@babel/runtime provides modular runtime helpers for Babel, enabling the use of ES2015+ features in code while keeping the final bundle size smaller. Version 7.17.2 refines and builds upon the previous stable release, version 7.17.0. While both versions share the same core description, dependencies (regenerator-runtime ^0.13.4), license (MIT), repository, and author, subtle improvements have been made between the releases. Most notably, version 7.17.2 was released on February 8th, 2022, roughly a week after version 7.17.0.
A key difference that developers might find interesting relates to the packed size of the package. Version 7.17.2 unpacks to 170,106 bytes, a minuscule reduction from version 7.17.0's 170,214 bytes. Though the file count remains constant at 191, this minor size optimization suggests internal improvements or bug fixes. Given the focus on minimizing bundle size for web applications, even small reductions are valuable.
For developers currently using @babel/runtime, upgrading from 7.17.0 to 7.17.2 is recommended as the differences may encompass bug fixes, performance enhancements, or refined compatibility with other Babel packages. While there aren't any explicitly stated larger shifts, the update is considered a maintenance one.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 7.17.2 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.