Overview
The CVE-2025-54813 vulnerability exposes systems to potential compromise due to improper output neutralization for logs in Apache Log4cxx. It specifically affects versions of Apache Log4cxx prior to 1.5.0. As a result, attackers can exploit this vulnerability to hinder the correct interpretation of log information by applications that consume these logs, thereby leading to system compromise or data leakage.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-54813
Severity: High (CVSS 7.5)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
A new way to communicate
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Message, call, share files, and coordinate with identities kept separate.
- • Encrypted identity
- • Ameeba Chat authenticates access
- • Aliases and categories
- • End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, and files
- • Secure notes for sensitive information
Private communication, rethought.
Product | Affected Versions
Apache Log4cxx | Before 1.5.0
How the Exploit Works
This vulnerability arises from a failure to properly escape all payload bytes when using JSONLayout. If an attacker supplies a message with specific non-printable characters, these characters are included in the message and written out as part of the JSON message. This prevents applications that consume these logs from correctly interpreting the information, leading to potential system compromise or data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
The conceptual exploit of this vulnerability might involve an attacker sending a message containing non-printable characters. This could be achieved through an HTTP POST request as shown below:
POST /log4cxx/endpoint HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "message": "Hello\u001b[31m World" }In the above conceptual example, the string “\u001b[31m” is a non-printable character sequence that could potentially disrupt the correct interpretation of log information by applications that consume these logs. The specific impact would depend on how the receiving application handles such characters.