Babel plugin transform ES2015 modules to CommonJS versions 6.3.16 and 6.3.13 offer similar functionality converting ES2015 module syntax into the widely supported CommonJS format, crucial for ensuring compatibility across diverse JavaScript environments, especially Node.js. Both versions share identical dependencies including babel-types, babel-runtime, babel-template, and babel-plugin-transform-strict-mode, indicating a consistent core functionality centered around module transformation and strict mode enforcement. The development dependencies also remain the same, utilizing babel-helper-plugin-test-runner for robust testing. This suggests that the underlying testing methodology and helper utilities are consistent across these releases.
The key distinction lies in their release dates. Version 6.3.16 was released on December 9, 2015, subsequent to version 6.3.13 released on December 4, 2015. This implies that version 6.3.16 likely incorporates bug fixes, minor enhancements, or performance improvements addressed in the interim five days. While the specific nature of these changes isn't explicitly detailed in the provided metadata, developers should generally opt for the newer version (6.3.16) to benefit from the latest refinements and ensure optimal stability and reliability in their Babel-powered workflows. Both versions remain valuable tools for bridging the gap between modern JavaScript syntax and older environments, facilitating seamless module interoperability within CommonJS-based systems.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 6.3.16 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