Sass version 1.16.0 represents a minor update over its predecessor, 1.15.3, in the widely used Sass library, a pure JavaScript implementation of the popular CSS preprocessor. Both versions maintain the same core functionality, dependencies on chokidar (version ^2.0.0), MIT license, and repository details, indicating a consistent development philosophy and stability in the tool's foundation. Natalie Weizenbaum continues to be credited as the author.
The key difference lies in the release date and unpacked size. Version 1.16.0 was released on January 10, 2019, a few days after the release of version 1.15.3, which was released on January 4, 2019. While seemingly small, the increase in unpackedSize from 672193 to 672490 suggests internal code enhancements, potential bug fixes, or subtle performance improvements. These kinds of changes, while not always explicitly documented, contribute to a more polished and reliable developer experience.
For developers choosing between these specific versions, the update to 1.16.0 is advised. Although the dependency and license remain the same, benefiting the integration of Sass into varied projects, the newer version likely incorporates valuable under-the-hood improvements. It ensures a smoother and more efficient workflow within the Javascript environment. Package size increased slightly in the latest release likely due to compiled code or some additional features regarding the previous version.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 1.16.0 of the package
Uncontrolled resource consumption in braces
The NPM package braces fails to limit the number of characters it can handle, which could lead to Memory Exhaustion. In lib/parse.js, if a malicious user sends "imbalanced braces" as input, the parsing will enter a loop, which will cause the program to start allocating heap memory without freeing it at any moment of the loop. Eventually, the JavaScript heap limit is reached, and the program will crash.
Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) in micromatch
The NPM package micromatch prior to version 4.0.8 is vulnerable to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS). The vulnerability occurs in micromatch.braces() in index.js because the pattern .* will greedily match anything. By passing a malicious payload, the pattern matching will keep backtracking to the input while it doesn't find the closing bracket. As the input size increases, the consumption time will also increase until it causes the application to hang or slow down. There was a merged fix but further testing shows the issue persisted prior to https://github.com/micromatch/micromatch/pull/266. This issue should be mitigated by using a safe pattern that won't start backtracking the regular expression due to greedy matching.
