PCNSA Decryption and Monitoring Practice Question
A company has a decryption policy that decrypts all outbound SSL traffic. Recently, users accessing a partner website receive a certificate warning. The partner uses a self-signed certificate. The firewall is configured with a CA-signed certificate for decryption. Which action should the firewall take?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often assume the firewall will use its own CA-signed certificate for all decrypted sessions, but in outbound decryption, the firewall presents the server's certificate to the client when the server certificate is untrusted.
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 firewall will present the server's self-signed certificate to the client, causing a warning.
When a firewall is configured for SSL decryption with a CA-signed certificate, it acts as a man-in-the-middle. For outbound traffic to a server using a self-signed certificate, the firewall cannot validate the server's certificate against a trusted CA. It will present the server's self-signed certificate to the client, which the client's browser does not trust, causing a certificate warning.
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 firewall will present the server's self-signed certificate to the client, causing a warning.
Why this is correct
Since the certificate is untrusted, the firewall displays a warning to the client.
- ✗
The firewall will block the connection and generate an alert.
Why it's wrong here
The firewall may block if configured, but default action is to generate an untrusted certificate.
- ✗
The firewall will decrypt the traffic using its own certificate and re-encrypt with the partner's certificate.
Why it's wrong here
The firewall uses its own certificate to sign the server's certificate, not the partner's.
- ✗
The firewall will automatically trust the self-signed certificate and pass traffic without decryption.
Why it's wrong here
The firewall does not automatically trust self-signed certificates.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PCNSA practice question is part of Courseiva's free Palo Alto Networks 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 PCNSA exam.