Configure URL Filtering Inline ML
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Configure URL Filtering Inline ML

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Configure URL Filtering Inline ML

Learn how to enable and configure inline ML-based URL filtering for enhanced threat detection and prevention.
To enable your URL Filtering inline ML configuration, attach the URL Filtering profile configured with the inline ML settings to a Security policy rule (see Set Up a Basic Security Policy).
URL Filtering inline ML is not currently supported on the VM-50 or VM50L virtual appliance.
  1. To take advantage of URL Filtering inline ML, you must have an active Advanced URL Filtering or legacy URL Filtering subscription.
    Verify that you have a URL Filtering subscription. To verify subscriptions for which you have currently-active licenses, select DeviceLicenses and verify that the appropriate licenses display and are not expired. The image below shows the license entry for the legacy URL Filtering subscription.
  2. Create a new or update your existing URL Filtering profiles to use URL Filtering inline ML.
    1. Select an existing URL Filtering Profile or Add a new one (ObjectsSecurity ProfilesURL Filtering).
    2. Select Inline ML and define a policy Action for each URL Filtering inline ML model. This enforces the selected policy action on a per model basis. Currently, there are two classification engines available: Phishing and JavaScript Exploit, one for each type of malicious webpage content.
      • Block—When the firewall detects a website with phishing content, the firewall generates a URL Filtering log entry.
      • Alert—The firewall allows access to the website and generates a URL Filtering log entry.
      • Allow—The firewall allows access to the website but does not generate a URL Filtering log entry.
    3. Click OK to exit the URL Filtering Profile dialog, then Commit your changes.
  3. (Optional) Add URL exceptions to your URL Filtering profile if you encounter false-positives. You can add exceptions by specifying an external dynamic list from the URL Filtering profile or by adding a web page entry from the URL Filtering logs.
    • Add an external dynamic list of URL exceptions.
      1. Select Objects > Security Profiles > URL Filtering.
      2. Select a URL Filtering profile for which you want to exclude specific URLs, then select Inline ML.
      3. Add a pre-existing URL-based external dynamic list. If none is available, create a new external dynamic list.
      4. Click OK to save the URL Filtering profile and Commit your changes.
    • Add file exceptions from URL Filtering log entries.
      1. Select Monitor > Logs > URL Filtering and filter the logs for URL entries with an Inline ML Verdict of malicious-javascript or phishing. Select a URL Filtering log for a URL that you wish to create an exception for.
      2. Go to the Detailed Log View and scroll down to the Details pane, then select Create Exception located next to the Inline ML Verdict.
      3. Select a custom category for the URL exception and click OK.
      4. The new URL exception can be found in the list to which it was added, under Objects > Custom Objects > URL Category.
  4. (Optional) Verify the status of your firewall’s connectivity to the inline ML cloud service.
    Use the following CLI command on the firewall to view the connection status.
    show mlav cloud-status 
    For example:
    show mlav cloud-status
    
    MLAV cloud
    Current cloud server:          ml.service.paloaltonetworks.com
    Cloud connection:              connected
    If you are unable to connect to the inline ML cloud service, verify that the following domain is not being blocked: ml.service.paloaltonetworks.com.
To view information about web pages that have been processed using URL Filtering inline ML, Filter the logs (Monitor > Logs > URL Filtering) based on Inline ML Verdict. Web pages that have been determined to contain threats are categorized with verdicts of either phishing or malicious-javascript. For example: