Quote

The problem is caused by a couple of bugs in the latest version of
XML::SAX (see also http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bug.html?id=15891 ).
...
XML::SAX::PurePerl is not the best choice for a system default parser.
Installing another SAX parser (e.g.: XML::SAX::Expat or
XML::SAX::ExpatXS) would change the system default and also workaround
the XML::Simple installation issues.