Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Simulating, Detecting, and Responding to Log4Shell with Splunk

For more information on how to respond to the Log4j vulnerabilities using Splunk products, please see our Log4Shell response overview page. Like most cybersecurity teams, the Splunk Threat Research Team (STRT) has been heads-down attempting to understand, simulate, and detect the Log4j attack vector. This post shares detection opportunities STRT found in different stages of successful Log4Shell exploitation.

How Kroll is Handling CVE-2021-44228 (Log4J / Log4Shell)

A critical vulnerability has been recently discovered in the Apache Log4j Java logging library (CVE-2021-44228), a library used in many client and server applications. The Log4j library is commonly included in Java based software including multiple Apache frameworks such as Struts2, Solr, Druid and Fink. The library provides enhanced logging functionality for Java applications and is commonly used in business system development.

What has the Log4shell vulnerability taught us about application security?

A week ago, we had no idea what Log4shell was. Today, we have the global developer community coming together to keep itself safe from a vulnerability that ranks the highest in terms of risk. We need technical solutions, but what does it mean for the landscape of application security, and what have we learned from this situation?

LOG4J security vulnerability (Log4Shell)

On Nov. 24th 2021 a severe security vulnerability, called “Log4Shell”, has been reported in the JAVA framework “Log4J” 2.x which is widely used for event logging in JAVA applications worldwide. The vulnerability allows cyber-attackers to execute arbitrary code by injecting it into a logging process implemented in Log4J. The “Log4Shell” vulnerability allows complete server takeover by the attackers.

Exploiting and Mitigating CVE-2021-44228: Log4j Remote Code Execution (RCE)

A new critical vulnerability has been found in log4j, a widely-used open-source utility used to generate logs inside java applications. The vulnerability CVE-2021-44228, also known as Log4Shell, permits a Remote Code Execution (RCE) allowing the attackers to execute arbitrary code on the host. The log4j utility is popular and used by a huge number of applications and companies, including the famous game Minecraft. It is also used in various Apache frameworks like Struts2, Kafka, Druid, Flink, and many commercial products.