Webpack 4.37.0 is a minor version update following 4.36.1, offering incremental improvements and bug fixes to this popular module bundler. Both versions share the same core functionality: packaging CommonJs/AMD modules for browsers, enabling code splitting for on-demand loading, and supporting loaders for preprocessing various file types like JSON, JSX, CSS, and LESS. Examining the dependency lists of both versions reveals minimal changes. The core dependencies remain identical versions, indicating that the update doesn't introduce significant overhauls in how Webpack handles module resolution, compilation, or its internal workings. Similarly, the devDependencies section, listing tools used for development like testing (Jest), linting (ESLint), and various loaders, remains largely consistent between the two versions. The slight differences in fileCount and unpackedSize in the dist object suggest some internal code adjustments or optimizations, potentially leading to minor performance improvements or reduced bundle sizes. While a detailed changelog is necessary for tracing the exact changes, the equal name, descriptions and dependencies point to a maintenance release aimed at enhancing stability and resolving existing issues rather than introducing groundbreaking features. Developers can likely update from 4.36.1 to 4.37.0 with confidence, expecting few or no breaking changes to their existing Webpack configurations. Nonetheless, reviewing the official changelog for specific bug fixes and minor enhancements is always advisable before upgrading.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 4.37.0 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.
