PCNSA Policy Evaluation and Management Practice Question
A security administrator is troubleshooting a rule that appears to be matching correctly but is not allowing traffic. The rule uses source zone 'Trust' and destination zone 'Untrust', and the action is 'allow'. The traffic source is in the 'DMZ' zone. What is the most likely reason the traffic is denied?
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 source zone of the rule does not match the traffic's ingress zone.
The rule is configured with source zone 'Trust', but the traffic originates from the 'DMZ' zone. Since zones must match for a rule to apply, the rule does not match the traffic, so it is denied by the implicit deny rule. Options A, B, and D are incorrect: Security profiles (A) only apply after a rule matches; application identification (B) is not related to zone mismatch; and rule order (D) is irrelevant because the rule does not match due to zone mismatch.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Security profiles are blocking the traffic.
Why it's wrong here
Security profiles are applied after the rule allows traffic, but the rule does not match due to zone mismatch.
- ✗
The application is not identified.
Why it's wrong here
Application identification occurs after matching, but the rule first needs to match on zones.
- ✓
The source zone of the rule does not match the traffic's ingress zone.
Why this is correct
The rule matches on source zone Trust, but traffic comes from DMZ zone, so the rule does not apply.
- ✗
The rule is placed after a deny rule.
Why it's wrong here
If the rule is before a deny rule and zones match, it would allow; but zone mismatch prevents match.
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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.