Hi guys, my website is getting spammed with http requests making my server overload and crash.

I had found a solution previously and that was enabling Security Level - High and whenever someone spammed too much, it gave them 403, but for normal users the requests were working normally and nothing was happening. Basically when you first enter the page, its SSR on first page so automatically you make a get request so someone is just spamming a fetch request on a loop and keep crashing my server. Cloudflare blocked it before with High mode security but now it passes through after trying to overload the website myself.
34 Replies
vinegarstrokes
which waf rule was getting triggered? we have a similar issue where waf is blocking all traffic. 949110: Inbound Anomaly Score Exceeded
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
to be honest with you my issue is cloudflare security level high NOT blocking spam http requests @vinegarstrokes so mine is the opposite of yours I want to block traffic and give 403 for people who spam http requests
vinegarstrokes
@Wideneck#5505 ah.. got it, thanks!
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
do you have any clue 😅
vinegarstrokes
@Wideneck#5505 you should setup a rate limit instead of using a blanket policy like security level - you're using a hammer and need a screwdriver. check out https://developers.cloudflare.com/waf/rate-limiting-rules/create-zone-dashboard/
Cloudflare Docs
Create a rate limiting rule in the dashboard · Cloudflare Web Appli...
When you select the Block action in a rule you can optionally define a custom response.
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
It doesn't help really. Because it still makes the "attack" pass through after 10 seconds or something and still momentarily break the site Before, it just didnt even let through a single http request when it came in a burst Now its making it pass through so if someone makes a fetch loop wiith 10000 fetch atleast 500-600 goes through and thats enough to cause an overload unfortunately cause of bad vps
vinegarstrokes
I don't follow. try setting the request limit to a lower value eg. 3
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
its gonna make the normal user not be able to use the website lol
vinegarstrokes
which tier cloudflare license are you on
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
free dawg im broke
vinegarstrokes
do you get custom waf rules on free?
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
yes
vinegarstrokes
you tried something like this?
No description
vinegarstrokes
make sure it's first in the rule order 10 second rate limit period might be an enterprise feature. do you have it or is it 1min
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
Fyi for custom waf doesnt have rate limiting features
vinegarstrokes
well nut up the $20 bucks a month bru
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
Imma crack cloudflare ofc
vinegarstrokes
so you didn't actually try setting up a rate limit then. well there's your problem
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
I did setup rate limit I have the brokie version
vinegarstrokes
do it at the server nginx/apache have functionality
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
No description
vinegarstrokes
change the block duration to longer than 10 seconds dingus
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
As I said Brokie version xDD
vinegarstrokes
and don't match on verified bot. well you can if you setup the bot tagger. match on ip
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
im gonna check the nginx /apache trik trick
vinegarstrokes
path go download lmstudio and deepseek r1. ask that dude how to do it freeee
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
hmmm
vinegarstrokes
you really cant block longer than 10 seconds on free plan? cloudflare are dicks
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
ikrr idk what happend but after their dookie maintenance security level broke down OR they downgraded it
vinegarstrokes
its been fubar the last 2 days enterprise support is a joke
lisa
lisa6d ago
@Wideneck#5505 have you used any waf custom rules ? I think there is about 5 free 😊
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP6d ago
i have used for my backend access for only whitelisted ips, and in general protection but i havent done anything for the frontend cause my ass dont wanna break sheet i tried rate limitation nginx and it doesnt even work i followed 5000 documentation and 5000 videos. I just want to block too many requests at once so they cant overload my sheet So yeah i want to block too frequent requests from python fetching / ddos etc. like all it takes is like 150 requests within a few seconds and my server goes down.
lisa
lisa6d ago
Oh I see, I had this as a base for my site. Blocks a lot of stupid calls. But I needed to tweek it a bit (this was for some wp features). But overall it blocked 1.7K requests for me. And they where doing 2 request/sek. https://webagencyhero.com/cloudflare-waf-rules-v3/#elementor-toc__heading-anchor-4
Wideneck#5505
Wideneck#5505OP5d ago
❤️ Helped a lot. Now it's blocking a lot of malicious methods im using

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