I am trying to initialize log4j2 in my servlet application (apache-tomcat 9). I am getting a series of exceptions

2024-09-26T07:58:02.478967Z main ERROR Unable to create Lookup for bundle java.lang.ClassCastException: class org.apache.logging.log4j.core.lookup.ResourceBundleLookup
        at java.base/java.lang.Class.asSubclass(Class.java:3924)
2024-09-26T07:58:02.480089Z main ERROR Unable to create Lookup for ctx java.lang.ClassCastException: class org.apache.logging.log4j.core.lookup.ContextMapLookup
        at java.base/java.lang.Class.asSubclass(Class.java:3924)

With series of

2024-09-26T07:58:07.538777Z main ERROR Unrecognized format specifier [msg]
2024-09-26T07:58:07.538808Z main ERROR Unrecognized conversion specifier [msg] starting at position 54 in conversion pattern.
2024-09-26T07:58:07.538844Z main ERROR Unrecognized format specifier [n]
2024-09-26T07:58:07.538875Z main ERROR Unrecognized conversion specifier [n] starting at position 56 in conversion pattern.

In my code I have the log4j2.properties in this folder

src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/

This is my log4j2.properties content

# Set root logger level to DEBUG and its only appender to Console
log4j.rootLogger=DEBUG, Console

# Console appender configuration
log4j.appender.Console.type=Console
log4j.appender.Console.name=STDOUT
log4j.appender.Console.layout.type=PatternLayout
log4j.appender.Console.layout.pattern=%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss} [%t] %-5p %c{1} - %m%n



# Define appenders
appender.console.type = Console
appender.console.name = CONSOLE
appender.console.layout.type = PatternLayout
appender.console.layout.pattern = %highlight{%d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%t] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n}{FATAL=red, ERROR=red, WARN=yellow, INFO=green, DEBUG=blue}

appender.file.type = File
appender.file.name = FILE
appender.file.fileName = logs/application.log
appender.file.layout.type = PatternLayout
appender.file.layout.pattern = %d{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS} [%t] %-5level %logger{36} - %msg%n

# Define loggers
rootLogger.level = INFO
rootLogger.appenderRef.console.ref = CONSOLE
rootLogger.appenderRef.file.ref = FILE

logger.my.package.first.name = my.package.first
logger.my.package.first.level = DEBUG
logger.my.package.first.appenderRef.file.ref = FILE

logger.my.package.second.name = my.package.second
logger.my.package.second.level = DEBUG
logger.my.package.second.appenderRef.file.ref = FILE

My src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml has the following content

<listener>
        <listener-class>org.apache.logging.log4j.web.Log4jServletContextListener</listener-class>
    </listener>

    <context-param>
        <param-name>log4jConfiguration</param-name>
        <param-value>log4j2.properties</param-value>
    </context-param>

    <context-param>
        <param-name>log4j2.debug</param-name>
        <param-value>true</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>
        <param-name>log4j2.verbose</param-name>
        <param-value>true</param-value>
    </context-param>
    <context-param>
        <param-name>log4j.shutdownHookEnabled</param-name>
        <param-value>true</param-value>
    </context-param>

I have downloaded the following files and copied it to the tomcat/lib folder

• log4j-web-2.24.0
• log4j-core-2.24.0
• log4j-api-2.24.0
• log4j-jul-2.24.0

I have referred to many links on SO

• One link hinted that unable to find log4j2.properties file, so I copied log4j2.properties to lib, conf, webapps, webapps/myapp, webapps/myapp/classes folders and checked, no luck same error
• Other links hinted that content may in incorrect

What am I missing?

I wont be able to exclude the .dat file as per this link since the init is happening via web.xml