Introduction
After setting up fail2ban to secure SSH access in my homelab, I quickly realized my web services were still exposed to more advanced threats. That’s when I discovered SafeLine WAF, a self-hosted Web Application Firewall that’s been an absolute game-changer for my setup.
Unlike the usual rule-based firewalls, SafeLine doesn’t just block patterns — it analyzes what’s really happening in traffic. After several months of running it across multiple apps, I can confidently say it’s now a critical part of my security stack.
What is SafeLine WAF?
SafeLine is an open-source, self-hosted Web Application Firewall by Chaitin Tech. Instead of relying only on predefined signatures, it takes a smarter approach by analyzing request semantics.
It’s already gained 17.3K+ GitHub stars and is protecting 1M+ websites worldwide. In your homelab, it works like this:
- Acts as a reverse proxy, routing all traffic through SafeLine
- Inspects each request before it reaches your apps
- Blocks malicious payloads instantly
- Lets safe traffic through
- Continuously learns and improves detection
Attacks SafeLine Helps Prevent:
- SQL injection
- XSS (cross-site scripting)
- Remote code execution (RCE)
- Path traversal
- HTTP flood attacks
- Bot scraping
- Even some zero-days
Why I Picked SafeLine Over Alternatives
I tested Cloudflare’s free WAF and ModSecurity before SafeLine. Here’s why I switched:
| Solution | Detection Rate | False Positives | Accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|
| SafeLine (Balanced) | 71.65% | 0.07% | 99.45% |
| SafeLine (Strict) | 76.17% | 0.22% | 99.38% |
| ModSecurity L1 | 69.74% | 17.58% | 82.20% |
| Cloudflare Free | 10.70% | 0.07% | 98.40% |
✅ Higher accuracy than ModSecurity
✅ Fewer false positives than anything I’ve tried
✅ Full control vs. Cloudflare’s limits
Setting Up SafeLine in a Homelab
Setup is refreshingly simple. Here’s the quick test install:
# One-line install with English interface
bash -c "$(curl -fsSLk https://waf.chaitin.com/release/latest/manager.sh)" -- --en
But for production, I recommend Docker Compose:
# Create SafeLine directory
sudo mkdir -p /data/safeline && cd /data/safeline
# Download compose file
sudo wget https://waf.chaitin.com/release/latest/compose.yaml
# Create env file
sudo tee .env << 'EOF'
SAFELINE_DIR=/data/safeline
IMAGE_TAG=latest
MGT_PORT=9443
POSTGRES_PASSWORD={postgres-password}
SUBNET_PREFIX=172.22.222
IMAGE_PREFIX=chaitin
ARCH_SUFFIX=
EOF
# Launch SafeLine
sudo docker compose up -d
Once it’s running, log into https://your-ip:9443 to manage it.
First Impressions
What surprised me most:
- Minimal performance hit (requests barely slowed)
- Clean, modern web interface
- Logs that actually make sense
SafeLine has quickly become my go-to defense for everything from my personal blog to my Vaultwarden instance.
Join the SafeLine Community
If you continue to experience issues, feel free to contact SafeLine support for further assistance.