The April 2026 pin to WhiskeySockets/Baileys#01047deb existed only to
pick up the abprops bad-request fix (Baileys PR #2473) before it was
released. That fix shipped in v7.0.0-rc11 (May 2026); our pinned commit
is now 48 commits behind rc13.
The git pin forced npm to clone the repo and compile Baileys from
TypeScript source on every fresh install (~3 min), which blew past the
dashboard pairing flow's timeout. Registry install takes ~3s.
Validation: all 9 bridge.js imports present in rc13, bridge.native.test.mjs
passes (13/13), live bridge boot renders pairing QR against real WA servers.
The whatsapp-bridge pulls @whiskeysockets/baileys at a pinned git
commit whose transitive dep tree ships protobufjs <7.5.5, triggering
GHSA-xq3m-2v4x-88gg (critical, arbitrary code execution). npm audit
reported 3 cascading criticals: protobufjs, @whiskeysockets/libsignal-node
(pulls protobufjs), and baileys itself (effect rollup).
Fix: add npm overrides block pinning protobufjs to ^7.5.5. Deduplicates
to a single 7.5.6 copy at node_modules/protobufjs that both libsignal-node
and any other consumers resolve through normal module resolution.
Why not bump baileys: npm-published baileys@6.17.16 is deprecated by the
maintainers (wrong version), 7.0.0-rc.* still pulls the same vulnerable
libsignal-node, and upstream Baileys HEAD adds a 4th vuln (music-metadata).
The override is the minimal, behavior-preserving fix.
Validation:
- npm audit: 3 critical -> 0 vulnerabilities
- node -e "import('@whiskeysockets/baileys')" -> all 5 named exports
(makeWASocket, useMultiFileAuthState, DisconnectReason,
fetchLatestBaileysVersion, downloadMediaMessage) resolve
- node bridge.js loads all modules and reaches Express bind
(exits only on EADDRINUSE because the live gateway owns :3000)
- Single deduped protobufjs@7.5.6 in the tree
WhatsApp changed their server protocol for property queries, causing
400 bad-request errors in fetchProps/executeInitQueries on every
reconnect (Baileys issue #2477). The fix in PR #2473 changes the IQ
namespace from 'w' to 'abt' and protocol from '2' to '1'.
Pin to the fix branch until the next Baileys release includes it.
