CVE-2023-45133: Babel vulnerable to arbitrary code execution when compiling specifically crafted malicious code

Babel could allow a local attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system, caused by a flaw in the path.evaluate()or path.evaluateTruthy(). By using a specially crafted code to compile, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code on the system.

— IBM

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.