CVE-2025-68161
Dec. 19, 2025, 6 p.m.
6.3
Medium
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.
Product(s) Impacted
| Product | Versions |
|---|
Weaknesses
Common security weaknesses mapped to this vulnerability.
CWE-297
Improper Validation of Certificate with Host Mismatch
The product communicates with a host that provides a certificate, but the product does not properly ensure that the certificate is actually associated with that host.
References
Tags
CVSS Score
CVSS Data - 4.0
- Attack Vector: NETWORK
- Attack Complexity: HIGH
- Attack Requirements: NONE
- Privileges Required: NONE
- User Interaction: NONE
- Scope:
- Confidentiality Impact: LOW
- Integrity Impact: NONE
- Availability Impact: NONE
- Exploit Maturity: NOT_DEFINED
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
Timeline
Published: Dec. 18, 2025, 9:15 p.m.
Last Modified: Dec. 19, 2025, 6 p.m.
Last Modified: Dec. 19, 2025, 6 p.m.
Status : Awaiting Analysis
CVE has been marked for Analysis. Normally once in this state the CVE will be analyzed by NVD staff within 24 hours.
More infoSource
security@apache.org
*Disclaimer: Some vulnerabilities do not have an associated CPE. To enhance the data, we use AI to infer CPEs based on CVE details. This is an automated process and might not always be accurate.