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Palo Alto NGFW lab 9 of 30

Custom applications and application override

Teach the firewall Calder's home-grown tracking protocol with a custom application and signature, so it's identified on content instead of being unknown-tcp. Then use application override for a trusted high-volume backup stream, and understand exactly what inspection you give up.

Run this lab

It needs Lite: its 4 nodes are set to 5 vCPU and 7,680 MB in total. That fits the free demo too.

In your workspace: Shared, then Palo Alto NGFW PAN-OS 11 guided labs, then 09 - Custom applications and application override

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Level
Advanced
Time
About 50 minutes
Nodes need
5 vCPU, 7,680 MB
Smallest plan
Lite

The scenario

Calder Track is the depot's parcel-tracking service, written in-house years ago. It runs on web01, TCP 7777. Every request starts with the text CALDER-TRACK/1.0. Today it's allowed by a port rule, Track-Legacy, and App-ID can't name it: longer sessions are logged as unknown-tcp and short one-request sessions as insufficient-data. Anything can use port 7777, including malware hiding in "unknown" traffic.

The infrastructure team also streams nightly backups from Client-PC to web01 on TCP 5201. The tool is iperf3, standing in for the backup agent. It's high-volume, between two trusted hosts, and they want it to bypass deep inspection.

Before you start. Start all the nodes. The firewall takes 6-8 minutes to boot and comes up with this lab's starting configuration already loaded. Wait until the FW1 console shows FW1 login:, then log in as admin / Lab-Access-1. Until the management plane is ready it answers Login incorrect, even with the right password. The Linux hosts are ready within seconds.

What you’ll practise

  • Explain why unknown-tcp should be blocked and how to fix it properly
  • Create a custom application with a signature that matches the protocol's payload
  • Allow the custom application with application-default and verify identification
  • Configure an application override rule and the security rule that goes with it
  • State what App-ID and Content-ID do not do for overridden traffic

The tasks

  1. See the problem
  2. Create the custom application
  3. Allow only the real Calder Track
  4. Application override for the backup stream
  5. Think it through

The Lab Tasks pane has the scenario, these tasks, the checks to run, hints and the full solution.

Topology and devices

The network as it opens in EVE-NG, drawn from the lab’s own canvas, and the image each node runs.

Topology of Custom applications and application override4 nodes and 3 networks, 7 links. Every link is listed as text below the diagram.FW1Client-PCweb01InternetInsideOutsideDMZeth0ethernet1/3eth0mgmtethernet1/2eth0ethernet1/1
4 nodes and 3 networks, with the interface names each link uses. On a narrow screen, scroll the diagram sideways.
Every link, as text
  • FW1 mgmt to Inside (network)
  • FW1 ethernet1/1 to Outside (network)
  • FW1 ethernet1/2 to Inside (network)
  • FW1 ethernet1/3 to DMZ (network)
  • Client-PC eth0 to Inside (network)
  • web01 eth0 to DMZ (network)
  • Internet eth0 to Outside (network)
Nodes in Custom applications and application override, with the image each runs and the vCPU and RAM it’s set to
NodeDeviceImage in Add NodeSet to
FW1Palo Alto Networks VM-Series (PAN-OS)paloalto-11.2.52 vCPU, 5,632 MB
Client-PCEVE-NG GUI server (Docker)eve-gui-server:latest1 vCPU, 1,024 MB
web01EVE-NG GUI server (Docker)eve-gui-server:latest1 vCPU, 512 MB
InternetEVE-NG GUI server (Docker)eve-gui-server:latest1 vCPU, 512 MB

How to open this lab

  1. Sign in to your workspace at lab.cloudlabbox.com.

  2. In File Manager, open Shared, then the folder Palo Alto NGFW PAN-OS 11 guided labs.

  3. Open 09 - Custom applications and application override and start its nodes, then open Lab Tasks for the scenario and the steps.

The lab is read-only. You can start the nodes and configure the devices, but changes to the topology can’t be saved. To change it, rebuild it in your own folder.

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CloudLabBox is independent of Palo Alto Networks and Cisco. The lab follows exam topics and isn’t vendor training material; vendor names identify the exams and the images in the workspace.