Webpack versions 4.28.2 and 4.28.3 are both iterations of the popular module bundler, designed to package JavaScript and other web assets for browsers. Examining the package.json data, the most apparent difference lies in the release dates, with version 4.28.3 released approximately a week after 4.28.2 suggesting the newer version likely includes bug fixes or minor improvements accumulated during that time. A subtle, yet important, difference is reflected in the dist section; notably the unpacked size as 4.28.3 is 1374033 while 4.28.2 had unpacked size of 1373865. Both versions share the identical description, dependencies (including crucial packages like webpack-sources, terser-webpack-plugin, and @webassemblyjs suite), and devDependencies used for development and testing, such as eslint, prettier, and various loaders. The core functionality and supported loaders remain consistent which means migration between the version should be fast and deterministic. Developers should opt for the newer 4.28.3 to benefit from any recent fixes, potentially increasing stability and avoiding issues addressed since the previous release. Always evaluate release notes (if available) to ensure compatibility with existing projects and to understand the specific changes incorporated. While the visible differences are minimal, these small updates can impact project performance and stability.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 4.28.3 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.
