diff --git a/pyxis/test_upload_rpm_data.py b/pyxis/test_upload_rpm_data.py
index 56c7aae..ed7e1e4 100644
--- a/pyxis/test_upload_rpm_data.py
+++ b/pyxis/test_upload_rpm_data.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
     update_container_content_sets,
     load_sbom_packages,
     construct_rpm_items_and_content_sets,
+    get_purl_type,
 )
 
 GRAPHQL_API = "myapiurl"
@@ -458,3 +459,25 @@ def test_construct_rpm_items_and_content_sets__no_packages_result_in_empty_list(
 
     assert rpms == []
     assert content_sets == []
+
+
+def test_get_purl_type__rpm():
+    purl = (
+        "pkg:rpm/rhel/acl@2.3.1-4.el9?arch=x86_64&upstream=acl-2.3.1-4.el9.src.rpm"
+        "&distro=rhel-9.4&repository_id=myrepo3"
+    )
+
+    type = get_purl_type(purl)
+
+    assert type == "rpm"
+
+
+def test_get_purl_type__invalid_docker():
+    """This is an invalid purl that packageurl.PackageURL.from_string() would fail on,
+    but we can still get the type successfully.
+    """
+    purl = "pkg:github/docker:/#docker.mirror.hashicorp.services/rhysd/actionlint:latest"
+
+    type = get_purl_type(purl)
+
+    assert type == "github"
diff --git a/pyxis/test_upload_rpm_data_cyclonedx.py b/pyxis/test_upload_rpm_data_cyclonedx.py
index bdc4de4..a670aed 100644
--- a/pyxis/test_upload_rpm_data_cyclonedx.py
+++ b/pyxis/test_upload_rpm_data_cyclonedx.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
     load_sbom_components,
     check_bom_ref_duplicates,
     construct_rpm_items_and_content_sets,
+    get_purl_type,
 )
 
 GRAPHQL_API = "myapiurl"
@@ -435,3 +436,25 @@ def test_construct_rpm_items_and_content_sets__no_components_result_in_empty_lis
 
     assert rpms == []
     assert content_sets == []
+
+
+def test_get_purl_type__rpm():
+    purl = (
+        "pkg:rpm/rhel/acl@2.3.1-4.el9?arch=x86_64&upstream=acl-2.3.1-4.el9.src.rpm"
+        "&distro=rhel-9.4&repository_id=myrepo3"
+    )
+
+    type = get_purl_type(purl)
+
+    assert type == "rpm"
+
+
+def test_get_purl_type__invalid_docker():
+    """This is an invalid purl that packageurl.PackageURL.from_string() would fail on,
+    but we can still get the type successfully.
+    """
+    purl = "pkg:github/docker:/#docker.mirror.hashicorp.services/rhysd/actionlint:latest"
+
+    type = get_purl_type(purl)
+
+    assert type == "github"
diff --git a/pyxis/upload_rpm_data.py b/pyxis/upload_rpm_data.py
index 6a4e216..e246163 100755
--- a/pyxis/upload_rpm_data.py
+++ b/pyxis/upload_rpm_data.py
@@ -235,9 +235,10 @@ def construct_rpm_items_and_content_sets(
         for externalRef in package.get("externalRefs", []):
             if externalRef.get("referenceType") != "purl":
                 continue
-            purl_dict = PackageURL.from_string(externalRef["referenceLocator"]).to_dict()
-            if purl_dict["type"] != "rpm":
+            type = get_purl_type(externalRef["referenceLocator"])
+            if type != "rpm":
                 continue
+            purl_dict = PackageURL.from_string(externalRef["referenceLocator"]).to_dict()
             if purl_dict["name"] in IGNORED_PACKAGES:
                 continue
             rpm_item = {
@@ -271,6 +272,34 @@ def construct_rpm_items_and_content_sets(
     return rpms_items, sorted(content_sets)
 
 
+def get_purl_type(purl: str):
+    """
+    Return purl type parsed from a purl string.
+
+    Copied and adapted from packageurl package. The reason we need this function
+    and cannot simply use the type component of
+    packageurl.PackageURL.from_string(purl) is that there can be invalid non-rpm
+    purls generated by syft. By getting just the type first and skipping those
+    purls, we avoid failing on those invalid purls.
+
+    Raise ValueError on errors.
+    """
+    scheme, sep, remainder = purl.partition(":")
+    if not sep or scheme != "pkg":
+        raise ValueError(f'purl is missing the required "pkg" scheme component: {repr(purl)}.')
+
+    # this strip '/, // and /// as possible in :// or :///
+    remainder = remainder.strip().lstrip("/")
+
+    type, sep, remainder = remainder.partition("/")  # NOQA
+    if not type or not sep:
+        raise ValueError(f"purl is missing the required type component: {repr(purl)}.")
+
+    type = type.lower()
+
+    return type
+
+
 def main():  # pragma: no cover
     """Main func"""
     args = parse_arguments()
diff --git a/pyxis/upload_rpm_data_cyclonedx.py b/pyxis/upload_rpm_data_cyclonedx.py
index 5c33fc0..9edca68 100755
--- a/pyxis/upload_rpm_data_cyclonedx.py
+++ b/pyxis/upload_rpm_data_cyclonedx.py
@@ -257,8 +257,9 @@ def construct_rpm_items_and_content_sets(
     content_sets = set()
     for component in components:
         if "purl" in component:
-            purl_dict = PackageURL.from_string(component["purl"]).to_dict()
-            if purl_dict["type"] == "rpm":
+            type = get_purl_type(component["purl"])
+            if type == "rpm":
+                purl_dict = PackageURL.from_string(component["purl"]).to_dict()
                 if purl_dict["name"] in IGNORED_PACKAGES:
                     continue
                 rpm_item = {
@@ -292,6 +293,34 @@ def construct_rpm_items_and_content_sets(
     return rpms_items, sorted(content_sets)
 
 
+def get_purl_type(purl: str):
+    """
+    Return purl type parsed from a purl string.
+
+    Copied and adapted from packageurl package. The reason we need this function
+    and cannot simply use the type component of
+    packageurl.PackageURL.from_string(purl) is that there can be invalid non-rpm
+    purls generated by syft. By getting just the type first and skipping those
+    purls, we avoid failing on those invalid purls.
+
+    Raise ValueError on errors.
+    """
+    scheme, sep, remainder = purl.partition(":")
+    if not sep or scheme != "pkg":
+        raise ValueError(f'purl is missing the required "pkg" scheme component: {repr(purl)}.')
+
+    # this strip '/, // and /// as possible in :// or :///
+    remainder = remainder.strip().lstrip("/")
+
+    type, sep, remainder = remainder.partition("/")  # NOQA
+    if not type or not sep:
+        raise ValueError(f"purl is missing the required type component: {repr(purl)}.")
+
+    type = type.lower()
+
+    return type
+
+
 def main():  # pragma: no cover
     """Main func"""
     args = parse_arguments()