Webpack version 4.29.5 is a minor release following 4.29.4 in the popular JavaScript module bundler's 4.x series. Both versions share the core functionality of packaging CommonJs/AMD modules for browsers, enabling code splitting for on-demand loading, and supporting loaders for preprocessing various file types like JSON, JSX, ES7, CSS, and LESS. The key difference lies in updated dependency versions within the @webassemblyjs ecosystem. Version 4.29.5 incorporates @webassemblyjs/ast, @webassemblyjs/wasm-edit, @webassemblyjs/wasm-parser, and @webassemblyjs/helper-module-context at version 1.8.3, while version 4.29.4 utilizes version 1.8.2 of these packages.
For developers, this means that upgrading to 4.29.5 provides access to the latest fixes and improvements within the WebAssembly support provided by webpack. While the core webpack functionality remains consistent, staying current with dependency updates ensures better compatibility, performance, and security for projects leveraging WebAssembly modules. Both versions boast a comprehensive suite of loaders and plugins, support for modern JavaScript features, and robust configuration options for tailoring the bundling process to specific project needs. Choosing between the two largely depends on the project's reliance on WebAssembly and the prioritization of staying up-to-date with the newest dependency releases. It is crucial to assess how these dependency updates will impact your project before upgrading.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 4.29.5 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.
