Webpack versions 4.4.0 and 4.4.1 are closely related, representing minor iterative improvements to this essential tool for modern web development. Both versions share the same core description: a module bundler for CommonJs/AMD modules, designed to split codebases into manageable bundles that load on demand. They also have identical dependencies, encompassing crucial packages like ajv for schema validation, acorn for JavaScript parsing, and webpack-sources for source code manipulation. Similarly, the development dependencies remain the same, including testing frameworks like Mocha and tools for code quality like ESLint and Prettier, along with various loaders for different file types.
The minimal version bump from 4.4.0 to 4.4.1 likely signifies bug fixes, performance enhancements, or minor feature additions rather than substantial API changes, and it's confirmed by the very small difference in unpacked size. While the core functionality remains consistent, developers should consider upgrading to the latest version (4.4.1) to benefit from any refinements addressing potential issues. The small differences make this update pretty predictable in terms of migration efforts. Review the detailed changelog if available for a specifics to this update.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 4.4.1 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.
