CVE-2022-23305: Apache Log4j V1 SQL injection vulnerability alert

by do son · January 20, 2022

On January 18, Apache released a security bulletin that disclosed the SQL injection in JDBC Appender vulnerability (CVE-2022-23305), which affected Apache Log4j 1.x version, and the official support and maintenance is no longer carried out.

Apache Log4j is a Java-based logging utility. Apache Log4j 2 is an upgrade to Log4j that provides significant improvements over its predecessor, Log4j 1.x, and provides many of the improvements available in Logback while fixing some inherent problems in Logback’s architecture.

Since JDBCAppender in Log4j 1.2.x accepts SQL statements as configuration parameters, PatternLayout’s message converter does not filter the values entered in it. An attacker can manipulate the SQL by constructing special strings into the content of the logging application input, thereby implementing illegal SQL queries. Log4j is not affected by this vulnerability when was configured by default.

Vulnerability Detail

By design, the JDBCAppender in Log4j 1.2.x accepts an SQL statement as a configuration parameter where the values to be inserted are converters from PatternLayout. The message converter, %m, is likely to always be included. This allows attackers to manipulate the SQL by entering crafted strings into input fields or headers of an application that are logged allowing unintended SQL queries to be executed.

Apache has stopped maintaining Log4j 1.x in 2015. Please upgrade to Log4j 2 for security fixes. If the users are temporarily unable to perform the upgrade operation, the following measures can be used to temporarily mitigate the CVE-2022-23305 flaw:

Remove usage of JDBCAppender from Log4j’s configuration file

CVE-2022-23305: Apache Log4j V1 SQL injection vulnerability alert

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