Webpack 4.41.3 introduces subtle refinements over its predecessor, version 4.41.2, primarily focusing on internal dependency updates and potential bug fixes, leading to a slightly larger unpacked size. While the core functionality remains consistent ensuring a smooth transition for developers already familiar with the 4.x series, the updated dependencies like terser-webpack-plugin (bumped from 1.4.1 to 1.4.3) suggest improvements in code minification and optimization, potentially leading to smaller bundle sizes and faster load times for web applications. Developers should note the updated release date reflecting that version 4.41.3 incorporates the latest improvements from the webpack team as of December 2019.
For application developers, these incremental upgrades usually translate into a more stable and performant build process. While the change log might not reveal drastic feature additions, the importance lies in the resolution of identified issues, ensuring a smoother development workflow and a more robust final product. Examining the specific changes within updated dependencies might prove valuable for developers troubleshooting edge-case scenarios or seeking maximum performance gains. Always review update notes or changelogs of updated dependencies for details.
It looks like the core functionality remains same and these version upgrades usually address bug fixes or stability improvements that are introduced while using in varied projects as requested by community.
All the vulnerabilities related to the version 4.41.3 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.
