Webpack versions 4.20.0 and 4.20.1 are both iterations of the popular module bundler, primarily used for compiling JavaScript applications for the web. Examining the provided data, the core functionality and dependencies appear largely identical between the two versions, suggesting a relatively minor update. Both versions support CommonJS and AMD modules, allowing developers to split codebases into manageable bundles that load on demand. Loaders enable the preprocessing of various file types, including JSON, JSX, CSS, and LESS. Key dependencies like ajv for JSON schema validation, acorn for JavaScript parsing, and webpack-sources for source code manipulation remain consistent.
The development dependencies also show complete alignment, with tools for linting (eslint), testing (jest), and code formatting (prettier) present in both versions. The presence of loaders like css-loader, less-loader, and url-loader highlight Webpack's capabilities in handling different asset types.
The most noticeable differences lie in the dist section. Version 4.20.1 has a slightly larger unpackedSize (1304842 bytes) compared to 4.20.0 (1304816 bytes), and a later releaseDate. These subtle variations suggest that version 4.20.1 likely includes minor bug fixes, performance enhancements, or small adjustments that don't warrant changes in dependency versions. Developers using Webpack should likely consider 4.20.1 for its improved stability over 4.20.0.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 4.20.1 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.
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.
