GitHub Advisoryadvisory · NuGet
GHSA-4f7c-pmjv-c25w Apache Log4net: Silent log event loss in XmlLayout and XmlLayoutSchemaLog4J due to unescaped XML 1.0 forbidden characters
MEDIUM
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-40021
- Ecosystem
- NuGet
- Packages
- log4net
- Severity
- Moderate
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
- Weaknesses
- CWE-116
- Reviewed
- 2026-04-14
Affected packages
• NuGet log4net: < 3.3.0 → fixed in 3.3.0
Description
Apache Log4net's XmlLayout https://logging.apache.org/log4net/manual/configuration/layouts.html#layout-list and XmlLayoutSchemaLog4J https://logging.apache.org/log4net/manual/configuration/layouts.html#layout-list , in versions before 3.3.0, fail to sanitize characters forbidden by the XML 1.0 specification https://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#charsets in MDC property keys and values, as well as the identity field that may carry attacker-influenced data. This causes an exception during serialization and the silent loss of the affected log event.
An attacker who can influence any of these fields can exploit this to suppress individual log records, impairing audit trails and detection of malicious activity.
Users are advised to upgrade to Apache Log4net 3.3.0, which fixes this issue.
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-40021 Apache Log4net's XmlLayout https://logging.apache.org/log4net/manual/configuration/layouts.html#layout-list and XmlLayoutSchemaLog4J… vulnerability
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-116 Improper Encoding or Escaping of Output weakness
References
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-40021 advisory
- https://github.com/apache/logging-log4net/pull/280 web
- https://github.com/apache/logging-log4net package
- https://lists.apache.org/thread/q8otftjswhk69n3kxslqg7cobr0x4st7 web
- https://logging.apache.org/cyclonedx/vdr.xml web
- https://logging.apache.org/log4net/manual/configuration/layouts.html web
- https://logging.apache.org/security.html#CVE-2026-40021 web
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/10/11 web