NSE7 Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Practice Question
An administrator observes that traffic from a specific subnet is being dropped by the FortiGate. The session table shows the sessions with 'proto_state=01' and 'expire=0'. What does this indicate?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates may misinterpret 'proto_state=01' as a normal established session or assume 'expire=0' means the session is actively being blocked, rather than recognizing it as a timed-out SYN-SENT session being cleaned up.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The sessions have expired and are being cleaned up
In FortiGate session tables, 'proto_state=01' indicates a TCP session in the SYN-SENT state (the first step of the three-way handshake), and 'expire=0' means the session has no remaining time-to-live. This combination typically occurs when the session timed out or was reset before completing the handshake, and the entry is now being cleaned up by the session table garbage collector. Option A is correct because these are stale sessions that have expired and are in the process of removal.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The sessions have expired and are being cleaned up
Why this is correct
Expire=0 means the session has timed out.
- ✗
The antivirus scanning is causing a delay
Why it's wrong here
Antivirus scanning would not set expire to 0.
- ✗
The sessions are being offloaded to the NPU
Why it's wrong here
Offloaded sessions would have different flags, not expire=0.
- ✗
The firewall policy is blocking the traffic
Why it's wrong here
Blocked traffic would not have a session entry.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This NSE7 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Fortinet certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the NSE7 exam.