What advantage does a stateful firewall have over a stateless firewall?

A stateful firewall has a distinct advantage because it makes decisions based on the connection state of the traffic flow. This means that it can monitor active connections and determine whether a packet is part of an established connection or a new connection attempt. By keeping track of the state of these connections, it can enforce more nuanced rules that take the context of network sessions into account, allowing for better security and more effective traffic management.

In contrast, a stateless firewall treats each packet in isolation, meaning it doesn't consider the state of the connection from which the packet comes. This difference means that stateful firewalls can provide better protection against various types of attacks that exploit multiple packets sent during a session. Additionally, they can handle complex protocols where multiple packets work together to establish a connection or perform a transaction.

Other options, while they may describe certain characteristics or functions related to networking and firewalls, do not directly address the key advantage of stateful firewalls in terms of connection awareness and decision-making based on the state of network traffic.