Does reverse proxy provide security?

Question

I have an old apache web server, with some security issues, that running an old application exposed by internet. Before upgrading apache version, I must perform a lot of tests in a dev environment. During this time I would put a reverse proxy (with last apache web server version) in front of this application.

This temporary workaround can resolve some old apache security issues or it is totally useless?

Thanks in advice and I'm sorry for my bad english.

Answer 1

This temporary workaround can resolve some old apache security issues ... ?

Yes, with "can" and "some" emphasized. A reverse proxy handles incoming requests and rewrites them in a canonical form, which is safer for the application server to parse. A reverse proxy can also reject malformed requests so that they never reach the application.

It might not resolve every security issue, but you imagine one that this would resolve. For example, if a specially crafted causes the older version to execute arbitrary code, while the new version would drop the request, then having the reverse proxy would help prevent this bug from affecting the application server.

It's not as much of a defense as using a web application firewall, but it's kind of related.