Defending Against Path Traversal and File Inclusion

This video explores Path Traversal and File Inclusion (LFI/RFI)—subtle but highly destructive web vulnerabilities that attackers use like a digital master key to break out of restricted directories and access private server data. I’ll demonstrate how simple URL manipulations can expose sensitive credentials, application configurations, and core system logs. Beyond showcasing the attacks, you'll learn how to safeguard your infrastructure using Fastly Next-Gen WAF. Discover how its proprietary SmartParse technology inspects incoming traffic contextually to stop exploitation attempts instantly at the edge, reducing false positives without tedious rule tuning. Watch now to keep your applications locked down and secure! What You’ll Learn: • The Mechanics of Path Traversal: How attackers leverage directory climbing techniques to manipulate web parameters. • LFI vs. RFI: The critical differences between Local File Inclusion (stealing server files) and Remote File Inclusion (executing external malicious code). • Real-World Attack Vectors: Simulating exploitation methods across target points like public assets, FTP parameters, and search inputs. • Next-Gen WAF Defense: Deploying Fastly WAF to intercept file inclusion threats before they touch your underlying system. • Context-Aware Protection: How SmartParse evaluates traffic to eliminate manual security rule tuning. • Threat Intelligence & Tracing: Using security dashboards to parse specific traversal signals and isolate attackers using advanced ja3 and ja4 fingerprint signatures. Learn more about Fastly Next-Gen WAF: https://www.fastly.com/products/web-application-api-protection