@babel/runtime version 7.18.9 is a minor update to Babel's modular runtime helpers, building upon the previous stable version 7.18.6. Both versions share the same core functionality, providing essential polyfills and utilities to enable modern JavaScript features in older environments. They both depend on regenerator-runtime version ^0.13.4, ensuring compatibility with asynchronous functions and generators. The package description and license (MIT) remains consistent, as does the repository location on GitHub where the Babel team actively develops and maintains the code.
While the fileCount (193) and unpackedSize (201106) are also identical, indicating no significant changes to the included files, the key difference lies in the releaseDate. Version 7.18.9 was released on July 18, 2022, whereas version 7.18.6 was released on June 27, 2022. This three-week gap implies that version 7.18.9 likely contains bug fixes, performance improvements, or minor compatibility adjustments accumulated since the prior release.
For developers using @babel/runtime, upgrading from 7.18.6 to 7.18.9 is recommended to benefit from the latest refinements and ensure optimal compatibility with a wider range of JavaScript features and target environments. While the changes might be subtle, staying up-to-date with minor version updates is a good practice for maintaining a robust and well-supported codebase. Developers should consult the Babel changelog for a detailed breakdown of the specific changes included in this release.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 7.18.9 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.