Allow Password Access to Certain Sites
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Advanced URL Filtering

Allow Password Access to Certain Sites

Table of Contents

Allow Password Access to Certain Sites

Set up password access to websites in blocked categories for special individuals.
Where can I use this?
What do I need?
  • Prisma Access (Cloud Management)
  • Prisma Access (Panorama Managed)
  • NGFW (Cloud Managed)
  • NGFW (PAN-OS or Panorama Managed)
Notes:
  • Legacy URL filtering licenses are discontinued, but active legacy licenses are still supported.
  • Prisma Access
    usually include
    Advanced URL Filtering
    capabilities.
In some cases, it may be necessary to require password access to websites in certain categories. For example, your company may block URL categories that threaten the safety and wellbeing of employees. However, certain employees may need access to these categories for research or other legitimate purposes. To balance safety and business needs, implementing URL admin overrides can be an effective solution.
To create a URL admin override, set the action for a category to
override
. Then, create a password that users must enter to access sites in this category. When users attempt to access a website in a category that you have overridden, a Continue and Override response page appears. This page notifies users that a website is blocked and prompts them to enter a password to continue to the site.

Cloud Managed

If you’re using Panorama to manage
Prisma Access
:
Toggle over to the
PAN-OS & Panorama
tab and follow the guidance there.
If you’re using
Strata Cloud Manager
, continue here.
  1. Go to the URL Access Management dashboard.
    Select
    Manage
    Configuration
    Security Services
    URL Access Management
    .
  2. Select
    Settings
    .
  3. Create a URL admin override password.
    1. Go to URL Admin Overrides, and
      Add URL Admin Overrides
      .
    2. (
      Optional
      ) Select a
      Mode
      for prompting users for the password:
      • Transparent
        —The password prompt appears to originate from the original destination URL. The firewall intercepts the browser traffic destined for sites in a URL category set to override and issues an HTTP 302 to prompt for the password, which applies on a per-vsys level.
      • Redirect
        —The password prompt appears from an
        Address
        (IP address or DNS hostname) that you specify. The firewall intercepts HTTP or HTTPS traffic to a URL category set to override and uses an HTTP 302 redirect to send the request to a Layer 3 interface on the firewall.
    3. Enter a
      Password
      , then enter it again to
      Confirm Password
      .
    4. (
      Optional
      ) Select an
      SSL/TLS Service Profile
      .
      You can create and manage SSL/TLS service profiles by clicking
      Create New
      and
      Manage
      , respectively.
    5. Save
      your changes.
  4. (
    Optional
    ) Set the duration of override access and password lockouts.
    By default, users can access websites in categories for which they have successfully entered an override password for 15 minutes. After the default or custom interval passes, users must re-enter the password.
    By default, users are blocked for 30 minutes after three failed password attempts. After the user is locked out for the default or custom duration, they can try to access the websites again.
    1. Customize the General Settings.
    2. For
      URL Admin Override Timeout
      , enter a value (in minutes) from 1 to 86,400.
    3. For
      URL Admin Lockout Timeout
      , enter a value (in minutes) from 1 to 86,400.
    4. Save
      your changes.
  5. Specify the URL categories that require password access.
    1. On the URL Access Management dashboard, under the
      Access Control
      tab, go to URL Access Management Profiles and modify or
      Add Profile
      .
    2. Under Access Control, select the categories that require password access.
    3. With all the categories selected, click
      Set Access
      and then select
      Override
      .
      You should see that Site Access for the highlighted categories now say
      override
      .
    4. Save
      your changes.
  6. Apply the URL Access Management profile to a Security policy rule.
    A URL Access Management profile is only active when it’s included in a profile group that a Security policy rule references.
    Follow the steps to activate a URL Access Management profile (and any Security profile). Be sure to
    Push Config
    when you are done.

PAN-OS & Panorama

  1. Set a URL admin override password.
    1. Select
      Device
      Setup
      Content ID
      .
    2. In the
      URL Admin Override
      section, click
      Add
      .
    3. In the
      Location
      field, select the virtual system to which this password applies.
    4. Enter a
      Password
      , then enter it again to
      Confirm Password
      .
    5. Select an
      SSL/TLS Service Profile
      .
      SSL/TLS service profiles specify the certificate that the firewall presents to the user if the site with the override is an HTTPS site.
    6. Select a
      Mode
      for prompting user for the password:
      • Transparent
        —The password prompt appears to originate from the original destination URL. The firewall intercepts the browser traffic destined for sites in a URL category set to override and issues an HTTP 302 to prompt for the password, which applies on a per-vsys level.
        The client browser will display certificate errors if it does not trust the certificate.
      • Redirect
        —The password prompt appears from an
        Address
        (IP address or DNS hostname) that you specify. The firewall intercepts HTTP or HTTPS traffic to a URL category set to override and uses an HTTP 302 redirect to send the request to a Layer 3 interface on the firewall.
    7. Click
      OK
      .
  2. (
    Optional
    ) Set the duration of override access and password lockouts.
    By default, users can access websites in categories for which they have successfully entered an override password for 15 minutes. After the default or custom interval passes, users must re-enter the password.
    By default, users are blocked for 30 minutes after three failed password attempts. After the user is locked out for the default or custom duration, they can try to access the websites again.
    1. Edit the URL Filtering section.
    2. For
      URL Admin Override Timeout
      , enter a value (in minutes) from 1 to 86,400. ---By default, users can access sites within the category for 15 minutes without re-entering the password.
    3. For
      URL Admin Lockout Timeout
      , enter a value (in minutes) from 1 to 86,400.
    4. Click
      OK
      .
  3. (
    Redirect mode only
    ) Create a Layer 3 interface to which to redirect web requests to sites in a category configured for override.
    1. Create a management profile to enable the interface to display the URL Filtering Continue and Override Page response page:
      1. Select
        Network
        Interface Mgmt
        and click
        Add
        .
      2. Enter a
        Name
        for the profile, select
        Response Pages
        , and then click
        OK
        .
    2. Create the Layer 3 interface. Be sure to attach the management profile you just created (on the
      Advanced
      Other Info
      tab of the Ethernet Interface dialog).
  4. (
    Redirect mode only
    ) To transparently redirect users without displaying certificate errors, install a certificate that matches the IP address of the interface to which you are redirecting web requests to a site in a URL category configured for override.You can either generate a self-signed certificate or import a certificate that is signed by an external CA.
    To use a self-signed certificate, you must first create a root CA certificate and then use that CA to sign the certificate you will use for URL admin override as follows:
    1. To create a root CA certificate, select
      Device
      Certificate Management
      Certificates
      Device Certificates
      and then click
      Generate
      . Enter a
      Certificate Name
      , such as RootCA. Do not select a value in the
      Signed By
      field (this is what indicates that it is self-signed). Make sure you select the
      Certificate Authority
      check box and then click
      Generate
      the certificate.
    2. To create the certificate to use for URL admin override, click
      Generate
      . Enter a
      Certificate Name
      and enter the DNS hostname or IP address of the interface as the
      Common Name
      . In the
      Signed By
      field, select the CA you created in the previous step. Add an IP address attribute and specify the IP address of the Layer 3 interface to which you will be redirecting web requests to URL categories that have the override action.
    3. Generate
      the certificate.
    4. To configure clients to trust the certificate, select the CA certificate on the
      Device Certificates
      tab and click
      Export
      . You must then import the certificate as a trusted root CA into all client browsers, either by manually configuring the browser or by adding the certificate to the trusted roots in an Active Directory Group Policy Object (GPO).
  5. Specify which URL categories require an override password to enable access.
    1. Select
      Objects
      URL Filtering
      and either select an existing URL Filtering profile or
      Add
      a new one.
    2. On the
      Categories
      tab, set the Action to
      override
      for each category that requires a password.
    3. Complete any remaining sections on the URL Filtering profile and then click
      OK
      to save the profile.
  6. Apply the URL Filtering profile to the Security policy rule(s) that allows access to the sites requiring password override for access.
    1. Select
      Policies
      Security
      and select the appropriate Security policy to modify it.
    2. Select the
      Actions
      tab and in the
      Profile Setting
      section, click the drop-down for
      URL Filtering
      and select the profile.
    3. Click
      OK
      to save.
  7. Commit
    the configuration.

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