org.apache.logging.log4j.core.impl.Log4jContextFactory.getContext throws NPE

Hi, log4j community.

Our application failed to start up due to the following error

Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
	at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.impl.Log4jContextFactory.getContext(Log4jContextFactory.java:144)
~[log4j-core-2.5.jar:2.5]
	at org.apache.logging.log4j.core.impl.Log4jContextFactory.getContext(Log4jContextFactory.java:41)
~[log4j-core-2.5.jar:2.5]
	at org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager.getContext(LogManager.java:182)
~[log4j-api-2.5.jar:2.5]
	at org.apache.logging.log4j.spi.AbstractLoggerAdapter.getContext(AbstractLoggerAdapter.java:103)
~[log4j-api-2.5.jar:2.5]
	at org.apache.logging.log4j.jul.AbstractLoggerAdapter.getContext(AbstractLoggerAdapter.java:34)
~[log4j-jul-2.5.jar:2.5]
	at org.apache.logging.log4j.spi.AbstractLoggerAdapter.getLogger(AbstractLoggerAdapter.java:42)
~[log4j-api-2.5.jar:2.5]
	at org.apache.logging.log4j.jul.LogManager.getLogger(LogManager.java:89)
~[log4j-jul-2.5.jar:2.5]
	at java.util.logging.LogManager.demandLogger(LogManager.java:551)
~[?:1.8.0_171]
	at java.util.logging.Logger.demandLogger(Logger.java:455) ~[?:1.8.0_171]
	at java.util.logging.Logger.getLogger(Logger.java:502) ~[?:1.8.0_171]
	at com.google.inject.internal.util.Stopwatch.<clinit>(Stopwatch.java:27)
~[guice-4.1.0.jar:?]
	... 18 more

We are using log4j-2.5, line#140 in the code snippet below `ctx` is
returned as `null`, line#144 throws out the NPE.

Diving into selector implementation, it seems that all kinds of
selectors are trying to ensure no-null value is returned, so how could
this happen?

137    @Override
138    public LoggerContext getContext(final String fqcn, final
ClassLoader loader, final Object externalContext,
139                                    final boolean currentContext) {
140        final LoggerContext ctx = selector.getContext(fqcn, loader,
currentContext);
141        if (externalContext != null && ctx.getExternalContext() == null) {
142            ctx.setExternalContext(externalContext);
143        }
144        if (ctx.getState() == LifeCycle.State.INITIALIZED) {
145            ctx.start();
146        }
147        return ctx;
148    }


Could anyone help?

Thanks % Best Regards.