# CVE-2026-0992: Libxml2: libxml2: denial of service via crafted xml catalogs

> A remote attacker can cause denial of service in applications using libxml2 by supplying crafted XML catalogs that trigger excessive CPU consumption.

- **Severity:** Low 2.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 15 Jan 2026
- **Updated:** 1 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-74778, AZL-74783, BELL-CVE-2026-0992, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-0992, ECHO-6716-1c27-ca2e, GHSA-cjqj-7q2q-jx9c, JLSEC-2026-1239, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-0992

## What is CVE-2026-0992?

CVE-2026-0992 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in Ibm Aix, published on 15 Jan 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in the libxml2 library. This uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability occurs when processing XML catalogs that contain repeated <nextCatalog> elements pointing to the same downstream catalog. A remote attacker can exploit this by supplying crafted catalogs, causing the parser to redundantly traverse catalog chains. This leads to excessive CPU consumption and degrades application availability, resulting in a denial-of-service condition.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-0992?

It affects 7 products.


Products: Ibm Aix, Ibm Vios, Redhat Enterprise Linux, Redhat Hardened Images, Redhat Jboss Core Services, Redhat Openshift Container Platform, Xmlsoft Libxml2.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-0992?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-0992 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-0992 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-2026-0992 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-0992 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in Ibm Aix, published on 15 Jan 2026. 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-2026-0992 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-2026-0992/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-0992/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-0992
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-0992
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-0992

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-0992/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.