Policy-based forwarding rule has no path monitoring
At a glance
Base severity
Area
Platform
Evidence level
Benchmark reference
Reads the export, not the device
ConfigProof reads a configuration export. This control is evaluated against the objects in that file, and it reports what the file says. It does not connect to the device and sees no traffic, so a finding here describes the configuration, not what the firewall is doing right now.
Why it matters
A forwarding rule overrides the routing table. Without a monitor and disable-if-unreachable, the override stays in force when the next hop stops answering, so traffic keeps being sent to a path that cannot carry it rather than falling back to the routing table.
How to fix it
Web interface
The steps below are written for the web interface. A finding raised on your own export carries the same steps with your object names filled in.
- Attach a monitor profile to the forward action.
- Enable disable-if-unreachable so the rule stands down when the next hop stops answering.
- Point the monitor at an address that is only reachable through the intended path.
Command line
PAN-OS CLI, standalone firewall, vsys1
set vsys vsys1 rulebase pbf rules <object-name> action forward monitor profile <monitor-profile>set vsys vsys1 rulebase pbf rules <object-name> action forward monitor ip-address <monitored-address>
An example. Values in angle brackets are yours to supply; a finding on your own export fills in the names it read. Nothing here commits. Review the candidate configuration, then commit it yourself.
Read it back
show vsys vsys1 rulebase pbf rules <object-name>Values to fill in3
- <object-name>
- The object's name, as it appears on your firewall
- <monitor-profile>
- The path monitoring profile to use
- <monitored-address>
- The address to monitor along this path
How to confirm the fix
- Confirm the rule stands down when the monitored address is unreachable.
Limits
- This reads the configured route only. A configuration export records nothing about which path traffic actually took.
Compliance references
No benchmark recommendation is mapped to this control in this version.
See it on your own firewall
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