Dear Alibaba Cloud user,

Thank you for your continued support and trust in WAF AI Application Protection.

On March 2, 2026, we will release a new version of WAF AI Application Protection, which will enter public preview. This upgrade introduces core feature optimizations and architectural adjustments to enhance our product capabilities.

This notice describes these changes and their potential impact. Please read it carefully to prepare for the upgrade.

Key Changes

• Feature optimization and refactoring

The new version introduces a comprehensive upgrade to the core logic of AI application protection. This improves detection accuracy and response efficiency. It also adds new features, such as keyword blacklist detection and custom chunk sizes, and enhances the user configuration experience.

• Integration with AI Guardrails

This update deeply integrates with Alibaba Cloud AI Guardrails to provide more intelligent and precise detection of prompt attacks and interception of content security risks.

Please Note: AI Guardrails is a separate, commercial security product. When you use the WAF AI Application Protection feature, the system calls AI Guardrails, which incurs separate fees. These fees will appear on your AI Guardrails product bill. The WAF feature is available at no additional cost. WAF AI Application Protection is designed to eliminate the need for code modification during the integration of security with AI applications, enabling out-of-the-box use with flexible security handling options.

• Configuration system adjustment

Due to significant changes in the overall architecture, the WAF AI Application Protection module will purge all existing configurations for current users (including assets and templates). To ensure business continuity, we will notify you through SMS and emails before the configurations are purged.

Impact

• Configuration reset risk: After the upgrade, your original configurations cannot be retained. After you receive the configuration purge notification and before the official upgrade, it is recommended that you manually disable the AI Application Protection feature to prevent unintended interceptions resulting from configuration loss, which may impact your online services.
• Service re-enablement: After the new version is released, go to the AI Application Protection page in the WAF console and manually re-enable the service. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
• Cost changes: After you enable the new AI Application Protection, calls to AI Guardrails will incur fees based on your actual usage. Review the AI Guardrails pricing policy and monitor its resource usage.
• Public preview stability notice: As a public preview, this version may not be completely stable. If you encounter any issues, provide feedback through our technical support channels. We will respond and address them promptly.

Recommended Actions

• Valid contact information: Ensure your contact information is up to date to receive notifications about the configuration purge.
• Configuration backup: If you want to keep your current protection settings, back up your existing configurations for future reference.
• Choice to enable: If you do not want to incur fees for AI Guardrails or have your configuration reset, you can choose not to enable this feature for now. After the upgrade, AI Application Protection will not be enabled automatically, and you will not be charged.
• Testing recommendation: Test the new features in a non-production environment. Verify compatibility and performance before you deploy to your production environment.

We are committed to providing you with a more secure and intelligent product experience. If you have any questions about this upgrade, please contact your account manager.

For full announcement details, please visit: [Announcement] AI Application Protection: Major upgrade enters public preview on February 14.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

The Alibaba Cloud WAF Product Team

February 2, 2026