PCNSE Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield PCNSE facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. An administrator wants to use DNS Sinkholing. What must be configured on the firewall to enable this feature? → An Anti-Spyware security profile with DNS Sinkhole enabled
2. What happens when a firewall running WildFire receives a 'Phishing' verdict for a submitted URL? → A phishing signature is generated and distributed to WildFire subscribers
3. What is the primary purpose of security zones in Palo Alto Networks firewalls? → To logically group interfaces and enforce policy between groups
4. When configuring GlobalProtect for IPv6, which statement is correct? → GlobalProtect supports IPv6 for both the tunnel interface and client-assigned addresses
5. Which Palo Alto Networks NGFW feature uses machine learning to create behavioral models for detecting unknown malware? → WildFire
6. Which HA feature allows a Palo Alto firewall to monitor an upstream router and trigger failover if the path fails? → Path Monitoring
7. What is the purpose of Palo Alto Networks 'Application Override' policy? → To override App-ID and classify traffic as a custom application
8. In Panorama's policy hierarchy, which policy takes precedence over all others for a managed firewall? → Shared Pre-Rules
9. What is the significance of the 'threat-id' field in a PAN-OS threat log entry? → It uniquely identifies the specific threat signature that triggered the log entry
10. With a Palo Alto Networks firewall, how many zones can be allocated to a given interface? → One
11. A firewall is deployed in tap mode. Which Threat Prevention actions will be enforced on matched traffic? → Only 'Alert' and 'Allow' — tap mode cannot block traffic
12. Which zone type allows a Palo Alto firewall to monitor traffic passively without being in the traffic path? → Tap
13. What minimum HA timer setting results in the fastest failover detection but highest CPU overhead? → Aggressive
14. How should an administrator configure decryption to honor employee privacy for traffic to financial services sites? → Create a no-decrypt rule targeting the 'financial-services' URL category
15. Which file type does WildFire NOT analyze by default on the public cloud? → Encrypted ZIP files
16. Which of the following two statements about App-ID content changes is true? (Select two.) → Existing security policy rules are not affected by application content updates
17. Which Panorama feature enables automatic provisioning of new firewalls without manual configuration? → Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)
18. Which Vulnerability Protection profile action drops the packet and resets both the client and server connections when a threat is detected? → Reset Both
19. Which Palo Alto Networks security feature analyzes DNS queries to block connections to malicious domains, including C2 servers? → DNS Security
20. What condition triggers a failover in an Active/Passive HA pair? → The Active firewall fails a link monitoring or heartbeat check
21. A company's compliance policy prohibits sending any internal files to the cloud. Which WildFire deployment mode meets this requirement? → WildFire private cloud using a WF-500 appliance
22. What two actions should be made in a File Blocking profile to allow file types that support vital apps? (Select two.) → Clone and edit the Strict profile.
23. When PAN-OS SSH Proxy decryption is configured, what specific SSH behavior is it designed to detect and control? → SSH tunneling and port forwarding used to bypass security controls
24. Which two components of a URL filtering security profile can have actions configured for them? (Select two.) → Allow List
25. What does the 'HA Suspended' state mean on a Palo Alto firewall? → The firewall has been administratively removed from the HA pair and will not take over
26. In a decryption policy, which action explicitly exempts matched traffic from SSL/TLS inspection? → no-decrypt
27. Which Panorama report type provides a summary of traffic patterns and top applications across all managed firewalls? → Application Usage and Risk Report
28. What happens when a Palo Alto firewall encounters a packet that matches no security policy rule and the default intrazone action is set to 'allow'? → The packet is allowed if source and destination zones are the same
29. A company needs to prevent credential phishing but cannot decrypt HTTPS traffic. Which Threat Prevention feature can still help identify phishing sites? → URL Filtering with PAN-DB phishing category
30. In Active/Active HA mode, how is traffic distributed between the two firewalls? → Both firewalls simultaneously process traffic, typically with a load balancer