Stateful firewalls differ from static packet filtering firewalls by being aware of the difference between a new and an established connection. A stateful firewall is a firewall that keeps track of the state of network connections and transactions, and uses this information to make filtering decisions. A stateful firewall maintains a state table that records the source and destination IP addresses, port numbers, protocols, and sequence numbers of each connection. A stateful firewall can distinguish between a new connection, which requires a three-way handshake to be completed, and an established connection, which has already completed the handshake and is ready to exchange data. A stateful firewall can also detect when a connection is terminated or idle, and remove it from the state table. A stateful firewall can provide more security and efficiency than a static packet filtering firewall, which only examines the header of each packet and compares it to a set of predefined rules. A static packet filtering firewall does not keep track of the state of connections, and cannot differentiate between new and established connections. A static packet filtering firewall may allow or block packets based on the source and destination IP addresses, port numbers, and protocols, but it cannot inspect the payload or the sequence numbers of the packets. A static packet filtering firewall may also be vulnerable to spoofing or flooding attacks, as it cannot verify the authenticity or validity of the packets. The other options are not aspects that stateful firewalls are aware of, but static packet filtering firewalls are not.
Both types of firewalls can check the originating network location of the packets, but they cannot check the difference between a malicious and a benign packet payload, or the originating application session of the packets. References: Stateless vs Stateful Packet Filtering Firewalls - GeeksforGeeks; Stateful vs Stateless Firewall: Differences and Examples - Fortinet; Stateful Inspection Firewalls Explained - Palo Alto Networks.