The Cisco vulnerability database (VDB) is a database of known vulnerabilities to which hosts may be susceptible, as well as fingerprints for operating systems, clients, and applications. The system uses the VDB to help determine whether a particular host increases your risk of compromise.

Cisco issues periodic updates to the VDB. The time it takes to update the VDB and its associated mappings on the Firepower Management Center depends on the number of hosts in your network map. As a rule of thumb, divide the number of hosts by 1000 to determine the approximate number of minutes to perform the update.

You can find VDB updates on the VDB Software Downloads page on Cisco.com.

The Cisco Firepower Application Detector Reference contains the release notes and information about the application detectors supported in VDB releases up to and including release 343. For VDB releases 344 and later, see Cisco Secure Application Detectors.

For each application listed in this reference, you can find the following information:

• Description—A brief description of the application.

• Categories—A general classification for the application that describes its most essential function. Example categories include web services provider, e-commerce, ad portal, and social networking.

• Tags—Predefined tags that provide additional information about the application. Example tags include webmail, SSL protocol, file sharing/transfer, and displays ads. An application can have zero, one, or more tags.

• Risk—The likelihood that the application is used for purposes that might be against your organization’s security policy. The risk levels are Very High, High, Medium, Low, and Very Low.

• Business Relevance—The likelihood that the application is used within the context of your organization’s business operations, as opposed to recreationally. The relevance levels are Very High, High, Medium, Low, and Very Low.