Cross-env is a valuable tool for Node.js developers, designed to streamline cross-platform environment variable management within npm scripts. Versions 3.2.2 and 3.2.3 are quite similar, sharing the same core dependencies of is-windows and cross-spawn, ensuring consistent behavior across different operating systems like Windows, macOS, and Linux. Both versions also have a suite of development dependencies used primarily for testing, linting, and automating releases using technologies like Babel, ESLint, Jest, semantic-release and commitizen.
The key difference between the versions lies in their release dates. Version 3.2.3 was released shortly after 3.2.2, March 4th, 2017; the later release likely incorporates some minor bug fixes or internal improvements.
For developers, this means upgrading from 3.2.2 to 3.2.3 should be a smooth process, with minimal risk of introducing breaking changes. If you're currently using cross-env and want the most up-to-date version, upgrading to 3.2.3 is recommended. The library simplifies running scripts that require setting environment variables, a common task in modern JavaScript development workflows for tasks like configuring different environments (development, testing, production) or passing secrets. The unified approach of cross-env saves developers from writing platform specific code enhancing code portability and maintainability.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 3.2.3 of the package
Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in cross-spawn
Versions of the package cross-spawn before 7.0.5 are vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) due to improper input sanitization. An attacker can increase the CPU usage and crash the program by crafting a very large and well crafted string.
