This vulnerability arises from incomplete validation of SSL certificates in the Snort 2 Detection Engine component of Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software. An attacker can exploit this by sending a specially crafted SSL connection setup request that triggers a buffer access with an incorrect length value during certificate parsing. The consequence is an unexpected restart of the Snort 2 Detection Engine, causing a denial of service. The vulnerability affects multiple specific versions of Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software as listed. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.8, indicating medium severity with network attack vector, low attack complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction, scope changed, and impact limited to availability.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can cause the Snort 2 Detection Engine to restart unexpectedly by exploiting this vulnerability, leading to a denial of service condition. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity according to the CVSS vector. The primary impact is availability disruption of the Snort 2 Detection Engine within Cisco Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD) Software.

Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. No official fix or patch links are provided in the available data. Until a patch is available, monitor for unusual restarts of the Snort 2 Detection Engine and consider applying any vendor-recommended temporary mitigations once published.