Webpack version 4.1.0 represents a minor update to the popular JavaScript module bundler, building upon the stable foundation of version 4.0.1. While the core functionality remains consistent, several key improvements and dependency updates enhance the developer experience.
One notable change lies in the watchpack dependency, which has been updated from version 1.4.0 to 1.5.0. This dependency is responsible for efficiently tracking file changes within your project, triggering rebuilds as needed during development. The updated watchpack version likely includes bug fixes and performance enhancements, resulting in faster and more reliable rebuild times. A faster feedback loop can significantly improve development velocity.
Beyond dependency updates, webpack 4.1.0 also contains internal bug fixes and optimizations that improve overall stability and performance. The update ensures a more consistent and predictable build process, reducing the likelihood of unexpected errors or issues. With each minor release of webpack the build process becomes more predictable and easier to debug.
Both versions share a comprehensive feature set, supporting CommonJs and AMD modules, code splitting, and a wide range of loaders for processing various file types like JSON, JSX, ES7, CSS, and LESS. Developers can leverage these features to create optimized bundles for the browser. For existing webpack 4 users, updating to version 4.1.0 is highly recommended to benefit from the improved stability, performance, and bug fixes. As the dependency updates are minor the update should not break any existing configuration or build process.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 4.1.0 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.
Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS)
npm ssri 5.2.2-6.0.1 and 7.0.0-8.0.0, processes SRIs using a regular expression which is vulnerable to a denial of service. Malicious SRIs could take an extremely long time to process, leading to denial of service. This issue only affects consumers using the strict option.
Cross-Site Scripting in serialize-javascript
Versions of serialize-javascript prior to 2.1.1 are vulnerable to Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). The package fails to sanitize serialized regular expressions. This vulnerability does not affect Node.js applications.
Upgrade to version 2.1.1 or later.
Insecure serialization leading to RCE in serialize-javascript
serialize-javascript prior to 3.1.0 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary code via the function "deleteFunctions" within "index.js".
An object such as {"foo": /1"/, "bar": "a\"@__R-<UID>-0__@"} was serialized as {"foo": /1"/, "bar": "a\/1"/}, which allows an attacker to escape the bar key. This requires the attacker to control the values of both foo and bar and guess the value of <UID>. The UID has a keyspace of approximately 4 billion making it a realistic network attack.
