CVE-2025-12084 | Quadratic complexity in node ID cache clearing

When building nested elements using xml.dom.minidom methods such as appendChild() that have a dependency on _clear_id_cache() the algorithm is quadratic. Availability can be impacted when building excessively nested documents.

Published: 2025-12-03 Last update: 2026-01-26 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-12084 is rated Low Risk (36.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.13%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-12084

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-01 0.17% 0.13% -0.04%
2 2026-05-27 0.14% 0.17% +0.03%
3 2026-05-23 0.14%

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-12084

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.3 4.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:P)
Additional preconditions must be present for exploitation.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:N)
No user interaction is required.
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:N)
No confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:N)
No integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:L)
Limited availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:N)
No confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:N)
No integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:N)
No availability impact on subsequent systems.
Exploit maturity (threat) (E:X)
Not defined: no reliable threat intelligence; scoring assumes the worst case (equivalent to Attacked).
Confidentiality requirement (CR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Integrity requirement (IR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Availability requirement (AR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Modified attack vector (MAV:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Vector (AV).
Modified attack complexity (MAC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Complexity (AC).
Modified attack requirements (MAT:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Requirements (AT).
Modified privileges required (MPR:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Privileges Required (PR).
Modified user interaction (MUI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base User Interaction (UI).
Modified vulnerable system confidentiality impact (MVC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VC metric.
Modified vulnerable system integrity impact (MVI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VI metric.
Modified vulnerable system availability impact (MVA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VA metric.
Modified subsequent system confidentiality impact (MSC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SC metric.
Modified subsequent system integrity impact (MSI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SI metric.
Modified subsequent system availability impact (MSA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SA metric.
Safety (supplemental) (S:X)
Not evaluated.
Automatable (supplemental) (AU:X)
Not evaluated.
Recovery (supplemental) (R:X)
Not evaluated.
Value density (supplemental) (V:X)
Not evaluated.
Vulnerability response effort (supplemental) (RE:X)
Not evaluated.
Provider urgency (supplemental) (U:X)
Not evaluated.
[email protected]
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
3.9 1.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-12084

OS Trackers for CVE-2025-12084

vendor priority summary link
debian end-of-life CVE-2025-12084 end-of-life priority: Debian including 7 source packages (jython, pypy3, …), 18 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 9, resolved 9. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2025-12084
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-12084
suse medium https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-12084/
ubuntu medium CVE-2025-12084 medium priority: Ubuntu including 14 source packages (jython, pypy3, …), 86 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 41, needs-triage 22, released 20, ignored 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2025-12084

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-12084

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
python python < 3.13.11 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 3.14.0, < 3.14.2 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.15.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.15.0:alpha1:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python 3.15.0 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.15.0:alpha2:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-12084

URL Tags
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/027f21e417b26eed4505ac2db101a4352b7c51a0 Patch
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/08d8e18ad81cd45bc4a27d6da478b51ea49486e4 Patch
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/27648a1818749ef44c420afe6173af6868715437
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/41f468786762348960486c166833a218a0a436af
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/57937a8e5e293f0dcba5115f7b7a11b1e0c9a273
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/8d2d7bb2e754f8649a68ce4116271a4932f76907
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/9c9dda6625a2a90d2a06c657eee021d6be19842d
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/a46c10ec9d4050ab67b8a932e0859a2ea60c3cb8
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/a696ba8b4d42fd632afc9bc88ad830a2e4cceed8
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/c97e87593063d84a2bd9fe7068b30eb44de23dc0
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/ddcd2acd85d891a53e281c773b3093f9db953964 Patch
https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/e91c11449cad34bac3ea55ee09ca557691d92b53
https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/142145 Issue Tracking Patch
https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/142146 Issue Tracking Patch
cvelogic Threat Intelligence