Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios has released an emergency Minecraft security update to address a critical bug in the Apache Log4j Java logging library used by the game’s Java Edition client and multiplayer servers.
The vulnerability is fixed with the release of Minecraft: Java Edition 1.18.1, which is now rolling out to all customers.
“This release fixes a critical security issue for multiplayer servers, changes how the world fog works to make more of the world visible, and fixes a couple of other bugs,” the company said today.
“If you are running a multiplayer server, we highly encourage you to upgrade to this version as soon as possible.”
To upgrade to the patched version, those using Mojang’s official game client are advised to close all running game and Minecraft Launcher instances and restart the Launcher to install the patch automatically.
Gamers who use modified Minecraft clients and third-party launchers should reach out to their third-party providers for a security update.
Those hosting their own Minecraft: Java Edition servers will have to go through different steps depending on the version they’re using, as outlined here.