CVE-2025-12748: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
A flaw was discovered in libvirt in the XML file processing. More specifically, the parsing of user provided XML files was performed before the ACL checks. A malicious user with limited permissions could exploit this flaw by submitting a specially crafted XML file, causing libvirt to allocate too much memory on the host. The excessive memory consumption could lead to a libvirt process crash on the host, resulting in a denial-of-service condition.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
The vulnerability CVE-2025-12748 in libvirt arises from parsing user-supplied XML files prior to performing access control checks. A malicious user with limited permissions can exploit this flaw by submitting specially crafted XML, causing libvirt to allocate excessive memory on the host system. This excessive resource consumption may crash the libvirt process, resulting in denial of service. The issue affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (up to 9.8) and 10 (up to 10.2) versions. Red Hat has issued security advisories RHSA-2026:18326 and RHSA-2026:18748 providing updated libvirt packages that fix this issue.
Potential Impact
Exploitation of this vulnerability allows a user with limited privileges to cause excessive memory allocation on the host, leading to a crash of the libvirt process. This results in a denial-of-service condition affecting the virtualization management on the host. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity reported. The CVSS v3.1 score is 5.5, indicating a medium severity denial-of-service impact.
Mitigation Recommendations
Red Hat has released official security updates for libvirt that address CVE-2025-12748. Users should apply the updated libvirt packages provided in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.8 and 10.2 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Detailed update instructions are available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258. No additional mitigations are required once the update is applied.
CVE-2025-12748: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
Description
A flaw was discovered in libvirt in the XML file processing. More specifically, the parsing of user provided XML files was performed before the ACL checks. A malicious user with limited permissions could exploit this flaw by submitting a specially crafted XML file, causing libvirt to allocate too much memory on the host. The excessive memory consumption could lead to a libvirt process crash on the host, resulting in a denial-of-service condition.
CVSS v3.1
Score 5.5medium
Affected software
pkg:rpm/redhat/libvirtRun on your own infrastructure? Check whether these packages are installed with threat-finder — our free open-source scanner.
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The vulnerability CVE-2025-12748 in libvirt arises from parsing user-supplied XML files prior to performing access control checks. A malicious user with limited permissions can exploit this flaw by submitting specially crafted XML, causing libvirt to allocate excessive memory on the host system. This excessive resource consumption may crash the libvirt process, resulting in denial of service. The issue affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (up to 9.8) and 10 (up to 10.2) versions. Red Hat has issued security advisories RHSA-2026:18326 and RHSA-2026:18748 providing updated libvirt packages that fix this issue.
Potential Impact
Exploitation of this vulnerability allows a user with limited privileges to cause excessive memory allocation on the host, leading to a crash of the libvirt process. This results in a denial-of-service condition affecting the virtualization management on the host. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity reported. The CVSS v3.1 score is 5.5, indicating a medium severity denial-of-service impact.
Mitigation Recommendations
Red Hat has released official security updates for libvirt that address CVE-2025-12748. Users should apply the updated libvirt packages provided in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.8 and 10.2 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Detailed update instructions are available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258. No additional mitigations are required once the update is applied.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- redhat
- Date Reserved
- 2025-11-05T14:52:13.619Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Vendor Advisory Urls
- [{"url":"https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18748","vendor":"Red Hat"},{"url":"https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-12748","vendor":"Red Hat"}]
Threat ID: 6913946b553a74ed95f8eddc
Added to database: 11/11/2025, 19:54:19 UTC
Last enriched: 07/02/2026, 22:15:37 UTC
Last updated: 09/10/2026, 19:36:49 UTC
Views: 198
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