PCNSE Securing Traffic and App-ID Practice Question
Which TWO factors can cause traffic to be classified as 'incomplete' by App-ID? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse 'incomplete' with 'blocked' or 'error' states, assuming a slow CPU or licensing issue would cause incomplete classification, when in fact incomplete specifically means the firewall lacks sufficient traffic data to identify the application.
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
✓
SSL decryption is not enabled for the session.
App-ID classifies a session as 'incomplete' when it cannot identify the application because it sees only partial traffic. SSL decryption not being enabled prevents the firewall from inspecting encrypted payloads, so App-ID cannot complete its signature-based or heuristic analysis, leaving the session marked as incomplete.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
SSL decryption is not enabled for the session.
Why this is correct
Encrypted payload cannot be inspected for application identification.
- ✗
The firewall CPU is too slow to process packets.
Why it's wrong here
Processing delay may cause drops, not incomplete classification.
- ✗
The content-ID engine has not been licensed.
Why it's wrong here
Content-ID is for threat prevention, not App-ID.
- ✓
Asymmetric routing where the firewall sees only one direction of traffic.
Why this is correct
Can prevent complete reassembly of session.
- ✗
A deny rule that blocks the traffic.
Why it's wrong here
Deny would drop traffic, not classify as incomplete.
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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.