Cloudflare proxy wildcard, allows the user to create, renew and manage new wild card DNS records with Cloudflare.

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Let us take a look at the Cloudflare proxy wildcard in detail.

What is a Wildcard DNS Record?

A DNS record typically links a domain name to a single IP address, a group of IP addresses, or another resource. So, the mapping is one to many, in nature.

For example, from the DNS management section; when a user performs a DNS lookup for subdomain1.mywebpage.abc’s IP address, get two IP addresses back. This is because of including two A records on the same subdomain:

dig subdomain1.mywebpage.abc-t a +short 192.0.2.1 192.0.2.2

Similarly, the user can specify the target for each subdomain using one or multiple DNS records. However, what if the user needs to point hundreds or even thousands of subdomains to the same resource?

Multiple subdomains to the same resource          

Wildcard DNS plays its role in this situation. The user can create one or more DNS records using the asterisk “*” sign in the Name field. Subdomains not covered by another DNS record receive responses from these DNS records. Therefore the Cloudflare proxy wildcard record covers *.mywebpage.abc; referring to all mywebpage.abc subdomains.

If the user performs a lookup for subdomain2.mywebpage.abc, the user-specified target in the wildcard record will be used as the response. Once more, this is only taking place due to the lack of a dedicated DNS record for this subdomain.

dig subdomain2.mywebpage.abc -t a +short 192.0.2.3

Additionally, it is frequently forgotten that a wildcard record also covers deeper levels in addition to the level it is set on:

dig some.deep.label.subdomain2.mywebpage.abc -t a +short 192.0.2.3

Proxied wildcard DNS record

A number of functionalities by Cloudflare, such as Caching, Firewall, or Workers; call for users to proxy the precise hostname they wish to utilize. DNS records of type A, AAAA, and CNAME can be proxy by users. These record types identify the origin server for a hostname that anticipates HTTP/S traffic.

A wild card DNS record Proxy functions the same way as a specific record proxy. Go to the DNS app on the Cloudflare dashboard. A user can either create or modify a new wildcard and change the proxy status to Proxied.
The Cloudflare nameservers will respond with two Cloudflare anycast IP(s) rather than the origin IP(s) that the user has chosen for that record. This happens after the activation of the user’s Wildcard DNS record for the proxy server. Which is Cloudflare Proxy Wildcard.

dig subdomain2.mywebpage.abc -t a +short 104.18.35.126 172.64.152.130

In the example given above, it shows that all HTTP/S requests directed towards the subdomain2.mywebpage.abc or any other subdomain under the proxy Wildcard DNS record are proxied by Cloudflare’s network, specifically the closest Cloudflare data network. And the important factor is that the user won’t have to create and manage a TLS certificate. Cloudflare will update and issue a certificate automatically for the Zone apex(mywebpage) and for the subdomains(mywebpage) on the immediate level.

A user can proxy a wildcard DNS record even further *.www.mywebpage.abc by subscribing to Cloudflare Advanced Certificate Manager and getting a certificate that is covering that wildcard.

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Conclusion

To conclude, the Cloudflare Proxy Wildcard DNS record allows the users to create multiple DNS records using the “*” sign. So, subdomains outside other DNS records will receive responses with the Wildcard DNS records.