@babel/runtime versions 7.19.0 and 7.18.9 provide Babel's modular runtime helpers, essential for running transformed code in environments that lack native support for newer JavaScript features. Both versions share the same core purpose and license (MIT), relying on regenerator-runtime for async/await functionality and are authored by the Babel team. The key difference lies in the details of the releases. Version 7.19.0, released on September 5, 2022, incorporates a few updates increasing the package's file count to 197 and unpacked size to 218413, in comparison with the previous stable release which had 193 files and 201106 unpacked size and was released on July 18, 2022. This suggests that v7.19.0 potentially includes new helper functions, bug fixes, or performance enhancements compared to v7.18.9. Developers using @babel/runtime should upgrade to the latest version (7.19.0) for the most up-to-date, optimized, and potentially bug-free experience. While the core functionality remains consistent, staying current ensures compatibility with the latest Babel transformations and avoids potential issues arising from older runtime implementations. While the changelog differences between these specific minor versions aren't explicitly detailed, the increase in file count and unpacked size hints at valuable underlying improvements that could benefit your projects. Consider carefully reviewing the changelogs and release notes around Babel 7.19.0 for a complete overview of the changes implemented.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 7.19.0 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.