How Cloudflare Works: The Hacker’s Blueprint Welcome back, my aspiring cyberwarriors! Often when we attack websites, we run up against Cloudflare. Cloudflare protects about 19.3% of all websites in the world. It’s primary product is DDoS protection but also provides Content Delivery Systems (CDN) and Internet security products. If the attacker is to get past […]

The post How Cloudflare Works: The Hacker Blueprint first appeared on Hackers Arise.

How Cloudflare Works: The Hacker’s Blueprint

Welcome back, my aspiring cyberwarriors!

Often when we attack websites, we run up against Cloudflare. Cloudflare protects about 19.3% of all websites in the world. It’s primary product is DDoS protection but also provides Content Delivery Systems (CDN) and Internet security products.

If the attacker is to get past this ubiquitous cybersecurity product, you first need to know how it functions. In this tutorial, I will try to help you understand how Cloudflare works and then in a subsequent tutorial, I will show you how you can bypass Cloudflare.

Let’s get started!

What Is Cloudflare?

Cloudflare is like a digital “bouncer” and performance booster for millions of websites. It sits between users and web servers, filtering, accelerating, and protecting traffic.

If you want to understand modern web security—or break it—you need to know how Cloudflare works.

Step 1: DNS and Proxy Magic

When you put your site behind Cloudflare, you point your domain’s nameservers to Cloudflare. Now, Cloudflare becomes your authoritative DNS provider—it answers all DNS queries for your domain. But here’s the trick:

• For proxied records, Cloudflare responds with its own anycast IP addresses—not your origin server’s real IP.





• All user requests hit Cloudflare’s global edge network first, then get relayed to your real server.

Result: Attackers can’t see your origin IP, and all traffic is filtered through Cloudflare’s defenses.

Step 2: CDN—Speed and Stealth

Cloudflare is a content delivery network (CDN) with data centers in 330+ cities

• It caches static content (images, scripts, etc.) at edge locations, serving users from the nearest node.





• This reduces latency, offloads your server, and makes DDoS attacks less effective

To bypass Cloudflare’s security, you must find the actual IP of the website.

Step 3: Security—The Shield Wall

Cloudflare’s security arsenal includes:

• DDoS Protection: Detects and blocks massive floods of malicious traffic using real-time analysis and dynamic rules










• Web Application Firewall (WAF): Blocks SQLi, XSS, CSRF, and other web attacks with managed rulesets that are constantly updated










• SSL/TLS Encryption: Automatically issues and manages certificates, encrypting all traffic between users and Cloudflare, and optionally between Cloudflare and your origin server










• Access Control: Restricts who can access sensitive parts of your site, with support for multi-factor authentication and IP whitelisting










• DNSSEC: Prevents DNS spoofing and cache poisoning attacks

Step 4: DDoS Mitigation—How the Giant Fights Back

Cloudflare’s DDoS systems work by:

• Sampling and analyzing traffic for patterns (source IP, protocols, HTTP headers, error rates).










• When attack traffic is detected, Cloudflare creates a real-time fingerprint and deploys mitigation rules globally—blocking, challenging, or rate-limiting malicious requests










• Legitimate users pass through; attackers get blocked or hit with CAPTCHAs.

Hacker’s Note: Cloudflare’s rules are dynamic and ephemeral—meaning the shield adapts in real time.

Step 5: Edge Computing

Cloudflare isn’t just a shield—it’s also an edge platform.

• You can run JavaScript code (Cloudflare Workers) at the edge, right next to users










• This allows for custom logic, instant redirects, or even serverless apps—without touching your origin.

Why does this matter?

• For defenders: You can block, log, or modify traffic before it ever hits your server.










• For hackers: You need to test both the edge and the origin for vulnerabilities.

How to Spot and Test Cloudflare

1. Check DNS:
   
   
   
   • Use dig or nslookup—if your domain resolves to Cloudflare IPs (104.x.x.x, 172.x.x.x), the site is behind Cloudflare
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   





2. Bypass Attempts:
   
   
   
   • Try to find the origin IP (historical DNS, email headers, subdomains, direct IP leaks).
   
   
   
   
   
   • Test for unproxied subdomains or services.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   





3. WAF Testing:
   
   
   
   • Send common attack payloads (SQLi, XSS) and look for custom error pages or CAPTCHAs.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   





4. DDoS Testing:
   
   
   
   • Simulate traffic spikes and see how Cloudflare responds (rate limiting, blocks, challenges).
   
   
   
   

Summary

Cloudflare is a global proxy, CDN, and security platform that shields websites from attacks and speeds up delivery. To get past Cloudflare protection, you must first understand how it works. In an upcoming tutorial, I will show you some ways of bypassing Cloudflare protection.

Stay sharp. Know the shield before you test the sword.

The post How Cloudflare Works: The Hacker Blueprint first appeared on Hackers Arise.

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