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.
Metrics
Affected Vendors & Products
References
History
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 09:30:00 +0000
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ssvc
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| 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. | |
| Title | Apache Log4j Core: Missing TLS hostname verification in Socket appender | |
| Weaknesses | CWE-297 | |
| References |
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| Metrics |
cvssV4_0
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Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: apache
Published: 2025-12-18T20:47:49.123Z
Updated: 2025-12-19T06:45:03.886Z
Reserved: 2025-12-16T11:30:53.875Z
Link: CVE-2025-68161
Updated: 2025-12-18T22:04:17.633Z
Status : Received
Published: 2025-12-18T21:15:57.960
Modified: 2025-12-18T22:16:01.950
Link: CVE-2025-68161
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