PCNSA Securing Traffic Practice Question
A company has a firewall configured with multiple virtual routers. A user on a trusted network can ping the firewall's management IP but cannot reach an external server. The security policy allows the traffic. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse routing issues with security policy or NAT problems, but the firewall must have a viable route in the virtual router before it can forward any traffic, regardless of policy allowances.
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 virtual router does not have a default route to the external network.
The most likely cause is that the virtual router lacks a default route to the external network. Even though the security policy permits the traffic, the firewall must have a route in the virtual router's routing table to forward packets toward the destination. Without a default route, the firewall drops the traffic because it cannot determine the next hop for the external server's IP address.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
A zone protection profile is blocking ICMP packets.
Why it's wrong here
Zone protection would block based on flood protection, not routing.
- ✓
The virtual router does not have a default route to the external network.
Why this is correct
Without a route, the firewall cannot forward packets to the destination.
- ✗
The decryption policy is blocking the traffic because it is not decrypted.
Why it's wrong here
Decryption applies to SSL/TLS, not ICMP.
- ✗
The NAT policy is missing for the outbound traffic.
Why it's wrong here
NAT is often needed but routing is more fundamental; the question says security policy allows but doesn't mention NAT.
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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.