UNABLE TO ALLOW/EXEMPT SPECIFIC WEBSITE WHICH HAS BEEN BLOCKED BY FORTIGATE

[Mirza_Asad2723]

Dear Concern,

I need to access a website that is currently being blocked by my FortiGate-201 running FortiOS v7.6.2.F. I have attached a screenshot for your reference.

The website is authentic, and I would like to specifically allow or exempt it so that it can be accessed from our office network. According to the attached capture currently, it is being categorized as a "Malicious Website," which is why the FortiGate firewall is blocking it.

I have already added the website to the Security Profiles > Web Filter > URL Filter and set it to Allow by using type simple or wildcard, as shown in the attached capture. However, the website is still being blocked.

Kindly guide me on how to properly exempt or allow this website so that it can be accessed from our network.

Your urgent and appreciable technical support is required to allowing this specific website in my FortiGate firewall.

[funkylicious]

hi,

please try setting it to Exempt instead of Allow and do open an incongnito window and then try to access it again.

[SimranRana]

Hello,

Please select the "Status" as "Exempt" as the traffic is allowed to bypass the remaining FortiGuard web filters, web content filters, web script filters, antivirus scanning, and DLP proxy operations, when exempt is selected.

Reference: Static URL filter | FortiGate / FortiOS 7.6.2 | Fortinet Document Library

[ametkola]

Hello @Mirza_Asad2723 ,

To further check the website categorization you can search the name of the website in the link below:

https://www.fortiguard.com/webfilter

Regards,

[ezhupa]

The correct action should be exempt and not allow. 
You can find the explanation for the actions below:

Action' descriptions in Static URL see below:

• 'Block' -> destination is blocked and session dropped, no further category check is needed.
• 'Allow' -> destination is allowed from the static URL list, FortiGate proceeds with checking the category to decide further action.
• 'Exempt' -> destination is exempted from further inspection and traffic is allowed
  
  
  As you can see action "allow" will still check the category which in your case it will be blocked.
  
  Reference document:
  https://community.fortinet.com/t5/FortiGate/Technical-Tip-Difference-between-action-Allow-and-Exempt...