diff --git a/log4j-1.2-api/src/main/java/org/apache/log4j/xml/XmlConfiguration.java b/log4j-1.2-api/src/main/java/org/apache/log4j/xml/XmlConfiguration.java
index e11e8c47673..d05ac6a97b2 100644
--- a/log4j-1.2-api/src/main/java/org/apache/log4j/xml/XmlConfiguration.java
+++ b/log4j-1.2-api/src/main/java/org/apache/log4j/xml/XmlConfiguration.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder;
 import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
 import javax.xml.parsers.FactoryConfigurationError;
+import javax.xml.parsers.ParserConfigurationException;
 import org.apache.log4j.Appender;
 import org.apache.log4j.Layout;
 import org.apache.log4j.Level;
@@ -162,7 +163,7 @@ private void doConfigure(final ParseAction action) throws FactoryConfigurationEr
         }
 
         try {
-            dbf.setValidating(true);
+            disableDtdProcessing(dbf);
 
             final DocumentBuilder docBuilder = dbf.newDocumentBuilder();
 
@@ -180,6 +181,27 @@ private void doConfigure(final ParseAction action) throws FactoryConfigurationEr
         }
     }
 
+    private static void disableDtdProcessing(final DocumentBuilderFactory factory) {
+        factory.setValidating(false);
+        factory.setExpandEntityReferences(false);
+        setFeature(factory, "http://xml.org/sax/features/external-general-entities", false);
+        setFeature(factory, "http://xml.org/sax/features/external-parameter-entities", false);
+        setFeature(factory, "http://apache.org/xml/features/nonvalidating/load-external-dtd", false);
+    }
+
+    private static void setFeature(
+            final DocumentBuilderFactory factory, final String featureName, final boolean value) {
+        try {
+            factory.setFeature(featureName, value);
+        } catch (final ParserConfigurationException e) {
+            LOGGER.warn(
+                    "The DocumentBuilderFactory [{}] does not support the feature [{}]: {}", factory, featureName, e);
+        } catch (final AbstractMethodError err) {
+            LOGGER.warn(
+                    "The DocumentBuilderFactory [{}] is out of date and does not support setFeature: {}", factory, err);
+        }
+    }
+
     @Override
     public Configuration reconfigure() {
         try {
diff --git a/log4j-1.2-api/src/test/java/org/apache/log4j/config/XmlConfigurationXxeTest.java b/log4j-1.2-api/src/test/java/org/apache/log4j/config/XmlConfigurationXxeTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f02761d91d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/log4j-1.2-api/src/test/java/org/apache/log4j/config/XmlConfigurationXxeTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.log4j.config;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
+
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import org.apache.log4j.xml.XmlConfigurationFactory;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.LoggerContext;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.Configuration;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.config.ConfigurationSource;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
+
+/**
+ * Checks that the Log4j 1.x XML configuration reader does not resolve external entities.
+ */
+class XmlConfigurationXxeTest {
+
+    @Test
+    void doesNotResolveExternalEntities(@TempDir final Path tempDir) throws Exception {
+        // If the external entity is resolved, its replacement text injects this logger into the configuration.
+        final Path injected = tempDir.resolve("injected.xml");
+        Files.write(injected, "<logger name=\"xxe-injected\"></logger>".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+
+        final Path configFile = tempDir.resolve("log4j1-xxe.xml");
+        final String xml = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n"
+                + "<!DOCTYPE log4j:configuration SYSTEM \"log4j.dtd\" [\n"
+                + "  <!ENTITY xxe SYSTEM \"" + injected.toUri() + "\">\n"
+                + "]>\n"
+                + "<log4j:configuration xmlns:log4j=\"http://jakarta.apache.org/log4j/\">\n"
+                + "  <appender name=\"console\" class=\"org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender\">\n"
+                + "    <layout class=\"org.apache.log4j.SimpleLayout\"/>\n"
+                + "  </appender>\n"
+                + "  &xxe;\n"
+                + "  <root>\n"
+                + "    <priority value=\"debug\"/>\n"
+                + "    <appender-ref ref=\"console\"/>\n"
+                + "  </root>\n"
+                + "</log4j:configuration>\n";
+        Files.write(configFile, xml.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+
+        final ConfigurationSource source = new ConfigurationSource(Files.newInputStream(configFile), configFile);
+        final LoggerContext context = LoggerContext.getContext(false);
+        final Configuration configuration = new XmlConfigurationFactory().getConfiguration(context, source);
+        assertNotNull(configuration, "No configuration created");
+        configuration.initialize();
+
+        assertFalse(
+                configuration.getLoggers().containsKey("xxe-injected"),
+                "External entity was resolved; the parser must not process external entities");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/changelog/.2.x.x/fix_log4j1_xml_configuration_xxe.xml b/src/changelog/.2.x.x/fix_log4j1_xml_configuration_xxe.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..14757162250
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/changelog/.2.x.x/fix_log4j1_xml_configuration_xxe.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<entry xmlns="https://logging.apache.org/xml/ns"
+       xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+       xsi:schemaLocation="
+           https://logging.apache.org/xml/ns
+           https://logging.apache.org/xml/ns/log4j-changelog-0.xsd"
+       type="fixed">
+  <issue id="4198" link="https://github.com/apache/logging-log4j2/pull/4198"/>
+  <description format="asciidoc">
+    Disable external entity resolution in the Log4j 1.x `XmlConfiguration` XML reader
+  </description>
+</entry>