How does FortiGate look for a matching firewall policy to process traffic?

FortiGate evaluates firewall policies sequentially from the top of the policy list to the bottom, processing traffic with the first policy that matches all specified criteria.

FortiGate does not use a 'best match' approach for firewall policies; it relies on a strict, ordered evaluation until the first match is found.

While policies have internal ID numbers, their processing order is determined by their position in the policy list (sequence), not numerically by their ID.

FortiGate firewall policies do not have a configurable 'priority value' that dictates their processing order; instead, their order is determined by their sequential placement in the list.