200-201 Question 104
Single answerA network administrator has deployed a traditional stateful firewall to protect the internal network of an organization. The firewall is configured to allow outbound HTTP traffic initiated by internal users but to block unsolicited inbound traffic. A user reports that they cannot access a web server on the internet. Upon investigation, you find that the web server is using HTTP over a non-standard port (8080). What is the most likely reason for this issue?
- A
The stateful firewall does not support HTTP traffic over non-standard ports.
- B
The stateful firewall only allows inbound traffic by default.
- C
The stateful firewall rules are not configured to allow outbound traffic on port 8080.
- D
The stateful firewall does not track connections for non-standard protocols.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
Traditional stateful firewalls track the state of active connections and allow return traffic for legitimate outbound connections. However, they rely on predefined rules to determine which traffic is allowed or blocked. In this scenario, the inability to access the web server is due to the lack of a rule permitting outbound traffic on the non-standard port (8080). Once such a rule is added, the connection should work as expected.
- A. Incorrect.
This is incorrect because a stateful firewall does support HTTP traffic over non-standard ports if the rules are configured accordingly.
- B. Incorrect.
This is incorrect because stateful firewalls can allow inbound traffic if it is part of an expected response to an outbound request.
- C. Correct.
This is correct because the firewall rules need to explicitly allow outbound traffic on port 8080 for HTTP requests to the web server to pass through.
- D. Incorrect.
This is incorrect as stateful firewalls track connections for all protocols, including those using non-standard ports.