DNSBL/Open Proxy-Blocking

History

I've had some problems with abuse via open proxies for a time ago, and when we were banning abusers, they always found a new proxy to use and register new accounts with. Since this forum was a large type we could'nt just ban e-mails etc just like that, because this was leading to a very large amount of other banned users too.

At IRC, in the other hand, we had Open Proxy Monitors, that was banning everything that was blacklisted in some DNSBL-databases. No spammers had a chance to get in there as long they were listed in such database.

This is a plugin that blocks blacklisted hosts from some different DNSBL's. It uses the global_start-hook, a very simple handler for blocking proxies, and a vBphrase called OPM_Deny.


April 2006

The source has been rewritten a bit. The proxychecker is now using a cache that, by default, stores all ip's in a database for 6 hours. It scans some DNSBL's and can be configured to block proxies from bitmasks (defined in the plugin) which makes it a little bit more reliable, because it does'nt block everything it see).

Configuration is made from the plugin (hopefully there will be a nice admin interface in the future). Exceptions (ip's that can pass through this system even if it is a proxy) are also handled differently now.

// CHANGES
//
// 2008-09-20 (2.0.8)
//
// * Changed the routines for how to handle inclusion/exclusions
// * Splitted up plugins for 3.5/3.6 and 3.7
//
// 2007-08-05
//
// * Fixed reported bug, based on resolved hosts ending with 127
// * Changed database-tables to get rid of (hopefully) duplicate keys
// * Added resolver-function
// * Added two new block-methods available at the efnet-rbl
//
// 2006-06-28 (2.0.6/Another fix)
//
// * Proxyinclusions/exclusions didn't work properly
//
// 2006-06-28 (2.0.5/Fix only)
//
// * Fixed a bug in the $block-array that affected some of the blocking results
//
// 2006-06-28 (2.0.4)
//
// * opm.tornevall.org has a new entry for anonymizers, added support for this
// * Default value on "block everything detected" in plugin changed to "no"
//
// 2006-06-26 (2.0.3)
//
// * Created options for admincp (removed plugin-configuration)
// * Fixed a bit-bug for njabl
// * Plugin is now a function (rbl_livecheck) for external lookups
// * Added options for "only block on newuser-registrations"
//
// 2006-06-22 (2.0.3 RC)
//
// * The monitor is now a function
// * Added small compatibility with other plugins (with return)
//
// 2006-05-13
//
// * sorbs zones added (no bitmasking)
// * opm.blitzed.org removed
// * time() changed to TIMENOW
//
// 2006-04-21
// ==========
//
// * proxyinclusions
// quickly add own hosts that should be treated as a proxy
//


How does it work with other vBulletins?

This filter actually works with both 3.5 and 3.6, but for now, they will be separate versions, but for 3.5 and 3.6 you should look here and for 3.7 you should look here.


How to use the compatibility thing

If you have a plugin that you want to use together with the proxy monitor (only returns a value if a an ip-address is registered as a proxy or not) you can call the function rbl_livecheck like this (example):

PHP Code:

global $rblInstalled;

if ($rblInstalled) {
$remoteIsProxy = rbl_livecheck(1, $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']);

//
// .. your code here ..
//

} 


Report bugs if you find them...



Don't forget to install it

[jugo]

This is an awesome idea....I think nexialys has an excellent point and that will make it an invaluable product.

[Yorixz]

Very nice a idea; thanks a huge bit for starting this, hopefully anyone with sufficient php skills will be able to "finish" it

[Jenta]

cant it be placed at the start of session?

Originally Posted by Jenta

cant it be placed at the start of session?

that's what i suggested...

[buro9]

I use the PEAR Cache library for some of my more esoteric hacks, happy to write a PEAR compatible version if people feel that PEAR is an acceptable pre-requisite.

Of course... if someone can write a datastore version it would probably be better

Originally Posted by buro9

Of course... if someone can write a datastore version it would probably be better

this would be better in the fact that we need these addons to use the vBulletin protocol/codes ... or why would we code a software that big if nobody use it..

[bulbasnore]

Yah, this is very cool b/c we need this... we have some abusers that like open proxys.

As to the pear suggestion, hmm, would that be a stopper for some folks? Is it available on all hosts using PHP?

I might be able to be helpful with cron and cacheing things in the file system or database. I'll be back sometime after jelsoft does their release to work look at your code. For the moment, I'll subscribe to the thread.

[TMM-TT]

Originally Posted by bulbasnore

Yah, this is very cool b/c we need this... we have some abusers that like open proxys.

As to the pear suggestion, hmm, would that be a stopper for some folks? Is it available on all hosts using PHP?

I might be able to be helpful with cron and cacheing things in the file system or database. I'll be back sometime after jelsoft does their release to work look at your code. For the moment, I'll subscribe to the thread.

I'm very happy that the plugin gave so many positive reactions. I look forward with the last "fix" for this one, because of my own lack of php-skills. Thanks a lot!

[vauge]

This idea rocks!

*subscribed*

[webspider]

Originally Posted by vauge

This idea rocks!

*subscribed*

Is anything happening with this hack? I think its a great idea if the speed and load issues could be worked out.