An XML firewall is a specialized device used to protect applications exposed through XML based interfaces like

WSDL The Web Services Description Language (WSDL ) is an XML-based interface description language that is used for describing the functionality offered by a web service. The acronym is also used for any specific WSDL description of a web service (also ...

and REST and scan XML traffic coming into and going out from an organization. Typically deployed in a

DMZ A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or bounda ...

environment an XML Firewall is often used to validate XML traffic, control access to XML based resources, filter XML content and rate limit requests to back-end applications exposed through XML based interfaces. XML Firewalls are commonly deployed as hardware but can also be found as software and virtual appliance for VMWare, Xen or Amazon EC2. A number of brands of XML Firewall exist and they often differ based on parameters like performance (with or without hardware acceleration, 32 Vs 64 bit), scalability (how do they cluster and perform under load), security certification (common criteria, FIPS being the most common), identity support (for SAML,

OAuth OAuth (short for "Open Authorization") is an open standard for access delegation, commonly used as a way for internet users to grant websites or applications access to their information on other websites but without giving them the passwords. T ...

, enterprise SSO solutions) and extensibility (they can support different transport protocols like

IBM MQ IBM MQ is a family of message-oriented middleware products that IBM launched in December 1993. It was originally called MQSeries, and was renamed ''WebSphere MQ'' in 2002 to join the suite of WebSphere products. In April 2014, it was renamed ''IBM ...

, Tibco EMS, etc.). XML Firewalling functionality is typically embedded inside XML Appliances and SOA Gateways.

See also