diff --git a/projects/packages/waf/changelog/add-waf-body-processor b/projects/packages/waf/changelog/add-waf-body-processor
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..df675355a4f53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/projects/packages/waf/changelog/add-waf-body-processor
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Significance: minor
+Type: added
+
+Firewall Runtime: Added support for rule files to specify body parser type.
diff --git a/projects/packages/waf/src/class-waf-request.php b/projects/packages/waf/src/class-waf-request.php
index 5017a2e25f46c..bbb8bcf3e17f9 100644
--- a/projects/packages/waf/src/class-waf-request.php
+++ b/projects/packages/waf/src/class-waf-request.php
@@ -328,28 +328,59 @@ public function get_get_vars() {
 		return flatten_array( $_GET );
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Returns the POST variables from a JSON body
+	 *
+	 * @return array{string, scalar}[]
+	 */
+	private function get_json_post_vars() {
+		$decoded_json = json_decode( $this->get_body(), true ) ?? array();
+		return flatten_array( $decoded_json, 'json', true );
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Returns the POST variables from a urlencoded body
+	 *
+	 * @return array{string, scalar}[]
+	 */
+	private function get_urlencoded_post_vars() {
+		parse_str( $this->get_body(), $params );
+		return flatten_array( $params );
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Returns the POST variables
 	 *
+	 * @param string $body_processor Manually specifiy the method to use to process the body. Options are 'URLENCODED' and 'JSON'.
+	 *
 	 * @return array{string, scalar}[]
 	 */
-	public function get_post_vars() {
+	public function get_post_vars( string $body_processor = '' ) {
 		$content_type = $this->get_header( 'content-type' );
+
+		// If the body processor is specified by the rules file, trust it.
+		if ( 'URLENCODED' === $body_processor ) {
+			return $this->get_urlencoded_post_vars();
+		}
+		if ( 'JSON' === $body_processor ) {
+			return $this->get_json_post_vars();
+		}
+
+		// Otherwise, use $_POST if it's not empty.
 		if ( ! empty( $_POST ) ) {
-			// If $_POST is populated, use it.
 			return flatten_array( $_POST );
-		} elseif ( strpos( $content_type, 'application/json' ) !== false ) {
-			// Attempt to decode JSON requests.
-			$decoded_json = json_decode( $this->get_body(), true ) ?? array();
-			return flatten_array( $decoded_json, 'json', true );
-		} elseif ( strpos( $content_type, 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded' ) !== false ) {
-			// Attempt to decode url-encoded data
-			parse_str( $this->get_body(), $params );
-			return flatten_array( $params );
-		} else {
-			// Don't try to parse any other content types
-			return array();
 		}
+
+		// Lastly, try to parse the body based on the content type.
+		if ( strpos( $content_type, 'application/json' ) !== false ) {
+			return $this->get_json_post_vars();
+		}
+		if ( strpos( $content_type, 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded' ) !== false ) {
+			return $this->get_urlencoded_post_vars();
+		}
+
+		// Don't try to parse any other content types.
+		return array();
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/projects/packages/waf/src/class-waf-runtime.php b/projects/packages/waf/src/class-waf-runtime.php
index 394d46aa5a6f1..19300ea804582 100644
--- a/projects/packages/waf/src/class-waf-runtime.php
+++ b/projects/packages/waf/src/class-waf-runtime.php
@@ -38,6 +38,14 @@ class Waf_Runtime {
 	 */
 	const NORMALIZE_ARRAY_MATCH_VALUES = 2;
 
+	/**
+	 * The version of this runtime class. Used by rule files to ensure compatibility.
+	 *
+	 * @since $$next-version$$
+	 *
+	 * @var int
+	 */
+	public $version = 1;
 	/**
 	 * Last rule.
 	 *
@@ -68,6 +76,12 @@ class Waf_Runtime {
 	 * @var string
 	 */
 	public $matched_var_name = '';
+	/**
+	 * Body Processor.
+	 *
+	 * @var string 'URLENCODED' | 'JSON' | ''
+	 */
+	private $body_processor = '';
 
 	/**
 	 * State.
@@ -438,7 +452,7 @@ public function meta( $key ) {
 					$value = $this->args_names( $this->meta( 'args_get' ) );
 					break;
 				case 'args_post':
-					$value = $this->request->get_post_vars();
+					$value = $this->request->get_post_vars( $this->get_body_processor() );
 					break;
 				case 'args_post_names':
 					$value = $this->args_names( $this->meta( 'args_post' ) );
@@ -488,6 +502,28 @@ private function state_values( $prefix ) {
 		return $output;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Get the body processor.
+	 *
+	 * @return string
+	 */
+	private function get_body_processor() {
+		return $this->body_processor;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Set the body processor.
+	 *
+	 * @param string $processor Processor to set. Either 'URLENCODED' or 'JSON'.
+	 *
+	 * @return void
+	 */
+	public function set_body_processor( $processor ) {
+		if ( $processor === 'URLENCODED' || $processor === 'JSON' ) {
+			$this->body_processor = $processor;
+		}
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Change a string to all lowercase and replace spaces and underscores with dashes.
 	 *
diff --git a/projects/packages/waf/tests/php/unit/test-waf-request.php b/projects/packages/waf/tests/php/unit/test-waf-request.php
index ce409a4b9e5ac..01c68e5aa5bea 100644
--- a/projects/packages/waf/tests/php/unit/test-waf-request.php
+++ b/projects/packages/waf/tests/php/unit/test-waf-request.php
@@ -301,6 +301,64 @@ public function testGetVarsPost() {
 		$_POST = array();
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Test that the Waf_Request class returns POST-ed data correctly decoded from JSON via Waf_Request::get_post_vars().
+	 */
+	public function testGetVarsPostWithJsonBodyProcessor() {
+		$_SERVER['CONTENT_TYPE'] = 'irrelevant';
+
+		$request = $this->mock_request(
+			array(
+				'body' => json_encode(
+					array(
+						'str' => 'value',
+						'arr' => array( 'a', 'b', 'c' ),
+						'obj' => (object) array( 'foo' => 'bar' ),
+					)
+				),
+			)
+		);
+		$value   = $request->get_post_vars( 'JSON' );
+		$this->assertIsArray( $value );
+		$this->assertContains( array( 'json.str', 'value' ), $value );
+		$this->assertContains( array( 'json.arr.0', 'a' ), $value );
+		$this->assertContains( array( 'json.arr.1', 'b' ), $value );
+		$this->assertContains( array( 'json.arr.2', 'c' ), $value );
+		$this->assertContains( array( 'json.obj.foo', 'bar' ), $value );
+
+		unset( $_SERVER['CONTENT_TYPE'] );
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Test that the Waf_Request class returns POST-ed data correctly decoded from URLENCODED body via Waf_Request::get_post_vars().
+	 */
+	public function testGetVarsPostWithUrlencodedBodyProcessor() {
+		$_SERVER['CONTENT_TYPE'] = 'irrelevant';
+
+		$request = $this->mock_request(
+			array(
+				'body' => (
+					http_build_query(
+						array(
+							'str' => 'value',
+							'arr' => array( 'a', 'b', 'c' ),
+							'obj' => (object) array( 'foo' => 'bar' ),
+						)
+					)
+				),
+			)
+		);
+		$value   = $request->get_post_vars( 'URLENCODED' );
+		$this->assertIsArray( $value );
+		$this->assertContains( array( 'str', 'value' ), $value );
+		$this->assertContains( array( 'arr[0]', 'a' ), $value );
+		$this->assertContains( array( 'arr[1]', 'b' ), $value );
+		$this->assertContains( array( 'arr[2]', 'c' ), $value );
+		$this->assertContains( array( 'obj[foo]', 'bar' ), $value );
+
+		unset( $_SERVER['CONTENT_TYPE'] );
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Test that the Waf_Request class returns POST-ed data correctly decoded from JSON via Waf_Request::get_post_vars().
 	 */