CVE-2025-68161

MEDIUM EPSS 50.1%
Published Dec 18, 20256mo ago · Modified Jun 17, 20262w ago
6.3 CVSS 4.0
Medium
Find Similar
Published Dec 18, 2025 6mo ago
Last Modified Jun 17, 2026 2w ago

Description

The Socket Appender in Apache Log4j Core versions 2.0-beta9 through 2.25.2 does not perform TLS hostname verification of the peer certificate, even when the verifyHostName https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/manual/appenders/network.html#SslConfiguration-attr-verifyHostName configuration attribute or the log4j2.sslVerifyHostName https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/manual/systemproperties.html#log4j2.sslVerifyHostName system property is set to true. This issue may allow a man-in-the-middle attacker to intercept or redirect log traffic under the following conditions: * The attacker is able to intercept or redirect network traffic between the client and the log receiver. * The attacker can present a server certificate issued by a certification authority trusted by the Socket Appender’s configured trust store (or by the default Java trust store if no custom trust store is configured). Users are advised to upgrade to Apache Log4j Core version 2.25.3, which addresses this issue. As an alternative mitigation, the Socket Appender may be configured to use a private or restricted trust root to limit the set of trusted certificates.

CVSS Details

Base Score
6.3
Exploitability
—
Impact
—
Vector string
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:L/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Attack Vector Network
Attack Complexity High
Privileges Required None
User Interaction None
Scope X

Threat Intelligence

EPSS Exploit Probability
50.1% percentile
Exploit & Patch Status
Public Exploit Known
Patch Available

Weaknesses 2

CWE-295
CWE-297

Affected Products 6

VendorProductVersionRange
apachelog4j*≥2.0.1  –  <2.25.3
apachelog4j2.0any
apachelog4j2.0any
apachelog4j2.0any
apachelog4j2.0any
apachelog4j2.0any

References 8

  • openwall.com http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/12/18/1
    Mailing List
  • github.com https://github.com/apache/logging-log4j2/pull/4002
    Issue TrackingPatch
  • lists.apache.org https://lists.apache.org/thread/xr33kyxq3sl67lwb61ggvm1fzc8k7dvx
    Mailing List
  • lists.debian.org https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/01/msg00015.html
  • logging.apache.org https://logging.apache.org/cyclonedx/vdr.xml
    Vendor Advisory
  • logging.apache.org https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/manual/appenders/network.html#SslConfiguration-attr-verifyHostName
    Product
  • logging.apache.org https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/manual/systemproperties.html#log4j2.sslVerifyHostName
    Product
  • logging.apache.org https://logging.apache.org/security.html#CVE-2025-68161
    ExploitVendor Advisory

Remediation

  • github.com https://github.com/apache/logging-log4j2/pull/4002
    Issue TrackingPatch