Amazon Linux 2023 : log4j, log4j-jcl, log4j-slf4j (ALAS2023-2026-1398)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 299535

Synopsis

The remote Amazon Linux 2023 host is missing a security update.

Description

It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS2023-2026-1398 advisory.

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. (CVE-2025-68161)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Run 'dnf update log4j --releasever 2023.10.20260216' or or 'dnf update --advisory ALAS2023-2026-1398 --releasever 2023.10.20260216' to update your system.

See Also

https://alas.aws.amazon.com//AL2023/ALAS2023-2026-1398.html

https://alas.aws.amazon.com/faqs.html

https://explore.alas.aws.amazon.com/CVE-2025-68161.html

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 299535

File Name: al2023_ALAS2023-2026-1398.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 2/19/2026

Updated: 2/19/2026

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.0

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4

Temporal Score: 3.1

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2025-68161

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.8

Temporal Score: 4.3

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:P/RL:O/RC:C

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.3

Threat Score: 2.9

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:P

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:log4j-slf4j, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:log4j-jcl, cpe:/o:amazon:linux:2023, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:log4j

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/AmazonLinux/release, Host/AmazonLinux/rpm-list

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 2/18/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 12/18/2025

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2025-68161