Webpack 4.21.0 introduces subtle enhancements over its predecessor, version 4.20.2, primarily focusing on internal optimizations and dependency updates rather than radical feature additions. Both versions share the core functionality of bundling JavaScript modules and assets for browser deployment, supporting features like code splitting, loaders for diverse file types (CSS, images, etc.), and plugins for advanced customization. A key area of interest for developers is the consistent set of dependencies between the versions, encompassing vital packages such as ajv for JSON schema validation, acorn for JavaScript parsing, and webpack-sources for source code manipulation. These core libraries ensure stability and consistent build processes. However, a notable change lies within the devDependencies. Version 4.21.0 removes the jest-silent-reporter package present in 4.20.2 and includes coveralls with version ^3.0.2 where the previous version had ^2.11.2. These adjustments suggest a potential refinement in the testing or code coverage reporting mechanisms. Developers should evaluate whether these subtle differences impact their build pipelines, especially those relying on specific testing configurations or code coverage thresholds. The unpacked size also increases slightly, from 1305249 to 1306751, though the number of files in the package remains constant. This difference could indicate small modifications in the code base or updated assets.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 4.21.0 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.
