Palo Alto Firewall Configuration Audit

Audit your Palo Alto config
in 60 seconds.

Upload your PAN-OS XML export. Get a posture score, prioritized risks, App-ID coverage analysis, GlobalProtect crypto review, and ready-to-paste CLI fixes — without installing an agent or handing anyone API access.

Start Free ScanSee Demo

No agent, no API key, no Panorama plumbing. Raw XML parsed in memory and discarded.

⚡

One file, one minute

Device → Setup → Operations → Export named configuration. Drag the .xml file in. Full posture report in under 60 seconds. Panorama and standalone-device exports both supported.

🎯

App-ID coverage, scored

The engine inventories every Security Rule and quantifies how much of your policy is still port-based vs. application-default. The single biggest win on most Palo Alto deployments — and the easiest to miss in a manual review.

🛡

Security Advisory CVEs tied to your config

PAN-OS firmware is matched against Palo Alto Security Advisories, CISA KEV, and NVD. CVEs are only surfaced if the affected feature (GlobalProtect, WildFire, decryption, URL filtering) is actually enabled.

What CRWLR finds in a Palo Alto config

✓Security Rules with any zones, any sources, any destinations, or any applications — the classic 'allow everything' rule that survives every clean-up project
✓Port-based rules where App-ID coverage is achievable — with the application: replacement and the dependent applications already resolved
✓Decryption gaps — outbound HTTPS without a Decryption policy, exclusion lists that swallow entire categories, no-decrypt rules without business justification
✓Security Profile depth — Antivirus / Anti-Spyware / Vulnerability Protection in alert-only mode, URL Filtering without a default-allow audit, WildFire bypassed on encrypted traffic, missing File Blocking
✓Zone segmentation — flat zone designs, untrust→trust direct paths, missing inter-zone isolation, east-west exposure between DMZ and internal segments
✓GlobalProtect crypto and access — weak certificate profiles, single-factor authentication, split-tunnel that defeats decryption, gateway certificates approaching expiry
✓Management plane — admin role profiles without 2FA, dataplane interfaces with management services enabled, weak password complexity, dynamic-update server set to the public default in air-gapped deployments
✓NAT hygiene — bidirectional NAT exposed to untrust, source NAT collisions, port-translation hiding internal addressing leaks
✓Logging completeness — Log Forwarding profiles missing from critical rules, syslog/Panorama target unreachable, threat log retention too short, no Cortex Data Lake forwarding where licensed
✓PAN-OS firmware CVE exposure — current version cross-referenced with Palo Alto Security Advisories; safe upgrade targets recommended deterministically from vendor data, not guessed
✓Multi-hop attack paths — compound risk chains (untrust → DMZ via App-ID-blind rule → trust via permissive east-west) with pivot awareness and service scoring
Sample finding— what you get per issue
HIGH

Outbound HTTPS not decrypted — App-ID and Threat Prevention blind

No Decryption policy matches outbound traffic from trust to untrust on TCP/443. Without decryption, App-ID downgrades to ssl/web-browsing, URL Filtering loses category granularity, and WildFire cannot inspect downloads. Palo Alto Security Advisory PAN-SA-2024-0001 also applies at your current firmware.

set shared decryption-profile "outbound-decrypt"
  ssl-forward-proxy block-expired-certificate yes
  ssl-forward-proxy block-untrusted-issuer yes
  ssl-forward-proxy block-unknown-cert yes
  ssl-protocol-settings min-version tls1-2

set rulebase decryption rules "decrypt-outbound-https"
  from trust
  to untrust
  source any
  destination any
  service service-https
  category any
  action decrypt
  type ssl-forward-proxy
  profile outbound-decrypt

Every finding ships with the exact CLI block above, the rule that triggered it, the Security Advisory reference, and a plain-English explanation of why it matters and what changes after you commit.

Frequently asked

Which Palo Alto platforms and PAN-OS versions are supported?

Any Palo Alto Networks NGFW that can export an XML config — PA-220, PA-400 series, PA-800, PA-1400, PA-3200, PA-5200, PA-5400, PA-7000 series, and the VM-Series virtual firewalls. Tested against PAN-OS 9.x, 10.x, and 11.x. Both standalone-device exports and Panorama push-templates are handled.

How do I export my Palo Alto configuration?

From a standalone device: Device → Setup → Operations → Export named configuration snapshot → choose running-config.xml or a saved snapshot. From Panorama: Panorama → Setup → Operations → Export Panorama and devices configuration bundle, then upload the individual device XML. Unencrypted XML only — CRWLR does not decrypt encrypted exports.

What does CRWLR actually check in a Palo Alto config?

140 checks spanning Security Rule hygiene, zone segmentation, App-ID coverage (vs. port-based rules), Decryption policy coverage, Security Profile depth (Antivirus, Anti-Spyware, Vulnerability Protection, URL Filtering, WildFire, File Blocking), GlobalProtect crypto and authentication, Panorama/management plane hardening, logging completeness, and PAN-OS firmware CVE exposure. Full list at /security.

Is my Palo Alto configuration stored anywhere?

No. The raw XML is parsed in memory and discarded at the end of the scan. Only the normalized findings, scores, and per-rule analysis are persisted to your tenant. This is an architectural guarantee, not a policy — the file path that would store the raw export does not exist.

Does CRWLR check PAN-OS CVEs?

Yes. Firmware is matched against CISA KEV, NVD, and the Palo Alto Networks Security Advisories feed, deduplicated across sources. CVEs are filtered to only those that affect features actually enabled in your config — a GlobalProtect vulnerability is only flagged if GlobalProtect is configured, a WildFire vulnerability only if WildFire is licensed and on.

Will CRWLR flag port-based rules where App-ID would do?

Yes — that is one of the highest-leverage findings on a Palo Alto deployment. Rules using service-port matches instead of application-default or App-ID create exposure that the rest of the security profile cannot fully compensate for. The engine inventories every Security Rule and surfaces which ones leak this way, with the exact application: replacement to drop in.

Can I use this across dozens of Palo Altos for MSP work?

Yes. CRWLR supports bulk import (drop a ZIP of XML exports), scheduled re-scans, per-firewall finding acknowledgements, and a fleet dashboard that rolls firmware risk, configuration risk, and external exposure into one composite score across your whole estate. Panorama-managed and standalone devices both work.

Do I get CLI fixes or just findings?

CLI fixes. Every finding includes the exact PAN-OS CLI commands to remediate it — set deviceconfig system / set rulebase security rules / set zone — paste-ready, with the relevant config-node context so it slots directly into a maintenance window or a config-push.

Upload your Palo Alto config. See the gaps in 60 seconds.

No credit card. No agent to install. The raw XML never touches our storage.

Start Free Scan →
HomeFortiGate auditSophos auditCheck Point auditCisco ASA auditCheck coverageHow we handle your datavs. SkyboxBlog
Palo Alto Firewall Configuration Audit — 60 Seconds | CRWLR