High ThreatWeb & Injection DefenseCWE-400
API DDoS Protection & Multi-Tiered Rate Limiting
Protect APIs from DDoS attacks using multi-tiered rate limiting, WAF rulesets, and edge protections with Cloudflare & NGINX.
Vulnerability Overview
Unrestricted APIs can be overwhelmed by volumetric or application-layer attacks.
Botnets flood endpoints, causing resource exhaustion.
Vulnerable Code
location /api/ { proxy_pass http://backend; }No rate limiting defined.
Remediated Code
limit_req zone=mylimit burst=20 nodelay;Applies token bucket rate limiting.
Hardening Rules
- 1Implement IP rate limiting
- 2Use behavioral WAF rules
- 3Cache at the edge
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a burst limit?
It allows short spikes of traffic above the rate limit while maintaining a steady long-term rate.