Home/CVE/Apache Log4j2 Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
CVE

CVE-2021-44228

Apache Log4j2 Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Apache Log4j2 2.0-beta9 through 2.15.0 (excluding security releases 2.12.2, 2.12.3, and 2.3.1) JNDI features used in configuration, log messages, and parameters do not protect against attacker controlled LDAP and other JNDI related endpoints. An attacker who can control log messages or log message parameters can execute arbitrary code loaded from LDAP servers when message lookup substitution is enabled. From log4j 2.15.0, this behavior has been disabled by default.

From version 2.16.0 (along with 2.12.2, 2.12.3, and 2.3.1), this functionality has been completely removed. Note that this vulnerability is specific to log4j-core and does not affect log4net, log4cxx, or other Apache Logging Services projects.

CRITICAL · CVSS 10 ⚠ CISA KEV EPSS 0.94358 Ransomware: known
Act now
  • Listed on CISA KEV (known exploited in the wild)
  • Linked to known ransomware campaigns
  • SSVC exploitation status: active
  • EPSS ≥ 0.50 - high probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
  • EPSS percentile: top 0% of all CVEs by exploitation likelihood
  • Public exploit or PoC is available
  • SSVC automatable: yes - attacks can be scripted at scale
  • CVSS base score ≥ 7.0

Required Remediation

For all affected software assets for which updates exist, the only acceptable remediation actions are.

  1. Apply updates.
  2. remove affected assets from agency networks. Temporary mitigations using one of the measures provided at https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ed-22-02-apache-log4j-recommended-mitigation-measures are only acceptable until updates are available.

Threat Actors Linked

23

Affected Products & Versions

42
apache log4j>= 2.0.1 and < 2.3.1
apache log4j>= 2.4.0 and < 2.12.2
apache log4j>= 2.13.0 and < 2.15.0

Affected Packages

5
Language-ecosystem packages (from OSV) tied to this CVE, with the version that fixes it - the dependency-level detail NVD doesn’t carry.
Maven com.guicedee.services:log4j-core CRITICAL
Maven org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-core CRITICAL fixed in 2.15.0
Maven org.ops4j.pax.logging:pax-logging-log4j2 CRITICAL fixed in 1.9.2
Maven org.xbib.elasticsearch:log4j CRITICAL
Maven uk.co.nichesolutions.logging.log4j:log4j-core CRITICAL

Public Exploits & PoCs

42

Detection Rules (IDS/IPS)

40
Open rulesets (ET Open, Snort Community, abuse.ch) link to source. Commercial rulesets are reference-only.

Sigma Hunt Rules

10
Exact rules name this CVE ID. Product rules name an affected product in their title. Related rules cover techniques used by actors who exploited this CVE. Showing the most relevant matches; the complete related set is on the full drill-down.
relatedcriticalBitbucket Unauthorized Full Data Export Triggered
relatedcriticalBitbucket Unauthorized Access To A Resource
relatedcriticalAntivirus Exploitation Framework Detection
relatedcriticalAntivirus Password Dumper Detection
relatedcriticalAntivirus Ransomware Detection
relatedcriticalLinux Reverse Shell Indicator

Scoring & Timeline

10
CRITICAL · CVSS v3.1 · security@apache.org
View on NVD
Attack Vector
Network Adjacent Local Physical
Attack Complexity
Low High
Privileges Required
None Low High
User Interaction
None Required
Scope
Unchanged Changed
Confidentiality
None Low High
Integrity
None Low High
Availability
None Low High
Published to NVD10 Dec 2021 · 10:15 AM
CVSS VectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
SSVC triage · cisa-vulnrichment
Exploitation
active
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total
SSVC asks the questions that actually drive patch urgency: is it being exploited, can attacks be automated, and how total is the impact.

Vendor Advisories

30
rhsaRHSA-2025:1747Critical
rhsaRHSA-2025:1746Critical
rhsaRHSA-2024:10207Important
rhsaRHSA-2024:5856Important
suse-csafopenSUSE-SU-2024:11666-1
🔗

References & Sources

33
Source URLs (vendor pages, mailing lists, write-ups). Exploit/PoC links are in their own section above to avoid duplication.
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Dec/2ExploitMailing ListThird Party Advisory
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Jul/11Mailing ListThird Party Advisory
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Mar/23Mailing ListThird Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/12/10/1Mailing ListMitigationThird Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/12/10/2Mailing ListMitigationThird Party Advisory
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