Webpack version 4.16.5 is a minor patch release following 4.16.4 in the popular JavaScript module bundler. Both versions share the same core functionality, providing developers with tools for packaging CommonJs/AMD modules for browser deployment and enabling code splitting into multiple bundles for on-demand loading. The underlying dependencies for core functionalities remain consistent between these versions. Dependencies such as ajv, acorn, tapable, webpack-sources, and @webassemblyjs/* modules which are essential for features like module parsing, dependency resolution, and WebAssembly support remain unchanged.
Crucially from a developer perspective, the dependencies and devDependencies sections are almost identical. This signifies that the upgrade from 4.16.4 to 4.16.5 is likely to be very smooth. The libraries for development like eslint, prettier, jest and typescript stay at the same version, so no new configuration or code changes are needed from this side.
The key practical difference between the two versions lies in the dist section. While both have the same file count (327), the unpackedSize shows an increased size of approximately 500 bytes in version 4.16.5. This almost certainly indicates either very minor code tweaks, or alterations to metadata, documentation or internal comments. The releaseDate also reveals that 4.16.5 was released only a few days after 4.16.4. Given the small size difference and short release time, developers should view 4.16.5 as a bug fix or very minor improvement release. While a jump is always recommended, if 4.16.4 works seamlessly, developers can plan the update accordingly rather than making an immediate change.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 4.16.5 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.
