Dependency Security Review
Review this pull request for changes to dependencies. A significant portion of PRs in this repo are automated dependency bumps (Dependabot, Snyk). This check ensures dependency changes get meaningful review.
Overview
Dependency Security Review
Review this pull request for changes to dependencies. A significant portion of PRs in this repo are automated dependency bumps (Dependabot, Snyk). This check ensures dependency changes get meaningful review.
What to Check
For Any package.json Changes
-
New dependencies - For each newly added dependency:
- Is it well-maintained (not abandoned)?
- Does it have known vulnerabilities?
- Is it the right choice, or does an existing dependency already cover this use case?
- Is the version pinned appropriately (exact vs range)?
-
Major version bumps - For major version upgrades:
- Are there breaking changes that affect our usage?
- Have the callers been updated to match the new API?
-
Removed dependencies - For each removed dependency:
- Are all imports/requires of this dependency also removed?
- Is there a replacement, or was the functionality dropped?
For package-lock.json Changes
-
Large lockfile diffs (>500 lines changed) - Flag for human review, as they may indicate a transitive dependency shift that warrants attention.
-
New transitive dependencies - Check if the total dependency count increased significantly.
Security-Specific Concerns
-
Packages with filesystem/network access - New dependencies that read/write files or make network requests deserve extra scrutiny since this tool runs locally on user machines.
-
Native/binary dependencies - New native modules (
node-gyp,.nodebinaries) increase the attack surface and build complexity. -
Post-install scripts - Dependencies with
postinstallscripts can execute arbitrary code duringnpm install.
What to Do
- If you find concerning dependency changes, add a comment explaining the concern.
- Do NOT modify
package.jsonorpackage-lock.jsonfiles directly. - If no dependency files were changed in this PR, do nothing.