PCNSE Securing Traffic and App-ID Practice Question
Exhibit
Refer to the exhibit. admin@PA-220> show running security-policy | match app rule id 1: application any -> allow rule id 2: application ms-update, facebook-base -> allow rule id 3: application ssl, web-browsing -> allow rule id 4: application any -> deny
Refer to the exhibit. A network engineer wants to allow only 'ms-update' and 'facebook-base' traffic. After committing the above security policy, they find that 'ssl' traffic is also being allowed. What is the most likely reason?
⚠ Common exam trap
Palo Alto Networks often tests the misconception that adding a deny rule later in the policy will block traffic that was already allowed by an earlier rule, but the trap here is that rule order is evaluated top-down and the first match wins, so a broad allow rule with 'application any' will permit all traffic before any deny or specific allow rules are reached.
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
✓
Rule 1 allows all applications because it uses 'application any'.
Rule 1 uses 'application any', which matches all applications regardless of the specific App-ID. Since security policies are evaluated from top to bottom and the first matching rule is applied, any traffic that matches Rule 1's source, destination, and service will be allowed, including 'ssl' traffic. The explicit allow rules for 'ms-update' and 'facebook-base' are irrelevant because Rule 1 catches all traffic first.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Rule 1 allows all applications because it uses 'application any'.
Why this is correct
Rule 1 matches all applications before the more specific rules, causing all traffic to be allowed.
- ✗
App-ID is not enabled on the firewall.
Why it's wrong here
If App-ID were disabled, no application would be identified.
- ✗
Rule 4 is a deny rule but it is not effective because the traffic is allowed earlier.
Why it's wrong here
Rule 4 is after rule 1, but rule 1 allows the traffic.
- ✗
The rule order is incorrect; rule 3 should be moved before rule 1.
Why it's wrong here
Moving rule 3 would not fix the issue because rule 1 allows all applications.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PCNSE 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 PCNSE exam.