@babel/runtime v7.10.2 represents a minor update to the popular Babel runtime library, following closely on the heels of v7.10.1. Both versions, designed to provide modular runtime helpers for Babel-transformed code, share a common foundation. They both depend on regenerator-runtime v0.13.4 and have @babel/helpers as a dev dependency at version 7.10.1. Crucially, both packages maintain the same file count of 165 and unpacked size of 99840.
The key difference lies in the release date: v7.10.2 was published on May 30, 2020, while v7.10.1 was released on May 27, 2020. While the high-level dependencies have not changed, the updated version signifies that the Babel team detected the need for an update.
Developers should consider upgrading to v7.10.2 when practical as it could include minor bug fixes or performance enhancements, or security patches if relevant. The nature of the change between the two version should be small. To fully understand the nature of the fix a developer needs to inspect the commit history of Babel between the specified dates. Staying up-to-date with the latest minor versions of actively maintained libraries like @babel/runtime is helpful to ensure a robust and optimized compilation process.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 7.10.2 of the package
Babel has inefficient RegExp complexity in generated code with .replace when transpiling named capturing groups
When using Babel to compile regular expression named capturing groups, Babel will generate a polyfill for the .replace method that has quadratic complexity on some specific replacement pattern strings (i.e. the second argument passed to .replace).
Your generated code is vulnerable if all the following conditions are true:
.replace method on a regular expression that contains named capturing groups.replaceIf you are using @babel/preset-env with the targets option, the transform that injects the vulnerable code is automatically enabled if:
You can verify what transforms @babel/preset-env is using by enabling the debug option.
This problem has been fixed in @babel/helpers and @babel/runtime 7.26.10 and 8.0.0-alpha.17, please upgrade. It's likely that you do not directly depend on @babel/helpers, and instead you depend on @babel/core (which itself depends on @babel/helpers). Upgrading to @babel/core 7.26.10 is not required, but it guarantees that you are on a new enough @babel/helpers version.
Please note that just updating your Babel dependencies is not enough: you will also need to re-compile your code.
If you are passing user-provided strings as the second argument of .replace on regular expressions that contain named capturing groups, validate the input and make sure it does not contain the substring $< if it's then not followed by > (possibly with other characters in between).
This vulnerability was reported and fixed in https://github.com/babel/babel/pull/17173.