Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Log4jGHSA-2qrg-x229-3v8q
CRITICALGHSA-2qrg-x229-3v8q is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in log4j:log4j. 5 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-2qrg-x229-3v8q.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-2qrg-x229-3v8q by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). In the shaded patch-first corner (EPSS 50%+, CVSS 7.0+).
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,987 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 50–90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
log4j:log4j☕org.zenframework.z8.dependencies.commons:log4j-1.2.17Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Included in Log4j 1.2 is a SocketServer class that is vulnerable to deserialization of untrusted data which can be exploited to remotely execute arbitrary code when combined with a deserialization gadget when listening to untrusted network traffic for log data. This affects Log4j versions 1.2 up to 1.2.17.
Users are advised to migrate to org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j-core.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | log4j:log4j | ≥ 1.2 | No fix |
| ☕Maven | org.zenframework.z8.dependencies.commons:log4j-1.2.17 | all versions | No fix |
Affected Products
bookkeeperapachelog4japacheubuntu linuxcanonicaldebian linuxdebianoncommand system managernetapponcommand workflow automationnetappResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for log4j:log4j, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
No patched version of log4j:log4j has shipped for GHSA-2qrg-x229-3v8q yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This is the same issue as CVE-2017-5645. MITRE has CVE-2017-5645 to a similar flaw found in log4j-2.x. The flaw found in log4j-1.2 has been assigned CVE-2019-17571. CVE-2019-17571 has been addressed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux via RHSA-2017:2423. Also the rh-java-common-log4j package shipped with Red Hat Software…
Please note that the Log4j upstream strongly recommends against using the SerializedLayout with the SocketAppenders. Customers may mitigate this issue by removing the SocketServer class outright; or if they must continue to use SocketAppenders, they can modify their SocketAppender configuration from SerializedLayout to use JsonLayout instead. An example of this in log4j-server.properties might look like this: log4j.appender.file.layout=org.apache.log4j.JsonLayoutSource: Red Hat security advisory for GHSA-2qrg-x229-3v8q (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Extended Lifecycle Support | log4j-0:1.2.14-6.7.el6_10 | RHSA-2022:5053 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | log4j-0:1.2.17-16.el7_4 | RHSA-2017:2423 |
| Red Hat Fuse 7.3.1 | see advisory | RHSA-2019:1545 |
| Red Hat JBoss BPMS 6.4 | see advisory | RHSA-2017:2889 |
| Red Hat JBoss BRMS 6.4 | see advisory | RHSA-2017:2888 |
| Red Hat JBoss Data Grid 7.1 | see advisory | RHSA-2017:3244 |
| Red Hat JBoss Data Virtualization 6.4.8.SP1 | see advisory | RHSA-2022:0497 |
| Red Hat JBoss Data Virtualization 6.4.8.SP2 | see advisory | RHSA-2022:0507 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-2qrg-x229-3v8q in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.