Submerged barriers are constructed in coastal zones for shoreline or harbor protection or to prevent the beach erosion. In the present study, the wave run-up on a vertical seawall protected by a submerged barrier is analyzed. The physical configurations include a rigid barrier and a long channel of finite depth. For linear water waves, by matching the velocity along the barrier and along the gap, the systems of linear equations about the velocity potentials are obtained. The wave rim-up is further analyzed for various settings of barrier height and distance between the barrier and the wall, i.e. the chamber length. For nonlinear waves and random sea waves, a numerical model is extended to investigate the effect parameters of the barrier on the wave rim-up against the seawall. Not only the numerical simulations, but also the analytical results illustrate that the wave run-up on the seawall depends very much on the distance between the barrier and the vertical seawall.