Babel-core versions 5.4.0 and 5.3.3 are both significant releases of a tool essential for modern JavaScript development, designed to transform ES6+ code into ES5 compatible JavaScript, ensuring broader browser support. Both iterations share the same core functionality: turning next-generation JavaScript into readable, vanilla ES5, complete with source maps for easier debugging. A key element of their shared architecture is a rich set of dependencies. These packages tackle various crucial jobs, from JSX parsing (acorn-jsx) and AST manipulation (ast-types, estraverse) to polyfilling core functionalities (core-js) and generating source maps (convert-source-map, source-map).
Examining the metadata, the primary distinction between these releases lies merely in the very minor point release versions and the release dates. Version 5.4.0 was published a day after 5.3.3. Given identical dependency and devDependency listings, the update seems to represent very minor bug fixes or internal improvements rather than significant functional enhancements.
For developers, both versions provide a robust and well-tested solution for transpiling JavaScript. The extensive dependency list reflects the complex nature of modern JavaScript compilation with very minor improvements from one version to another. When deciding between these versions, developers should consider that the newest one includes the latest minor bug fixes and is more likely to be compatible with the newest tooling released on the market.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 5.4.0 of the package
Prototype Pollution in lodash
Versions of lodash before 4.17.12 are vulnerable to Prototype Pollution. The function defaultsDeep allows a malicious user to modify the prototype of Object via {constructor: {prototype: {...}}} causing the addition or modification of an existing property that will exist on all objects.
Update to version 4.17.12 or later.
Prototype Pollution in lodash
Versions of lodash before 4.17.5 are vulnerable to prototype pollution.
The vulnerable functions are 'defaultsDeep', 'merge', and 'mergeWith' which allow a malicious user to modify the prototype of Object via __proto__ causing the addition or modification of an existing property that will exist on all objects.
Update to version 4.17.5 or later.
Prototype Pollution in lodash
Versions of lodash before 4.17.11 are vulnerable to prototype pollution.
The vulnerable functions are 'defaultsDeep', 'merge', and 'mergeWith' which allow a malicious user to modify the prototype of Object via {constructor: {prototype: {...}}} causing the addition or modification of an existing property that will exist on all objects.
Update to version 4.17.11 or later.
Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in lodash
lodash prior to 4.7.11 is affected by: CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. The impact is: Denial of service. The component is: Date handler. The attack vector is: Attacker provides very long strings, which the library attempts to match using a regular expression. The fixed version is: 4.7.11.
Prototype Pollution in lodash
Versions of lodash prior to 4.17.19 are vulnerable to Prototype Pollution. The functions pick, set, setWith, update, updateWith, and zipObjectDeep allow a malicious user to modify the prototype of Object if the property identifiers are user-supplied. Being affected by this issue requires manipulating objects based on user-provided property values or arrays.
This vulnerability causes the addition or modification of an existing property that will exist on all objects and may lead to Denial of Service or Code Execution under specific circumstances.
Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in lodash
All versions of package lodash prior to 4.17.21 are vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) via the toNumber, trim and trimEnd functions.
Steps to reproduce (provided by reporter Liyuan Chen):
var lo = require('lodash');
function build_blank(n) {
var ret = "1"
for (var i = 0; i < n; i++) {
ret += " "
}
return ret + "1";
}
var s = build_blank(50000) var time0 = Date.now();
lo.trim(s)
var time_cost0 = Date.now() - time0;
console.log("time_cost0: " + time_cost0);
var time1 = Date.now();
lo.toNumber(s) var time_cost1 = Date.now() - time1;
console.log("time_cost1: " + time_cost1);
var time2 = Date.now();
lo.trimEnd(s);
var time_cost2 = Date.now() - time2;
console.log("time_cost2: " + time_cost2);
Command Injection in lodash
lodash versions prior to 4.17.21 are vulnerable to Command Injection via the template function.
Regular Expression Denial of Service in minimatch
Affected versions of minimatch are vulnerable to regular expression denial of service attacks when user input is passed into the pattern argument of minimatch(path, pattern).
var minimatch = require(“minimatch”);
// utility function for generating long strings
var genstr = function (len, chr) {
var result = “”;
for (i=0; i<=len; i++) {
result = result + chr;
}
return result;
}
var exploit = “[!” + genstr(1000000, “\\”) + “A”;
// minimatch exploit.
console.log(“starting minimatch”);
minimatch(“foo”, exploit);
console.log(“finishing minimatch”);
Update to version 3.0.2 or later.
minimatch ReDoS vulnerability
A vulnerability was found in the minimatch package. This flaw allows a Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) when calling the braceExpand function with specific arguments, resulting in a Denial of Service.