AWS WAF Classic AWS WAF
Managed web application firewall that protects web applications and APIs on Amazon CloudFront, Application Load Balancers, Amazon API Gateway, AWS AppSync, and Amazon Cognito against common web exploits and bots.
Naming timeline
- AWS WAF (later renamed AWS WAF Classic)
Launched on the original waf (and later waf-regional) API namespaces to filter HTTP/HTTPS traffic for Amazon CloudFront and Application Load Balancers.
- AWS WAF (wafv2) & AWS WAF ClassicCurrent name
Introduced redesigned AWS WAF on the unified wafv2 API namespace with AWS Managed Rules and JSON rule authoring, renaming the prior service to AWS WAF Classic (which reached end of support on September 30, 2025).
What replaced AWS WAF Classic?
AWS WAF Classic has been superseded by AWS WAF, with the latest change on 25 November 2019 (Release of AWS WAF v2 (AWS WAF Classic Retired Sep 30, 2025)). Managed web application firewall that protects web applications and APIs on Amazon CloudFront, Application Load Balancers, Amazon API Gateway, AWS AppSync, and Amazon Cognito against common web exploits and bots. The underlying legacy API or CLI surface is deprecated, so a technical migration is required.
Also known as
- AWS WAF v2
- WAFv2
- AWS WAF Regional (Classic)
Technical identifiers
Legacy identifiers deprecated. The underlying API or CLI surface for the legacy name is officially deprecated, so this change requires a technical migration rather than a label update.
| AWS Service APIs / SDKs | wafv2 waf waf-regional |
|---|---|
| AWS CLI Commands | aws wafv2 aws waf aws waf-regional |
| IAM Actions & Policies | wafv2:* waf:* waf-regional:* |
| Terraform Resources (aws_*) | aws_wafv2_web_acl aws_wafv2_rule_group aws_wafv2_ip_set aws_wafv2_regex_pattern_set aws_waf_web_acl aws_wafregional_web_acl |
The legacy AWS WAF Classic namespaces (waf, waf-regional, aws_waf_*, aws_wafregional_*) reached end of support on September 30, 2025 in favor of the unified wafv2 API, CLI, IAM, and aws_wafv2_* Terraform resources.
Notes & disambiguation
- On November 25, 2019, AWS launched a new version of AWS WAF (v2) with a unified API (wafv2), JSON-based rule definitions, logical rule nesting, and AWS Managed Rules, renaming the prior version to AWS WAF Classic.
- AWS WAF Classic used separate global (waf / aws_waf_*) and regional (waf-regional / aws_wafregional_*) APIs and Terraform resources, whereas current AWS WAF unifies global (CloudFront) and regional resources under the single wafv2 API and aws_wafv2_* Terraform resources via a scope parameter.
- Per the official AWS WAF Developer Guide, support for AWS WAF Classic ended on September 30, 2025.
- The AWS WAF Developer Guide initially announced an end-of-support date of September 30, 2025 for AWS WAF Classic and subsequently transitioned to a regional end-of-life schedule tracked in the AWS General Reference Sunset table (announced October 7, 2025 with final sunset on October 7, 2026).
Sources & official documentation
- Official documentation ↗
- Product page ↗
- Migrating your AWS WAF Classic resources to AWS WAF — AWS WAF Developer Guide
- AWS WAF Classic — AWS WAF Developer Guide
- AWS WAF Developer Guide — Document History (Release of AWS WAF Version 2)
- Services in Sunset — AWS General Reference (AWS WAF Classic Oct 7, 2026)
Catalog last updated . Spotted an error? Suggest an edit