CVE-2025-68161Apache Log4j Core: Missing TLS hostname verification in Socket appender
- 6.3MediumCVSS base score
- 0.77%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 44% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
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.
Timeline
ID reserved
By apache
- 2 days later
· 2 days later
Published
- 4 months later
· 4 months later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| apacheCNA (assigner) | 4.0 | Medium6.3 | 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 |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 4.0 | Medium6.3 | 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 |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.77% · top 44% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 6.3.
Affected products
Apache Software Foundation · Apache Log4j Core
- affected 2.0-beta9 – < 2.25.3
- affected 3.0.0-alpha1 – ≤ 3.0.0-beta3
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- Mavenorg.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-coreGHSA-vc5p-v9hr-52mj (opens in a new tab)
References
References8
- https://github.com/apache/logging-log4j2/pull/4002 (opens in a new tab)patch
- https://logging.apache.org/security.html#CVE-2025-68161 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisory
- https://logging.apache.org/cyclonedx/vdr.xml (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisory
- https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/manual/systemproperties.html#log4j2.sslVerifyHostName (opens in a new tab)related
- https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/manual/appenders/network.html#SslConfiguration-attr-verifyHostName (opens in a new tab)related
- https://lists.apache.org/thread/xr33kyxq3sl67lwb61ggvm1fzc8k7dvx (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/12/18/1 (opens in a new tab)
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2026/01/msg00015.html (opens in a new tab)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2025-204312 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-vc5p-v9hr-52mj (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2025-68161)Record last updated .