ts-loader is a TypeScript loader for webpack, streamlining the process of integrating TypeScript code into webpack-based projects. Comparing versions 5.1.1 and 5.1.0 reveals subtle distinctions that, while seemingly minor, can be relevant for developers. Both versions share identical dependencies and devDependencies, suggesting that the core functionality and tooling remained consistent. This means that packages like chalk, semver, micromatch, loader-utils, and enhanced-resolve for dependencies along with testing, linting and building tools are unchanged. Key development dependencies, including typescript, webpack, babel, and various testing frameworks also remain the same. The license, repository, and author information are also consistent between the two releases.
The primary difference lies in the dist section. Version 5.1.1 exhibits a slightly larger unpackedSize of 389046 bytes compared to version 5.1.0's 388938 bytes. This suggests minor code optimizations, bug fixes, or documentation updates were implemented in version 5.1.1. The releaseDate also indicates a time difference, with version 5.1.1 being released after version 5.1.0. Developers should consider upgrading to the newer point release (5.1.1), as it could incorporate essential patches or marginal improvements over the previous version. While the changes between these two versions are likely incremental, staying up-to-date ensures developers benefit from the latest refinements and stability improvements within the ts-loader ecosystem.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 5.1.1 of the package
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.
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.
