AI-Based Machine Learning Web Application Firewall (ML-WAF)

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This is an unedited manuscript accepted for publication and provided as an Article in Press for early access at the author’s request. The article will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and galley proof review before final publication. Please be aware that errors may be identified during production that could affect the content. All legal disclaimers of the journal apply.

Year : 2026 | Volume : 17 | 01 | Page :
    By

    M. Fatima,

  • Ritik Lodhi,

  • Ashika Bajpai,

  • Keshav Pachlaniya,

  • Ruchika Nagle,

  • Sourabh Kumar,

  1. Professor, Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning And Cyber Security, Madhya Pradesh, India
  2. Student, Department of Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning And Cyber Security, Madhya Pradesh, India
  3. Student, Department of Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning And Cyber Security, Madhya Pradesh, India
  4. Student, Department of Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning And Cyber Security, Madhya Pradesh, India
  5. Student, Department of Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning And Cyber Security, Madhya Pradesh, India
  6. Student, Department of Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning And Cyber Security, Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

This research investigates the use of deep learning techniques for the real-time detection of malicious activities in web traffic and proposes an intelligent, AI-driven Web Application Firewall (WAF) designed to provide automated and adaptive security. The system analyzes diverse components of HTTP requests, including request methods, URLs, headers, cookies, and payload content, to accurately identify and classify malicious behavior. The proposed model targets a wide range of common and critical web-based attacks, such as SQL Injection, Cross- Site Scripting (XSS), Path Traversal, and HTML Injection, which continue to pose serious threats to modern web applications. The primary objective of this work is to design, implement, and deploy a robust security mechanism capable of classifying incoming web requests as either benign or malicious in real time. Upon detection, the system actively mitigates threats by blocking, logging, or flagging suspicious traffic for further analysis. The training process relies on a labeled dataset composed of HTTP request logs collected from intentionally vulnerable web applications, ensuring exposure to realistic attack patterns. By learning behavioral relationships across multiple request attributes, the deep learning model demonstrates strong generalization capabilities across different attack vectors. When integrated into a live web environment, the proposed intelligent WAF provides dynamic protection that adapts to evolving attack techniques, thereby enhancing the overall resilience and security posture of web applications.

Keywords: Recurrent Neural Networks, Long Short-Term Memory, Web Application Firewalls

How to cite this article:
M. Fatima, Ritik Lodhi, Ashika Bajpai, Keshav Pachlaniya, Ruchika Nagle, Sourabh Kumar. AI-Based Machine Learning Web Application Firewall (ML-WAF). Journal of Computer Technology & Applications. 2026; 17(01):-.
How to cite this URL:
M. Fatima, Ritik Lodhi, Ashika Bajpai, Keshav Pachlaniya, Ruchika Nagle, Sourabh Kumar. AI-Based Machine Learning Web Application Firewall (ML-WAF). Journal of Computer Technology & Applications. 2026; 17(01):-. Available from: https://journals.stmjournals.com/jocta/article=2026/view=236695


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Ahead of Print Subscription Review Article
Volume 17
01
Received 15/01/2026
Accepted 23/01/2026
Published 10/02/2026
Publication Time 26 Days
147

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