(B) Incorrect — the scenario describes a multi-tier architecture, not a misconfigured flat policy.

(C) Incorrect — traffic flows through the perimeter NGFW first, then reaches the WAF closer to the application.

(D) Incorrect — NGFWs inspect both inbound and outbound traffic by default.

(A) Incorrect — “ESTABLISHED” specifically refers to state-table matching, not rule-set matching.

(C) Incorrect — firewall state tables track TCP sessions, not DNS-based trust relationships.

(D) Incorrect — stateful firewalls do not default-allow any protocol; all traffic must match rules or state entries.

(A) Incorrect — the question specifically asks about firewall configuration, and the rule ordering error is evident.

(B) Incorrect — DENY ALL only applies to packets not matched by earlier rules; Rule 1 matches first.

(D) Incorrect — firewall rules match destination port 22 regardless of the source port used by the client.

(B) Incorrect — DNS traffic is subject to firewall rules like any other protocol; it is not exempt.

(C) Incorrect — standard DNS tunneling uses plaintext DNS, not TLS-encrypted DNS (which is a separate protocol).

(D) Incorrect — firewalls inspect both inbound and outbound traffic; the issue is rule granularity, not direction.

(A) Valid reason — WAFs specialize in application-layer threat detection.

(B) Valid reason — NGFWs handle network-layer protection that WAFs are not designed for.

(C) Valid reason — defense in depth ensures no single point of failure in the security architecture.