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SSCP Practice Question: Which THREE of the following are characteristics…
Which THREE of the following are characteristics of a stateful firewall?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISC2 often tests the misconception that stateful firewalls perform deep packet inspection, but DPI is a separate capability of NGFWs, while stateful firewalls focus on session-layer tracking.
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
✓
Is generally slower than a stateless firewall
Stateful firewalls maintain a state table that tracks the state of active connections, allowing them to make decisions based on the context of traffic patterns, such as the TCP three-way handshake. This additional processing overhead generally makes them slower than stateless firewalls, which only inspect packet headers individually without connection tracking.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Is generally slower than a stateless firewall
Why this is correct
Stateful inspection requires more processing.
- ✓
Maintains a state table of active connections
Why this is correct
Stateful firewalls track connections to allow return traffic.
- ✓
Can make decisions based on traffic patterns
Why this is correct
Uses context from previous packets.
- ✗
Operates only at the network layer (Layer 3)
Why it's wrong here
Stateful firewalls operate at layers 3 and 4.
- ✗
Performs deep packet inspection (DPI)
Why it's wrong here
DPI is a feature of next-generation firewalls, not basic stateful.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SSCP practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 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 SSCP exam.