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

Attack Vector Network

Attack Complexity High

Privileges Required None

Attack Requirements None

User Interaction None

Vulnerable System Confidentiality Impact Low

Vulnerable System Integrity Impact None

Vulnerable System Availability Impact None

Subsequent System Confidentiality Impact None

Subsequent System Integrity Impact Low

Subsequent System Availability Impact None

Attack Vector Network

Attack Complexity High

Privileges Required None

Scope Unchanged

Confidentiality Impact High

Integrity Impact None

Availability Impact None

User Interaction None

No CVSS v3.0

No CVSS v2

This CVE is not in the KEV list.

The EPSS score is 0.00037.

Exploitation none

Automatable no

Technical Impact partial

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendors Products
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Advisories
Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-vc5p-v9hr-52mj Apache Log4j does not verify the TLS hostname in its Socket Appender
Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.

Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

References
Link Providers
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/12/18/1 cve-icon
https://github.com/apache/logging-log4j2/pull/4002 cve-icon cve-icon cve-icon
https://lists.apache.org/thread/xr33kyxq3sl67lwb61ggvm1fzc8k7dvx cve-icon cve-icon cve-icon
https://logging.apache.org/cyclonedx/vdr.xml cve-icon cve-icon cve-icon
https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/manual/appenders/network.html#SslConfiguration-attr-verifyHostName cve-icon cve-icon cve-icon
https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/manual/systemproperties.html#log4j2.sslVerifyHostName cve-icon cve-icon cve-icon
https://logging.apache.org/security.html#CVE-2025-68161 cve-icon cve-icon cve-icon
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68161 cve-icon
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68161 cve-icon
History

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 00:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

 cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N'}

threat_severity

Moderate

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 09:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Apache
Apache log4j
Vendors & Products Apache
Apache log4j

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 22:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
References

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 22:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
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
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 6.3, 'vector': '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'}

Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: apache

Published:

Updated: 2025-12-19T06:45:03.886Z

Reserved: 2025-12-16T11:30:53.875Z

Link: CVE-2025-68161

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2025-12-18T22:04:17.633Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2025-12-18T21:15:57.960

Modified: 2025-12-19T18:00:18.330

Link: CVE-2025-68161

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Moderate

Publid Date: 2025-12-18T20:47:49Z

Links: CVE-2025-68161 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2025-12-19T09:15:40Z

Weaknesses