, API Security (real-time masking), and AI Application Protection. 2. Unified log view: you can view all security reports and log details, including Hybrid Cloud nodes, in a unified console. 3. Enhanced forwarding: compatibility and reliability in forwarding scenarios are further improved. 4. Extended SDK capabilities: Web SDK capabilities are further enriched to cover more onboarding scenarios. Hybrid Cloud users gain advanced security protection and O&M experiences consistent with the public cloud. | June 8, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
Feature optimization | CAPTCHA - CAPTCHA verification | Debug information display of slider CAPTCHA verification optimized | The debug information on the slider CAPTCHA verification page is optimized, with a unified Trace ID display format. This helps developers and O&M engineers track and troubleshoot abnormal requests during verification more consistently and conveniently. | June 8, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
Feature optimization | Mitigation Settings - Threat Intelligence | Collaborative defense between WAF Threat Intelligence and CDN upgraded | The data link between WAF Threat Intelligence and CDN is established, extending WAF threat intelligence to CDN edge nodes to build a collaborative defense system across the cloud and multiple products, raising the overall security protection level. | June 8, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
Feature optimization | Security Operations - Security Reports | Security Reports and log details support Hybrid Cloud scenarios and AI protection fields | The Security Operations module is optimized so that Security Reports and log details pages are compatible with Hybrid Cloud scenarios. For AI Application Protection in particular, masked information and AI protection fields are correctly displayed under the Hybrid Cloud architecture, providing a unified view and analysis of log data on and off the cloud. | June 8, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
Feature optimization | Asset Center | Traffic Redirection module for cloud native mode added to the console Overview page | The Traffic Redirection module on the WAF console Overview page is redesigned, displaying the accessed state of each cloud service (ALB, CLB, ECS, MSE, APIG, FC, and SAE) as intuitive cards. Features include: 1. Status visualization: shows the numbers of onboarded and non-onboarded assets, sorted by the number of non-onboarded assets. 2. One-click protection: click a card to enable WAF protection for the corresponding cloud service with one click. 3. Value-added feature recommendations: shows the activation status of Bot Management and API Security together with high-frequency attack statistics, guiding you to enable advanced protection. | June 8, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
Feature optimization | Scenario-specific Protection - Bot Management - Web Protection | AI crawler category naming optimized | The category naming of AI crawlers in Bot Management is optimized to be more intuitive and understandable, helping you more accurately identify and manage various AI crawler traffic. | June 8, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) |
May 2026
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | Provisioning - Hybrid Cloud | Hybrid Cloud supports IP address book and Threat Intelligence | Hybrid Cloud (including VPC dedicated-line environments) now supports the IP address book and Threat Intelligence features, helping you identify and block malicious traffic more precisely. | May 25, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
Feature optimization | Security Operations - Log Service | TraceID correlation in system logs enhanced | TraceID-related information is added to WAF logs, helping you quickly correlate relevant requests during troubleshooting and improving O&M efficiency. | May 25, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
Feature optimization | Provisioning | Real client IP identification in complex network scenarios enhanced | The real client IP identification capability of WAF in complex network architectures is enhanced, improving IP identification accuracy in scenarios such as multi-layer proxies and CDN. | May 25, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
Feature optimization | Mitigation Settings - Custom Rules - Access Control | Configuration validation experience of custom rules optimized | The configuration validation and error reporting of WAF custom rules are optimized, providing clearer instant validation feedback so you can check and correct configurations yourself. | May 25, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
Feature optimization | Mitigation Settings | Protection template and rule quota management made more flexible | WAF 3.0 further improves the configuration flexibility of protection templates and rules and optimizes rule quota validation, helping you configure and manage mitigation policies more conveniently. | May 19, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) |
April 2026
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | Scenario-specific Protection - Bot Management - Web Protection | Matching and statistics of advanced Bot custom rules enhanced | The match conditions and statistics dimensions of advanced Bot custom rules are further enhanced, providing more flexible rule configuration and helping you implement fine-grained Bot protection policies. | April 13, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
New feature | Security Operations | WAF tracing can be activated and configured from the console | The WAF console adds the activation entry and configuration delivery for tracing. You can conveniently enable tracing in the console for full-link visual monitoring and fault location of requests, improving O&M troubleshooting efficiency. | April 13, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
Feature optimization | Mitigation Settings - Basic Web Protection | Decode settings of Basic Web Protection optimized and enhanced token protection added | 1. Decode settings optimization: the category structure of decode settings in Basic Web Protection is optimized for better readability and professionalism. 2. Enhanced token protection: an enhanced token protection check box is added to Mitigation Settings, providing stronger request legitimacy validation to defend against forged request attacks. | April 13, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
Feature optimization | Provisioning | WAF console interaction and rule configuration optimized | 1. Frontend experience upgrade: the overall console interaction is upgraded, with faster page loading and better browser compatibility. 2. Menu and guidance optimization: a new menu version is released, with improved ATO feature guidance and documentation links. 3. Rule configuration validation: validation for ACL-related rules is further improved, increasing the reliability of rule configuration. | April 13, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) | |
Feature optimization | Provisioning - Hybrid Cloud | Traffic redirection mode navigation of Hybrid Cloud WAF optimized to prevent accidental deletion of configurations | The search interaction of the Hybrid Cloud WAF console in Partial Traffic Redirection mode is optimized. When you search for a non-existent domain name, the page stays in the current redirection mode instead of incorrectly navigating to the Full Traffic Redirection page, preventing your configured partial redirection policies from being accidentally cleared or deleted due to page jumps. | April 13, 2026 | China (Hangzhou) |
2025
December 2025
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Threat Intelligence | Threat Intelligence module released | Based on the global, multi-dimensional threat data of Alibaba Cloud, the Threat Intelligence module automatically identifies and handles malicious IPs, building proactive defense before attacks occur and improving business security. | December 26, 2025 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - General Settings - IP address book | IP address book | You can create reusable IP address sets and associate them with multiple protection rules. When an IP changes, you only need to update the address book, and all referencing rules are automatically synchronized. | December 16, 2025 |
October 2025
Type | Feature | Update title | Release date | Regions | References | |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Billing - Price Calculator | Secu calculator for the pay-as-you-go edition | The Secu calculator is released for the pay-as-you-go edition of WAF, helping you estimate the purchase budget of the pay-as-you-go edition. | October 14, 2025 | ||
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - AI Application Protection | New capabilities of AI Application Protection | Response replacement and retraction actions for streaming responses are supported, preventing large language model applications from outputting unexpected content. The Content Moderation module is integrated, allowing switches per check item and real-time handling of non-compliant content. | October 10, 2025 |
August 2025
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Bot Management | New capabilities of Bot Management | Default protection adds traffic fingerprinting, WebSDK probes, overseas IDC detection, and access behavior detection. Advanced custom rules support JA3/JA4 fingerprints and advanced HTTP flood settings. Malicious, suspicious, and friendly Bots can be viewed and configured by category. | August 15, 2025 |
May 2025
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - AI Application Protection | prompt injection detection and custom block pages | After large language model services are onboarded to WAF, prompt injection and prompt jailbreak attacks can be detected and blocked on the WAF side. In this release, AI Application Protection can be enabled only for protected objects onboarded through CNAME records or cloud services CLB, NLB, and ECS. | May 9, 2025 |
April 2025
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Overview and Security Reports | New Overview and Security Reports | The interaction pages of Overview and Security Reports are redesigned, with new features and TOP charts added. | April 9, 2025 |
February 2025
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Bot Management - App Protection | SDK integration for Harmony apps | You can integrate the SDK into your app to configure scenario-based anti-crawler rules for apps in Bot Management of the console. | February 25, 2025 |
2024
November 2024
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Basic Web Protection | New web core protection rules | You can protect web services more easily by configuring engine configuration and rule library management. | November 7, 2024 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - aggregate rate limiting | aggregate rate limiting | You can configure custom rules and protect web services by QPS rate limiting or percentage rate limiting. | November 6, 2024 |
September 2024
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - cloud native mode | Cloud-native API gateway onboarding | Cloud-native API gateway instances can be onboarded to WAF. Traffic is extracted through the SDK embedded in the gateway for detection and protection. | September 13, 2024 | Enable WAF protection for Cloud-native API Gateway instances |
May 2024
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - CNAME record mode | Non-standard port update | CNAME record mode is extended to support forwarding on all non-standard ports for IPv4. | May 31, 2024 |
March 2024
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - multi-account management feature | Multi-account management for enterprise customers | With a single WAF instance, you can onboard cloud service resources from other Alibaba Cloud accounts for unified protection. | March 27, 2024 |
January 2024
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Security Operations - Block Query | Block query | On the block query page, you can query block details by request ID. | January 16, 2024 | ||
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - hybrid cloud protection - Log Forwarding | Hybrid Cloud log forwarding configuration upgraded | Hybrid Cloud logs support Kafka forwarding. Different Kafka and syslog log forwarding settings can be configured for different clusters. | January 15, 2024 |
2023
October 2023
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New region | WAF 3.0 - API Security | Regions outside the Chinese mainland support API Security | API Security is supported in regions outside the Chinese mainland. | October 12, 2023 | Outside the Chinese mainland |
September 2023
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - API Security | API Security supports compliance audit and traceability | API Security supports auditing and tracing of outbound data. | September 21, 2023 |
August 2023
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - protected object | Cookie attribute settings supported | Cookie attribute settings can be added for protected objects. | August 28, 2023 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - CNAME record mode | IPv6 onboarding supported | IPv6 can be enabled to onboard IPv6 service traffic to WAF for protection. | August 20, 2023 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - Certificate Management | VIP-level TLS customization and default certificate configuration | Custom SSL certificates or TLS policies can be configured for IPv4 VIPs. | August 10, 2023 | ||
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Bot Management | origin custom header, canary rule, and machine traffic analysis | Bot Management adds machine traffic analysis, the origin custom header rule action for identified Bot behavior, and canary rules. Custom rules support canary rule, allowing you to configure the effective percentage for objects of different dimensions. | August 1, 2023 |
July 2023
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - Domain Management | Domain DNS status detection | WAF 3.0 checks the DNS status of onboarded domain names to quickly identify risky domains with DNS resolution anomalies, preventing impacts on your website services. | July 14, 2023 | Add a domain to WAF via CNAMEModify DNS resolution settings for a domain name (WAF 3.0) |
June 2023
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - Domain Management | Domain ownership verification | When you add a domain name for the first time, you must verify that you own the top-level domain. After verification, adding any domain name under the same top-level domain requires no further verification. | June 21, 2023 | Verify domain ownershipAdd a domain name (WAF 3.0)Asset Center (WAF 3.0)Add a domain name (WAF 2.0) | |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - Domain Management | SM-based HTTPS encryption supported | When HTTPS is selected, the Enable SM-based HTTPS and Allow Access Only from SM Certificate-based Clients features are supported. | June 10, 2023 |
May 2023
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - API Security | API Security supports custom sensitive data type policies | Custom sensitive data type policies are supported. | May 30, 2023 | ||
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Basic Web Protection | semantic analysis protection added to web core protection | semantic analysis protection is added to defend against SQL injection attacks, with detection switches for non-injection attacks. | May 22, 2023 | ||
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Billing - Specification Changes | Downgrade update | The dedicated IP quota specification can be downgraded, and downgrading can disable Bot Management - Web Protection, Bot Management - App Protection, and API Security. | May 18, 2023 |
April 2023
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - cloud native mode | Cloud native mode supports adding domain-level protected objects | Domain names on CLB or ECS instances can be manually added as protected objects. | April 28, 2023 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Billing - Traffic Billing Protection | Traffic billing protection | After this feature is enabled, if the peak QPS of a pay-as-you-go instance within one hour exceeds the threshold, the instance enters the sandbox and the traffic and feature fees for that hour are 0, avoiding excessive bills caused by QPS spikes. | April 14, 2023 |
March 2023
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Upgrade Migration | Self-service upgrade tool | The console upgrade tool allows you to self-upgrade WAF 2.0 instances to WAF 3.0. | March 31, 2023 | ||
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - API Security | API Security update | Pay-as-you-go instances support API Security, and API Security supports custom policies. | March 3, 2023 |
February 2023
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Billing - Editions and Specifications | Specification changes for critical event protection and hybrid cloud protection nodes | In the Ultimate edition, critical event protection is enabled by default; the Pro and Enterprise editions can be temporarily upgraded and activated by day; the Basic edition is not supported. The Enterprise and Ultimate editions support Hybrid Cloud by default and include one protection node; the Basic and Pro editions require an upgrade before use. | February 24, 2023 | WAF editions and featuresCritical event protectionHybrid cloud access | |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Basic Web Protection | Intelligent whitelist, false positive suppression, and loose and strict rule groups | The intelligent whitelist uses AI learning on historical traffic to automatically add URL-level whitelist entries, reducing false blocks. Loose and strict rule groups are added to the built-in rule groups; false positive suppression supports adding attacking IPs to the whitelist with one click. | February 8, 2023 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - cloud native mode | One-click Function Compute onboarding supported | WAF integrates with the native architecture of Function Compute through modularized SDKs. Security protection can be enabled for custom domain names bound to web applications on Function Compute, identifying malicious Characteristics and forwarding legitimate traffic to the backend functions. | February 8, 2023 | Enable WAF protection for a custom domain name in Function Compute |
January 2023
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Billing | Subscription instances support self-service unsubscription | WAF 3.0 subscription instances can be unsubscribed by yourself in the console. | January 31, 2023 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - system administration - Resources and Tags | Resource group and tag management supported | Integrated with Alibaba Cloud Resource Management, the Resource Group and Tag features are added to group resources under your account and isolate permissions. | January 19, 2023 | ||
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Bot Management | Bot Management update | Bot Management adds one-click protection against low- and mid-level Bot traffic in basic protection. Scenario-based protection for apps adds slider CAPTCHA verification, AI intelligent protection, and Threat Intelligence. Scenario-based protection for websites and apps supports scheduled activation. Security Reports are redesigned with an attack details list added. | January 17, 2023 |
2022
December 2022
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New region | WAF 3.0 - API Security | WAF 3.0 the Chinese mainlandregions support API Security | API assets of services onboarded to WAF are automatically inventoried. API risks (such as unauthorized access, excessive exposure of sensitive data, and leakage of internal interfaces) are detected, and reports reconstruct API anomaly events, providing risk handling suggestions and references for API lifecycle management. | December 22, 2022 | Outside the Chinese mainland |
November 2022
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - CNAME record mode | CNAME record mode supports retry and origin keep-alive settings | When you onboard domain names through CNAME records, retry and origin keep-alive settings are supported. | November 29, 2022 | ||
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Log Service | Log Service supports recording custom request headers, request bodies, response headers, and response bodies | The request_body, request_header, response_header, and response_info fields are added to record custom request headers, request bodies, response headers, and response bodies. | November 28, 2022 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Log Service | Log storage capacity alerts | When log storage usage exceeds 80%, you are notified by text message and email to upgrade the capacity in time, preventing new log data from being unwritable and log data from being incomplete due to full storage. | November 25, 2022 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Billing | Subscription billing mode supported | The pay-before-use billing method is supported. | November 24, 2022 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - cloud native mode | Layer 4 and layer 7 CLB and ECS instances supported | Layer 4 or layer 7 CLB instances and ECS instances to be protected can be onboarded to WAF by adding traffic redirection ports. | November 23, 2022 | Enable WAF protection for a CLB instanceEnable WAF protection for a Layer 4 CLB instanceEnable WAF protection for ECS instances | |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Billing - Specification Changes | Self-service downgrade supported | You can self-downgrade the purchased QPS extension specification, elastic pay-as-you-go QPS specification, domain name extension quota, and log storage capacity. | November 17, 2022 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - API Security | API Security released | API assets of services onboarded to WAF are automatically inventoried. API risks (such as unauthorized access, excessive exposure of sensitive data, and leakage of internal interfaces) are detected, and reports reconstruct API anomaly events, providing risk handling suggestions and references for API lifecycle management. | November 14, 2022 |
October 2022
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - OpenAPI | OpenAPI released | API interfaces are provided for common console configuration operations, facilitating batch operations. | October 30, 2022 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Billing | Elastic pay-as-you-go and sandbox feature | During events such as promotions with traffic spikes, when the actual QPS may exceed the sum of the included and extended QPS, you can enable elastic pay-as-you-go to be billed for the excess usage, preventing instances from entering the sandbox due to QPS overuse and affecting your business. | October 27, 2022 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Monitoring and Alerting | Monitoring and alerting | You can configure alerts so that WAF sends alert notifications when attack events or anomalous traffic are detected, helping you stay informed of your business security status. | October 19, 2022 |
September 2022
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning | Custom header for obtaining the originating port of the client supported | Provisioning settings support enabling traffic marking and selecting the originating port of the client. After you configure the header field name, WAF records the field and sends it back to the origin server. | September 23, 2022 |
August 2022
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
Feature optimization | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning | origin connection timeout customizable | Provisioning settings support custom timeout values for new connections, read connections, and write connections, which you can adjust based on your business needs. | August 24, 2022 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Provisioning - cloud native mode | MSE onboarding | Web services using Microservices Engine (MSE) can be onboarded to WAF through MSE, redirecting service traffic to WAF 3.0 for security protection. | August 12, 2022 |
July 2022
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - data leakage prevention | data leakage prevention | Sensitive information in server responses (such as ID card numbers, phone numbers, bank card numbers, and sensitive words) can be filtered and masked, or a default error response page can be returned. | July 22, 2022 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - webpage tamper protection | webpage tamper protection | Web pages that you want to protect can be locked. When a locked page receives a request, the configured cached page is returned, preventing the page content on the origin server from being maliciously tampered with. | July 22, 2022 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Billing | Subscription billing mode added | The pay-before-use billing method is supported. You can reserve resources in advance at lower prices to save costs. | July 20, 2022 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Asset Center | Asset Center | Asset Center inventories domain assets on and off the cloud and assesses risk levels based on the cloud attack posture, helping you understand the overall protection status of your business. | July 14, 2022 |
June 2022
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - Bot Management | Bot Management | Scenario-based anti-crawler rules for websites and apps are supported, allowing you to protect your business against crawler risks in a more targeted manner. | June 23, 2022 |
May 2022
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - critical event protection | critical event protection | Provides rule group for critical event protection, large-scale IP blocking, collaborative defense, and Cookie security capabilities, delivering high-level protection in intense attack-and-defense scenarios. | May 30, 2022 |
April 2022
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 - HTTP Flood Protection | HTTP flood protection | Blocks HTTP flood (CC) attacks against page requests of websites and returns a 405 block page after requests are blocked. | April 21, 2022 | ||
New feature | WAF 3.0 - geo-blocking | geo-blocking | Identifies the source regions of client requests and blocks or allows access from specific regions with one click, addressing frequent malicious requests from certain regions. | April 21, 2022 | Configure region blocking rules to block requests from specific regions |
January 2022
Type | Feature | Update title | Update details | Release date | Regions | References |
New feature | WAF 3.0 | Release of the new WAF 3.0 version | Building on the CNAME record mode of WAF 2.0, WAF 3.0 integrates with the cloud-native architecture of cloud services such as ALB, supports cloud native mode, and redesigns the interaction logic of Mitigation Settings, delivering higher O&M efficiency and more capabilities. | January 22, 2022 | Announcement on the release of WAF 3.0 and discontinuation of new WAF 2.0 purchases | |
Feature discontinuation | WAF 2.0 - Billing | Discontinuation of new WAF 2.0 purchases | New purchases of WAF 2.0 are discontinued. New users must use WAF 3.0. Existing WAF 2.0 users are not affected. | January 22, 2022 | Announcement on the release of WAF 3.0 and discontinuation of new WAF 2.0 purchases |