Question: What is the purpose of the backend?

[thomas-mc-work]

The backend referenced in the docker-compose.yml:

traefik-modsecurity-plugin/docker-compose.yml

Line 30 in bba1950

- BACKEND=http://dummy

What's the purpose of it?

If I stop it's container then every request is replied by an engine nginx error page. (beyond that: In terms of security I'd recommend the nginx server to stay anonymous and serve a neutral error page, even if the scenario isn't very common).

[john8329]

I agree it's confusing, it's not really a middleware if it can only forward to a single backend. It's not really useful, having a double proxy is better at this point. The whole purpose of a plugin is avoiding having both traefik and a separate WAF, but if it has to forward it then it's the same as doing two cascading proxies (waf and traefik). It's also more secure since the entry point is a hardened one.