Socket.IO is a popular JavaScript library enabling real-time, bidirectional communication between web clients and servers. Versions 0.6.11 and 0.6.12 represent incremental updates within the early stages of the library's development. The primary difference lies in their release dates, with version 0.6.12 arriving on February 18, 2011, just three days after version 0.6.11, released on February 15, 2011. Given the short interval, the changes between these versions are likely focused on bug fixes, performance improvements, or minor feature enhancements rather than major architectural shifts.
For developers considering using Socket.IO, understanding that these versions are relatively old is crucial. While they might serve as a starting point for exploring the library's historical evolution, modern applications should prioritize utilizing the latest stable releases. These newer versions offer significant advantages in terms of security, performance, feature sets, and community support. Exploring the changelogs and release notes associated with versions beyond 0.6.12 will give developers a better sense of the direction of the library and its capabilities. Referencing the official Socket.IO documentation will offer the most up-to-date information needed for implementation.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 0.6.12 of the package
Insecure randomness in socket.io
Affected versions of socket.io depend on Math.random() to create socket IDs, and therefore the IDs are predictable. With enough information on prior IDs, an attacker may be able to guess the socket ID and gain access to socket.io servers without authorization.
Update to v0.9.7 or later.
CORS misconfiguration in socket.io
The package socket.io before 2.4.0 are vulnerable to Insecure Defaults due to CORS Misconfiguration. All domains are whitelisted by default.
socket.io has an unhandled 'error' event
A specially crafted Socket.IO packet can trigger an uncaught exception on the Socket.IO server, thus killing the Node.js process.
node:events:502
throw err; // Unhandled 'error' event
^
Error [ERR_UNHANDLED_ERROR]: Unhandled error. (undefined)
at new NodeError (node:internal/errors:405:5)
at Socket.emit (node:events:500:17)
at /myapp/node_modules/socket.io/lib/socket.js:531:14
at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:77:11) {
code: 'ERR_UNHANDLED_ERROR',
context: undefined
}
| Version range | Needs minor update? |
|------------------|------------------------------------------------|
| 4.6.2...latest | Nothing to do |
| 3.0.0...4.6.1 | Please upgrade to socket.io@4.6.2 (at least) |
| 2.3.0...2.5.0 | Please upgrade to socket.io@2.5.1 |
This issue is fixed by https://github.com/socketio/socket.io/commit/15af22fc22bc6030fcead322c106f07640336115, included in socket.io@4.6.2 (released in May 2023).
The fix was backported in the 2.x branch today: https://github.com/socketio/socket.io/commit/d30630ba10562bf987f4d2b42440fc41a828119c
As a workaround for the affected versions of the socket.io package, you can attach a listener for the "error" event:
io.on("connection", (socket) => {
socket.on("error", () => {
// ...
});
});
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
Thanks a lot to Paul Taylor for the responsible disclosure.