Babel plugin transform async to generator, a crucial tool for developers targeting ES2015 environments, saw a subtle but significant update from version 6.7.0 to 6.7.4. Both versions serve the same core purpose: transforming asynchronous functions (async/await syntax) into ES2015 generator functions, ensuring compatibility with older JavaScript runtimes that don't natively support async/await.
However, the key difference lies in the release dates. Version 6.7.0 was released on March 9, 2016, while version 6.7.4 followed shortly after, on March 23, 2016. This short interval suggests that 6.7.4 likely includes bug fixes, performance improvements, or minor adjustments to the core transformation logic compared to 6.7.0.
For developers considering this plugin, both versions offer a reliable solution for bridging the gap between modern asynchronous JavaScript and legacy environments. The dependencies, including babel-helper-remap-async-to-generator, babel-plugin-syntax-async-functions, and babel-runtime, remain consistent, ensuring a smooth integration into existing Babel configurations. While the changelog for this specific point release isn't readily available from the data provided, opting for the newer 6.7.4 is typically recommended due to the inherent benefits of subsequent releases addressing potential issues found in the earlier version. This incremental update maintains the plugin's functionality while possibly enhancing stability and performance.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 6.7.4 of the package
Babel vulnerable to arbitrary code execution when compiling specifically crafted malicious code
Using Babel to compile code that was specifically crafted by an attacker can lead to arbitrary code execution during compilation, when using plugins that rely on the path.evaluate()or path.evaluateTruthy() internal Babel methods.
Known affected plugins are:
@babel/plugin-transform-runtime@babel/preset-env when using its useBuiltIns option@babel/helper-define-polyfill-provider, such as babel-plugin-polyfill-corejs3, babel-plugin-polyfill-corejs2, babel-plugin-polyfill-es-shims, babel-plugin-polyfill-regeneratorNo other plugins under the @babel/ namespace are impacted, but third-party plugins might be.
Users that only compile trusted code are not impacted.
The vulnerability has been fixed in @babel/traverse@7.23.2.
Babel 6 does not receive security fixes anymore (see Babel's security policy), hence there is no patch planned for babel-traverse@6.
@babel/traverse to v7.23.2 or higher. You can do this by deleting it from your package manager's lockfile and re-installing the dependencies. @babel/core >=7.23.2 will automatically pull in a non-vulnerable version.@babel/traverse and are using one of the affected packages mentioned above, upgrade them to their latest version to avoid triggering the vulnerable code path in affected @babel/traverse versions:
@babel/plugin-transform-runtime v7.23.2@babel/preset-env v7.23.2@babel/helper-define-polyfill-provider v0.4.3babel-plugin-polyfill-corejs2 v0.4.6babel-plugin-polyfill-corejs3 v0.8.5babel-plugin-polyfill-es-shims v0.10.0babel-plugin-polyfill-regenerator v0.5.3