PCNSA Practice Exam 4 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A large enterprise uses dynamic address groups based on tags to manage firewall policies. The administrator notices that a specific address object is being incorrectly included in a dynamic address group that should only contain servers from a different region. What could be the reason?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

The address object has multiple tags including the wrong one. Dynamic address groups in Palo Alto Networks firewalls use tags to automatically include or exclude address objects. If an address object has multiple tags and one of them matches the tag criteria defined for the dynamic group, the object will be included even if it also has tags that would otherwise place it in a different region. This is the most likely cause of the incorrect inclusion.

Answer

The group is configured as static

Answer

The dynamic group uses 'match all' and the object lacks some tags

Answer

The administrator added the object directly to the group

Question 2

When creating a security policy to block malware, which THREE profile types should be applied for comprehensive protection?

Accepted Answer

Antivirus. Antivirus (A) is correct because it scans traffic for known malware signatures and malicious payloads, directly blocking viruses, worms, and trojans at the content level. Anti-Spyware (E) is correct because it detects and blocks spyware, keyloggers, and command-and-control traffic that antivirus signatures may not cover, providing complementary malware protection. Vulnerability Protection (C) is correct because it inspects traffic for exploits targeting software vulnerabilities, blocking the delivery mechanisms malware often uses to compromise hosts. URL Filtering (B) is not marked correct because it primarily controls web access by category or reputation rather than blocking malware itself, and File Blocking (D) is not marked correct because it restricts file transfers by type rather than detecting malicious content.

Answer

URL Filtering

Answer

File Blocking

Question 3

Match each Palo Alto Networks feature to its category.

Accepted Answer

App-ID: Network Security. App-ID belongs to Network Security as it identifies applications. WildFire is a Threat Prevention feature for malware analysis. GlobalProtect enables Remote Access. Common confusions include mixing App-ID with threat prevention or Panorama with remote access.

Answer

App-ID: Threat Prevention

Answer

Panorama: Remote Access

Question 4

Match each Palo Alto Networks service to its typical use.

Accepted Answer

Panorama: Centralized management and reporting for multiple firewalls. Panorama is used for centralized management and reporting of multiple firewalls. WildFire provides cloud-based malware analysis and prevention. Common confusions include swapping these services or confusing them with AutoFocus.

Answer

Panorama: Cloud-based threat intelligence

Answer

WildFire: Centralized management for firewalls

Question 5

An administrator wants to create a service object for TCP port 8080 and call it 'web-proxy'. Which properties must be specified?

Accepted Answer

Both destination port and protocol. In Palo Alto Networks firewalls, a service object defines a specific application protocol and port combination for traffic classification and policy enforcement. For TCP port 8080, both the protocol (TCP) and the destination port (8080) must be specified because the firewall requires the protocol to differentiate between TCP, UDP, or other IP protocols, and the destination port to match the traffic. Option B is correct because without both, the service object would be incomplete and could not be used in security rules.

Answer

Destination port

Answer

Source port

Answer

Protocol

Question 6

Which of the following is a best practice when configuring an HA (High Availability) pair of Palo Alto Networks firewalls?

Accepted Answer

Use a dedicated physical interface or VLAN for HA heartbeat communication. Using a dedicated physical interface or VLAN for the HA heartbeat (HA1) isolates control-plane HA traffic from data-plane traffic, preventing data congestion from delaying or dropping heartbeat packets and causing false failovers. Palo Alto best practice is to dedicate HA1 for control/heartbeat and HA2 for data link synchronization. This separation ensures reliable election and state sync.

Answer

Set both firewall's HA election delay to '0' for fast failover

Answer

Enable preemptive mode to ensure the primary firewall always resumes control

Answer

Configure both firewalls in active/active mode to maximize throughput

Question 7

Refer to the exhibit. An administrator notices a high number of decryption failures. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The firewall's certificate is not trusted by client devices.. When the firewall's certificate is not trusted by client devices, clients will reject the SSL handshake, resulting in decryption failures. This is a common issue in SSL Forward Proxy deployments where the firewall generates a certificate for each session, and clients must trust the firewall's CA certificate. Without this trust, clients display certificate warnings or fail to connect, leading to a high number of decryption failures.

Answer

The SSL session cache size is too small.

Answer

SSL Forward Proxy is not enabled.

Answer

Non-HTTP traffic is being decrypted.

Question 8

An administrator creates a custom service object for TCP port 3389. What is the standard name for this service?

Accepted Answer

RDP. TCP port 3389 is the default port used by Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), which is a Microsoft proprietary protocol that enables remote graphical desktop access to Windows systems. The administrator creating a custom service object for this port is standardizing the service as RDP, as defined in the PCNSA curriculum for managing objects.

Answer

FTP

Answer

SSH

Answer

Telnet

Question 9

After a security policy change, users complain that they cannot upload files to a custom web application. The rule allows the custom application 'webapp' and Content-ID is enabled. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

A file blocking profile is blocking the upload.. A file blocking profile, when enabled with Content-ID, can block uploads of specific file types even if the application itself is allowed. In this scenario, the rule permits the custom application 'webapp' and Content-ID is enabled, so the most likely reason for upload failure is that a file blocking profile is configured to block the file type being uploaded, not an issue with App-ID or SSL decryption.

Answer

The application 'webapp' is not allowed due to an application override.

Answer

SSL decryption is not enabled.

Answer

App-ID is not identifying the application correctly.

Question 10

An administrator wants to schedule regular configuration backups to an external server. Which THREE methods are valid ways to achieve this? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Use a script that logs in via SSH and runs 'save config to scp/tftp'. The firewall supports saving configuration backups to external servers via SCP or TFTP using the 'save config to scp/tftp' CLI command. This method can be automated by wrapping the command in a script that runs on an external scheduler (e.g., cron on a Linux host), which then connects to the firewall via SSH to execute the backup. This is a valid, albeit indirect, way to schedule regular backups.

Answer

Use the CLI command 'request system backup config schedule'

Answer

Set a recurring cron job via the firewall's built-in cron

Question 11

A security administrator is troubleshooting an issue where users cannot access a specific website. The security policy allows web-browsing from the internal zone to the external zone. Which TWO actions should the administrator take to verify the traffic is being matched and allowed?

Accepted Answer

Verify that the policy has the correct source zone.. Option B is correct because a security policy only matches traffic when its source zone matches the ingress zone of the packet, so verifying the policy's source zone (internal) confirms the rule can actually match the users' web-browsing traffic. Option C is correct because the traffic log records each session with its matched policy, action (allow/deny), and source/destination zones, which directly shows whether the traffic is being matched and allowed. Option A is not relevant because CPU usage is a performance metric and does not indicate policy matching. Option D is not relevant because the Threat log records security profile detections such as malware, not whether a policy allowed the session. Option E is not relevant because a URL filtering profile affects content inspection after policy matching, not whether the traffic is matched and allowed by the policy.

Answer

Review the system resources to check CPU usage.

Answer

Look at the Threat log for any malware detections.

Answer

Examine the URL filtering profile applied to the policy.

Question 12

What is the primary benefit of using Content-ID in a security policy?

Accepted Answer

It enables threat prevention and file blocking on allowed applications.. Content-ID is the component of Palo Alto Networks' next-generation firewall that performs deep packet inspection on allowed application traffic. It enables threat prevention (e.g., antivirus, anti-spyware, vulnerability protection) and file blocking (e.g., blocking specific file types like .exe or .pdf) by scanning the content within the application sessions that have been identified by App-ID. Without Content-ID, the firewall would only allow or deny traffic based on application identity, but would not inspect the payload for threats or enforce file-based controls.

Answer

It blocks malicious URLs.

Answer

It prioritizes traffic for specific applications.

Answer

It identifies applications regardless of port.

Question 13

Refer to the exhibit. An administrator configured SSH decryption, but the firewall logs an error. What is the most likely cause of this error?

Accepted Answer

The SSH key exchange algorithm used by the client or server is not in the firewall's supported list.. The error message indicates 'unsupported key exchange algorithm'. SSH decryption requires the firewall to act as a proxy and re-encrypt the session. If the client or server uses a key exchange algorithm that the firewall does not support, decryption will fail. The exhibit shows a policy for SSH decryption and a session, but the algorithm is not supported.

Answer

The firewall does not have a certificate installed for SSH decryption.

Answer

The SSH session is using a cipher that is not supported by the firewall's decryption engine.

Answer

The decryption policy is misconfigured because the service is set to 'any' instead of 'ssh'.

Question 14

An administrator configures a security policy with three rules in order: Rule1 allows any to any with log at session start, Rule2 allows HTTP from trust to untrust, Rule3 denies any. Traffic from an internal user to an external web server is logged as allowed. Which rule processed the traffic?

Accepted Answer

Rule1. Rule1 allows any to any with logging at session start, so it matches the traffic first and permits it, generating a log entry. Since Rule1 is evaluated before Rule2 and Rule3, the traffic is processed by Rule1 and never reaches the subsequent rules. The log confirms that the session was allowed, consistent with Rule1's action.

Answer

Rule3

Answer

Rule2

Answer

No rule matched

Question 15

A security administrator notices that traffic from a custom application is being incorrectly identified as web-browsing. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The custom application uses HTTP but no specific App-ID signature.. When a custom application uses HTTP but lacks a specific App-ID signature, Palo Alto Networks firewalls default to classifying the traffic as web-browsing (HTTP). App-ID relies on a combination of protocol decoders and application signatures; without a custom App-ID signature defined for the application, the firewall cannot distinguish it from generic HTTP traffic.

Answer

The application signature database is outdated.

Answer

App-ID is disabled on the security rule.

Answer

Content-ID is blocking the application.

Question 16

A syslog server is only reachable through a specific interface on the firewall. To ensure syslog logs are sent via that interface, which configuration is required?

Accepted Answer

Set up a service route for syslog. Service routes in Palo Alto Networks firewalls allow you to specify which source interface or IP address is used for outbound traffic from the firewall itself, such as syslog, SNMP, or authentication. By configuring a service route for syslog, you ensure that syslog messages are sourced from the specific interface that can reach the syslog server, even if the routing table would otherwise choose a different path.

Answer

Configure a static route for the syslog server IP

Answer

Enable NAT on the syslog traffic

Answer

Use policy-based forwarding for syslog traffic

Question 17

A network administrator adds a new security rule allowing HTTP from the Trust zone to the Untrust zone. After committing, traffic from the Trust zone to the Untrust zone is still blocked. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The new rule is placed at the bottom of the policy, below an existing deny rule that matches the same traffic.. Palo Alto Networks security policies are evaluated top-down, and the first rule that matches the traffic is applied. If an existing deny rule that matches HTTP from Trust to Untrust sits above the new allow rule, the deny rule wins and traffic remains blocked. The new rule must be moved above the deny rule (or the deny rule modified) to take effect.

Answer

The source zone in the new rule is set to 'Untrust' instead of 'Trust'.

Answer

The application in the new rule is set to 'ssl' instead of 'http'.

Answer

The destination zone in the new rule is set to 'Trust' instead of 'Untrust'.

Question 18

Which THREE are required for Panorama to manage a firewall? (Select three)

Accepted Answer

Certificate-based mutual authentication (or pre-shared key). Panorama and managed firewalls must establish a secure, authenticated connection using either certificate-based mutual authentication or a pre-shared key. This ensures that only authorized firewalls can register with Panorama and receive configuration updates, preventing unauthorized devices from joining the management domain.

Answer

A valid Panorama license

Answer

Panorama plugin installed on the firewall

Question 19

A security analyst notices that a legitimate application is being incorrectly identified as a different application by the firewall. What is the best first step to resolve this issue?

Accepted Answer

Verify the application signature in the App-ID database and submit a false-positive report if needed. The first step in resolving an application misidentification is to verify the application signature in the App-ID database. If the signature is incorrect or missing, submitting a false-positive report allows Palo Alto Networks to update the database, ensuring accurate identification without manual overrides. This aligns with the principle of using the built-in App-ID engine as the primary identification method.

Answer

Reboot the firewall to refresh the application cache

Answer

Disable the application override and use port-based rules

Answer

Create a custom App-ID to override the incorrect identification

Question 20

Match each PAN-OS component to its role.

Accepted Answer

Management Plane: Handles device configuration, management access, and logging.. The three PAN-OS planes are Management, Data, and Control. The Management Plane handles configuration and logging, the Data Plane forwards traffic, and the Control Plane manages routing and sessions. Common mistakes include swapping the roles of Management and Data planes.

Answer

Management Plane: Processes and forwards network traffic based on security policies.

Answer

Data Plane: Handles device configuration, management access, and logging.