The cookie npm package, designed for parsing and serializing HTTP cookies in Node.js environments, saw a minor version bump from 0.0.3 to 0.0.4 in June 2012. While both versions share the same core functionality, description, lack of hard dependencies, and developer dependencies on Mocha for testing, discerning the precise differences between them requires looking deeper into the code changes that aren't reflected in the package metadata.
For developers leveraging this library, the primary purpose remains consistent across both versions: efficiently handling HTTP cookie manipulation. Both versions offer functionalities for parsing raw Cookie headers into JavaScript objects and serializing cookie attributes into headers suitable for sending in HTTP responses. The consistent use of Mocha for testing suggests a dedication to code quality and reliability in both releases.
Given that both versions were released within a short timeframe, any changes are likely to be refined bug fixes or incremental improvements to parsing and serialization algorithms to handle edge cases, rather than substantial feature additions. Before choosing a version, developers should review the code diff between these versions from the GitHub repository to understand the changes and impact of the bug fixes and enhancements that exist between the 2 versions. This will help with making informed decisions regarding production code. Overall the package provides a consistent baseline for a simple API to parse and serialize cookies based on web standards.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 0.0.4 of the package
cookie accepts cookie name, path, and domain with out of bounds characters
The cookie name could be used to set other fields of the cookie, resulting in an unexpected cookie value. For example, serialize("userName=<script>alert('XSS3')</script>; Max-Age=2592000; a", value) would result in "userName=<script>alert('XSS3')</script>; Max-Age=2592000; a=test", setting userName cookie to <script> and ignoring value.
A similar escape can be used for path and domain, which could be abused to alter other fields of the cookie.
Upgrade to 0.7.0, which updates the validation for name, path, and domain.
Avoid passing untrusted or arbitrary values for these fields, ensure they are set by the application instead of user input.
