PCNSA Decryption and Monitoring Practice Question
A company implements SSL Forward Proxy decryption. Users report that some internal applications fail to load after deployment. The firewall is configured with a CA-signed certificate for decryption. What is the most likely cause of the application failures?
⚠ Common exam trap
Palo Alto Networks often tests the misconception that decryption failures are caused by policy misconfigurations or performance issues, rather than the fundamental requirement of installing the firewall's CA certificate on all client devices.
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's CA certificate is not installed in the trusted root store on user endpoints.
SSL Forward Proxy decryption requires the firewall's CA certificate to be trusted by client endpoints. When the firewall generates a new certificate for the internal application's server, the client must trust the firewall's CA to avoid certificate validation errors. Without the CA in the trusted root store, browsers and applications will reject the connection, causing failures for internal applications that rely on SSL/TLS.
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 decryption policy uses 'No Decrypt' for the internal application's URL category.
Why it's wrong here
That would bypass decryption, not cause failures.
- ✗
The decryption policy is set to 'Decrypt' for all traffic, causing performance bottlenecks.
Why it's wrong here
Performance issues cause slowness, not outright failure.
- ✓
The firewall's CA certificate is not installed in the trusted root store on user endpoints.
Why this is correct
Without trust, browsers show certificate errors and block the connection.
- ✗
The firewall is configured to decrypt traffic from the internal zone, but not the external zone.
Why it's wrong here
Internal applications are typically in the internal zone, so decryption should apply.
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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.