Socket.io-parser is a crucial component for anyone working with the Socket.IO library, focusing on encoding and decoding the Socket.IO protocol. Comparing versions 2.1.3 and 2.1.4 reveals subtle but important updates. Both share identical dependency requirements, utilizing 'debug' for logging, 'json3' for robust JSON handling, 'emitter' for event management, and 'isarray' for array type checks. The development dependencies also remain consistent, employing 'zuul' for cross-browser testing, 'mocha' for unit testing, and 'expect.js' for assertions, ensuring a stable testing environment across versions.
The key difference lies in the release date and potentially underlying bug fixes or minor performance improvements that are not explicitly documented in the provided data. Version 2.1.4 was released on May 17, 2014, subsequent to version 2.1.3 released on April 28, 2014. Developers should consider upgrading to the newer version (2.1.4) to benefit from any stability enhancements or resolved issues addressed since the previous release. While the core dependencies and development tools remain the same, newer patches often contain optimizations that improve overall application performance and reliability. Always consult the official changelog or repository commit history for a comprehensive understanding of specific changes between versions for detailed insights.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 2.1.4 of the package
Resource exhaustion in socket.io-parser
The socket.io-parser npm package before versions 3.3.2 and 3.4.1 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via a large packet because a concatenation approach is used.
Insufficient validation when decoding a Socket.IO packet
Due to improper type validation in the socket.io-parser library (which is used by the socket.io and socket.io-client packages to encode and decode Socket.IO packets), it is possible to overwrite the _placeholder object which allows an attacker to place references to functions at arbitrary places in the resulting query object.
Example:
const decoder = new Decoder();
decoder.on("decoded", (packet) => {
console.log(packet.data); // prints [ 'hello', [Function: splice] ]
})
decoder.add('51-["hello",{"_placeholder":true,"num":"splice"}]');
decoder.add(Buffer.from("world"));
This bubbles up in the socket.io package:
io.on("connection", (socket) => {
socket.on("hello", (val) => {
// here, "val" could be a function instead of a buffer
});
});
:warning: IMPORTANT NOTE :warning:
You need to make sure that the payload that you received from the client is actually a Buffer object:
io.on("connection", (socket) => {
socket.on("hello", (val) => {
if (!Buffer.isBuffer(val)) {
socket.disconnect();
return;
}
// ...
});
});
If that's already the case, then you are not impacted by this issue, and there is no way an attacker could make your server crash (or escalate privileges, ...).
Example of values that could be sent by a malicious user:
Sample packet: 451-["hello",{"_placeholder":true,"num":10}]
io.on("connection", (socket) => {
socket.on("hello", (val) => {
// val is `undefined`
});
});
undefinedSample packet: 451-["hello",{"_placeholder":true,"num":undefined}]
io.on("connection", (socket) => {
socket.on("hello", (val) => {
// val is `undefined`
});
});
Array, like "push"Sample packet: 451-["hello",{"_placeholder":true,"num":"push"}]
io.on("connection", (socket) => {
socket.on("hello", (val) => {
// val is a reference to the "push" function
});
});
Object, like "hasOwnProperty"Sample packet: 451-["hello",{"_placeholder":true,"num":"hasOwnProperty"}]
io.on("connection", (socket) => {
socket.on("hello", (val) => {
// val is a reference to the "hasOwnProperty" function
});
});
This should be fixed by:
socket.io-parser@4.2.1socket.io-parser@4.0.5socket.io-parser@3.4.2socket.io-parser@3.3.3socket.io package| socket.io version | socket.io-parser version | Covered? |
|---------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------|
| 4.5.2...latest | ~4.2.0 (ref) | Yes :heavy_check_mark: |
| 4.1.3...4.5.1 | ~4.0.4 (ref) | Yes :heavy_check_mark: |
| 3.0.5...4.1.2 | ~4.0.3 (ref) | Yes :heavy_check_mark: |
| 3.0.0...3.0.4 | ~4.0.1 (ref) | Yes :heavy_check_mark: |
| 2.3.0...2.5.0 | ~3.4.0 (ref) | Yes :heavy_check_mark: |
socket.io-client package| socket.io-client version | socket.io-parser version | Covered? |
|----------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|
| 4.5.0...latest | ~4.2.0 (ref) | Yes :heavy_check_mark: |
| 4.3.0...4.4.1 | ~4.1.1 (ref) | No, but the impact is very limited |
| 3.1.0...4.2.0 | ~4.0.4 (ref) | Yes :heavy_check_mark: |
| 3.0.5 | ~4.0.3 (ref) | Yes :heavy_check_mark: |
| 3.0.0...3.0.4 | ~4.0.1 (ref) | Yes :heavy_check_mark: |
| 2.2.0...2.5.0 | ~3.3.0 (ref) | Yes :heavy_check_mark: |
Insufficient validation when decoding a Socket.IO packet
A specially crafted Socket.IO packet can trigger an uncaught exception on the Socket.IO server, thus killing the Node.js process.
TypeError: Cannot convert object to primitive value
at Socket.emit (node:events:507:25)
at .../node_modules/socket.io/lib/socket.js:531:14
A fix has been released today (2023/05/22):
socket.io-parser@4.2.3socket.io-parser@3.4.3Another fix has been released for the 3.3.x branch:
| socket.io version | socket.io-parser version | Needs minor update? |
|---------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
| 4.5.2...latest | ~4.2.0 (ref) | npm audit fix should be sufficient |
| 4.1.3...4.5.1 | ~4.1.1 (ref) | Please upgrade to socket.io@4.6.x |
| 3.0.5...4.1.2 | ~4.0.3 (ref) | Please upgrade to socket.io@4.6.x |
| 3.0.0...3.0.4 | ~4.0.1 (ref) | Please upgrade to socket.io@4.6.x |
| 2.3.0...2.5.0 | ~3.4.0 (ref) | npm audit fix should be sufficient |
There is no known workaround except upgrading to a safe version.
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
Thanks to @rafax00 for the responsible disclosure.
debug Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity vulnerability
A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in debug-js debug up to 3.0.x. This affects the function useColors of the file src/node.js. The manipulation of the argument str leads to inefficient regular expression complexity. Upgrading to version 3.1.0 is able to address this issue. The name of the patch is c38a0166c266a679c8de012d4eaccec3f944e685. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component. The identifier VDB-217665 was assigned to this vulnerability. The patch has been backported to the 2.6.x branch in version 2.6.9.
Regular Expression Denial of Service in debug
Affected versions of debug are vulnerable to regular expression denial of service when untrusted user input is passed into the o formatter.
As it takes 50,000 characters to block the event loop for 2 seconds, this issue is a low severity issue.
This was later re-introduced in version v3.2.0, and then repatched in versions 3.2.7 and 4.3.1.
Version 2.x.x: Update to version 2.6.9 or later. Version 3.1.x: Update to version 3.1.0 or later. Version 3.2.x: Update to version 3.2.7 or later. Version 4.x.x: Update to version 4.3.1 or later.