Babel vulnerable to arbitrary code execution when compiling specifically crafted malicious code

Vulnerability Description

Babel is a compiler for writingJavaScript. In `@babel/traverse` prior to versions 7.23.2 and 8.0.0-alpha.4 and all versions of `babel-traverse`, using Babel to compile code that was specifically crafted by an attacker can lead to arbitrary code execution during compilation, when using plugins that rely on the `path.evaluate()`or `path.evaluateTruthy()` internal Babel methods. Known affected plugins are `@babel/plugin-transform-runtime`; `@babel/preset-env` when using its `useBuiltIns` option; and any "polyfill provider" plugin that depends on `@babel/helper-define-polyfill-provider`, such as `babel-plugin-polyfill-corejs3`, `babel-plugin-polyfill-corejs2`, `babel-plugin-polyfill-es-shims`, `babel-plugin-polyfill-regenerator`. No other plugins under the `@babel/` namespace are impacted, but third-party plugins might be. Users that only compile trusted code are not impacted. The vulnerability has been fixed in `@babel/traverse@7.23.2` and `@babel/traverse@8.0.0-alpha.4`. Those who cannot upgrade `@babel/traverse` and are using one of the affected packages mentioned above should upgrade them to their latest version to avoid triggering the vulnerable code path in affected `@babel/traverse` versions: `@babel/plugin-transform-runtime` v7.23.2, `@babel/preset-env` v7.23.2, `@babel/helper-define-polyfill-provider` v0.4.3, `babel-plugin-polyfill-corejs2` v0.4.6, `babel-plugin-polyfill-corejs3` v0.8.5, `babel-plugin-polyfill-es-shims` v0.10.0, `babel-plugin-polyfill-regenerator` v0.5.3.

References

• https://github.com/babel/babel/security/advisories/GHSA-67hx-6x53-jw92
• https://github.com/babel/babel/pull/16033
• https://github.com/babel/babel/commit/b13376b346946e3f62fc0848c1d2a23223314c82
• https://github.com/babel/babel/releases/tag/v7.23.2
• https://github.com/babel/babel/releases/tag/v8.0.0-alpha.4
• https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5528
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/10/msg00026.html