Free Practice Questions for Paloalto Networks PCNSE Exam

The type of policy in Palo Alto Networks firewalls that can use Device-ID as a match condition is QoS. This is because Device-ID is a feature that allows the firewall to identify and classify devices on the network based on their characteristics, such as vendor, model, OS, and role1. QoS policies are used to allocate bandwidth and prioritize traffic based on various criteria, such as application, user, source, destination, and device2. By using Device-ID as a match condition in QoS policies, the firewall can apply different QoS actions to different types of devices, such as IoT devices, laptops, smartphones, etc3. This can help optimize the network performance and ensure the quality of service for critical applications and devices.

URL profile action alert.

File Profile action alert.

AV and Wildfire action Reset-both

Policy Action Allow.

The firewall inspects the content as per all the security profiles attached to the original matching rule. If it results in threat detection, then the corresponding security profile action is taken.

The "Received fatal alert UnknownCA from client" log indicates the client rejects the firewall’s decryption certificate because it doesn’t trust the CA. For a valid use case, adding the certificate’s Common Name (CN) to the SSL Decryption Exclusion List (Option B) bypasses decryption for that site, allowing traffic to proceed without interruption. This is an immediate fix within the firewall’s control.

Option A (revocation checking) addresses different issues. Option C (check expired certificates) is diagnostic, not immediate. Option D (contact site admin) is external and slow. Documentation recommends exclusions for such errors.

The two key exchange algorithms that consume the most resources when decrypting SSL traffic are ECDHE and DHE. These are both Diffie-Hellman based algorithms that enable perfect forward secrecy (PFS), which means that they generate a new and unique session key for each SSL/TLS session, and do not reuse any previous keys. This enhances the security of the encrypted communication, but also increases the computational cost and complexity of the key exchange process. ECDHE stands for Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral, which uses elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) to generate the session key. DHE stands for Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral, which uses modular arithmetic to generate the session key. Both ECDHE and DHE require more CPU and memory resources than RSA, which is a non-PFS algorithm that uses public and private keys to encrypt and decrypt the session key123. References: Key Exchange Algorithms, Best Practices for Enabling SSL Decryption, PCNSE Study Guide (page 60)

https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/10-2/pan-os-admin/high-availability/ha-concepts/ha-timers

https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/10-2/pan-os-admin/zone-protection-and-dos-protection/zone-defense/packet-buffer-protection

The cause of the unsecured website warnings is that the forward trust certificate has not been signed by the self-signed root CA certificate. The forward trust certificate is used by the firewall to generate a copy of the server certificate for outbound SSL decryption (SSL Forward Proxy). The firewall signs the copy with the forward trust certificate and presents it to the client. The client then verifies the signature using the public key of the CA that issued the forward trust certificate. If the client does not trust the CA, it will display a warning message. Therefore, the forward trust certificate must be signed by a CA that is trusted by the client. In this case, the administrator has installed the self-signed root CA certificate in all client systems, so this CA should be used to sign the forward trust certificate. However, as shown in the screenshot, the forward trust certificate has a different issuer than the self-signed root CA certificate, which means it has not been signed by it. This causes the client to reject the signature and show a warning message. To fix this issue, the administrator should generate a new forward trust certificate and sign it with the self-signed root CA certificate12. References: Keys and Certificates for Decryption Policies, How to Configure SSL Decryption

The AIOps Plugin for Panorama enhances security management by proactively validating commits against best practices (Option B). It analyzes policies, provides recommendations (e.g., unused rules, misconfigurations), and advises administrators before pushing changes, improving security posture without automatic enforcement.

Option A (auto-push) overstates its role; it advises, not pushes. Option C (auto-correct) is inaccurate; it suggests, not fixes. Option D (retroactive checks) misaligns with its proactive design. Documentation highlights its advisory function.