NetSec-Architect Practice Question: NGFW And Cloud Delivered Security Services Architecture
An architect is designing an inline Threat Prevention architecture where high-risk vulnerability exploits must be dropped immediately. However, for specific internal vulnerability scanning tools, the security team wants the firewall to log the exploit attempt without dropping the packet so the scanner can verify detection coverage. How should this be configured?
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
✓
Modify the Anti-Spyware or Vulnerability Protection profile action from 'Drop' or 'Reset' to 'Alert' for the specific signature IDs and source IP addresses of the scanners.
Threat Prevention profiles allow action customization per signature or signature category. Changing the action from 'drop' or 'reset' to 'alert' for specific signature IDs targeted by internal scanners achieves this requirement.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure a Zone Protection profile to whitelist the vulnerability scanner's MAC address from all signature checks.
Why it's wrong here
Zone Protection does not manage individual Vulnerability Protection signatures.
- ✓
Modify the Anti-Spyware or Vulnerability Protection profile action from 'Drop' or 'Reset' to 'Alert' for the specific signature IDs and source IP addresses of the scanners.
Why this is correct
Changing the action to 'Alert' logs the event without interrupting the traffic flow, ideal for vulnerability validation tools.
- ✗
Create a separate Security Policy rule with the action set to 'Alert' and place it at the bottom of the rulebase.
Why it's wrong here
Security Policy rules operate at Layer 4/7 and cannot alter specific packet-level signature drop actions within Threat Prevention profiles.
- ✗
Disable packet buffer logging globally on the firewall to prevent dropped packets from being queued in memory.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling packet buffer logging removes diagnostic visibility and does not prevent packet drops.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official Palo Alto Networks exam blueprint
This NetSec-Architect 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 NetSec-Architect exam.