# CVE-2025-8732: libxml2 xmlcatalog xmlParseSGMLCatalog recursion

> Local attackers can cause denial of service via uncontrolled recursion in libxml2's SGML catalog parser, though exploitation requires untrusted catalogs.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.8 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 8 Aug 2025
- **Updated:** 2 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-66204, AZL-66224, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-8732, ECHO-7574-128e-f428, GHSA-vr42-4x2q-392x, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-8732

## What is CVE-2025-8732?

CVE-2025-8732 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Ibm Aix, published on 8 Aug 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A vulnerability was found in libxml2 up to 2.14.5. It has been declared as problematic. This vulnerability affects the function xmlParseSGMLCatalog of the component xmlcatalog. The manipulation leads to uncontrolled recursion. Attacking locally is a requirement. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. The real existence of this vulnerability is still doubted at the moment. The code maintainer explains, that "[t]he issue can only be triggered with untrusted SGML catalogs and it makes absolutely no sense to use untrusted catalogs. I also doubt that anyone is still using SGML catalogs at all."

Weakness: CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion), CWE-404 (Improper Resource Shutdown or Release)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-8732?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Ibm Aix, Ibm Vios, Siemens Ruggedcom Rst2428p Firmware, Xmlsoft Libxml2.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-8732?

No fix published yet.

## Is CVE-2025-8732 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-8732 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Ibm Aix

- [CVE-2025-36250](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-36250/): AIX Code Execution (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2024-56346](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56346/): IBM AIX command execution (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2010-3187](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-3187/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-3699](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3699/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-3517](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3517/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-8732 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-8732 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Ibm Aix, published on 8 Aug 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-8732 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Ibm Aix. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-8732/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-8732/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-8732
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-8732
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-8732

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-8732/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.