Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output in Apache Log4j - CVE-2026-34480

 

Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output in Apache Log4j - CVE-2026-34480

Published: April 28, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU128402
CSH Severity: Medium
CVSS v4: 6.9 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-34480
CWE-ID: CWE-116
Exploitation vector: Remote access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available

Vulnerability details

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to cause log event loss.

The vulnerability exists due to improper output neutralization in XmlLayout when processing log messages or MDC values containing XML 1.0 forbidden characters. A remote attacker can supply crafted input containing forbidden characters to cause log event loss.

The impact depends on the StAX implementation in use: built-in JRE StAX may produce malformed XML that downstream parsers reject, while alternative implementations may throw an exception during the logging call so the event is delivered only to Log4j's internal status logger.


Affected software

Apache Log4j
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15
Basesystem Module
PowerVM NovaLink
Storage Protect for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for VMware
Storage Protect for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for Hyper-V
Integration Bus for z/OS
ApplinX
watsonx Orchestrate with watsonx Assistant Cartridge - Assistant Builder Component
watsonx Assistant Cartridge
Maximo Scheduler Optimizer
IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager (GKLM)
IBM Sterling Connect:Direct Web Services
Netcool/OMNIbus
IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus WebGUI
IBM SPSS Collaboration and Deployment Services
IBM SPSS Modeler
IBM Decision Optimization for Cloud Pak for Data
IBM License Metric Tool
JBoss Data Grid
IBM DB2
IBM InfoSphere Information Server
IBM App Connect Enterprise
IBM Disconnected Log Collector
log4j-javadoc
log4j-slf4j
log4j
log4j-jcl

How to mitigate CVE-2026-34480

Install security update from vendor's website.

Apache Log4j - update to 2.25.4
PowerVM NovaLink - addressed in versions 2.2.1.1, 2.3.3
IBM Security Guardium Key Lifecycle Manager (GKLM) - addressed in versions 5.0.0 FP3, 5.1.0 FP2
IBM Sterling Connect:Direct Web Services - addressed in versions 6.3.0.19, 6.4.0.8
Storage Protect for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for VMware - update to 8.2.2.0
Netcool/OMNIbus - update to 8.1.0.37
Storage Protect for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for Hyper-V - update to 8.2.2.0
IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus WebGUI - update to 8.1.0.41
IBM License Metric Tool - update to 9.2.44
IBM InfoSphere Information Server - update to 11.7.1.6 Service pack 3
IBM App Connect Enterprise - addressed in versions 12.0.12.26, 13.0.7.2
IBM Disconnected Log Collector - update to 2.0.1
log4j-javadoc - update to 2.20.0-150200.4.33.1
log4j-slf4j - update to 2.20.0-150200.4.33.1
log4j - update to 2.20.0-150200.4.33.1
log4j-jcl - update to 2.20.0-150200.4.33.1
IBM Decision Optimization for Cloud Pak for Data - update to 5.3.1 patch 6
watsonx Orchestrate with watsonx Assistant Cartridge - Assistant Builder Component - update to 5.4
watsonx Assistant Cartridge - update to 5.4
JBoss Data Grid - update to 8.6.1
Maximo Scheduler Optimizer - addressed in versions 9.0.25, 9.1.14, 9.2.1

External References

Related Security Bulletins