Administrative and Maintenance Tools - vbStopForumSpam - known spammer lookup for new registrations

vbStopForumSpam

This provides access to a RBL type system for forum admins, listing known spam IP / email / usernames. The RBL database is provided by www.stopforumspam.com. You do NOT need an API key from the website in order to access the database. only to submit data if you should wish to do so.

At the point of user registration, the mod checks if the IP number / provided username / email addresses appear on a block list and can block the registration.

Whilst this isnt the most perfect way to stop all forum spam, its another step that spammers have to overcome.

VB4 here https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...hreadid=230921
Its the same code, it works in 3.54 to 4.0


What it does

It checks with a remote database of known forum spammers. Their IP number, email address and forum username are tested and based on your configuration, you can reject / log / accept user registrations based on what you get back.

This version doesnt have
- whitelisting or the ability to submit users to the database but it will within the next week.
- automatic user deletion / post / PM purging. There are good tools out there already, this does something else.

Instructions are included in the installation.txt file - PLEASE read it first and dont forget to actually upload the files in the upload folder, otherwise it WILL kill your registration progress and you wont see the log file options in admincp. You do not need to download the product-vbstopforumspam-3.54.xml file unless you are using a vBulletin version older than 3.6.0

Changes to vB
- 3 new database tables
- 2 database table alternations
- No new templates.
- 2 Hook (register_addmember_process & register_addmember_complete)

Ive tested it but had feedback that it works with versions as old as 3.6.2... Support should go back to older versions, as long as they have hook support for register_addmember_process / register_addmember_complete

Known to work - tested by me
- vBulletin 3.6.8 on Apache 2.2 / PHP 5.1.2 on Linux using cUrl
- vBulletin 3.7 Gold on Apache 2.0 / PHP 4.4.3 on Windows without cUrl (template changes wont work on 3.7 - thats in the next version with auto template changes)

For code to submit spammers to the database, check this post for code changes
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=288

Reported in the thread to work
- 3.6.1, 3.6.2, 3.6.9, 3.6.10, 3.7.0, 3.7.1, 3.7.2, 3.7.3, 3.74, 3.80, 3.81, 3.82, 3.83, 3.8.4, 4.0beta3

If you have 3.54, then you can use the product-vbstopforumspam-3.54.xml file attached instead of the one in the ZIP file, which will allow older vBulletin versions to access this mods' features. I personally havent tested this version, its a user contribution, thanks to Darrell Mobley, that changes the way the XML works when imported into older versions.

Installers should remember to refresh their ACP navigation window when they first install it so they can see the new log file menu item.

REQUIRES MySQL 4.1.1+

Future versions
- Automatic integration into vBulletin to add users to the stopForumSpam.com database from a form
- Whitelisting of username / IP / email addresses
- AJAX integration to allow for lookups from within the users profile
- Decreased remote query count from three per user to one per user.

Versions / Changes

0.1 Initial Release

0.2 pedigrees special brew birthday release.
- Small security update. If you have 0.1 installed, download 0.2 and replace your existing functions_vbsfs.php with the one in the archive. It just tests to see if its running inside the VB framework before anything else. This is what happens when you code at 2am after drinking wine

0.3
- stopped it processing valid registrations twice
- moved all non-function code into the plugin. Not a big one as 0.2 basically did that
- fixed a typo in the log pruner that stopped it working (404)
- removed unused fields from the database for people with mysql that doesnt support varchar > 255 (ie mySQL4). If you have 0.2 installed and dont need to prune your logs just yet, you dont really need to install this version but can instead wait for 1.0 unless of a massive security update.

0.4
- logs registrations that arent/wouldnt be blocked
- fixed XML errors when username has a space it in
- tightened up the cache so that it doesnt test a username against an email name to give a bypass result (for when a username is an email address that isnt banned where the email address is)
- fixed some basic logic errors in the PHP

0.6
- Should work on PHP 4.4 now - rewrote the XML with PHP4 in mind (tested on Apache2.0/PHP 4.4.3)
- Fixed a caching system where data wasnt being updated correctly which could cause a remote query when one wasnt needed
- Possible false negative situation when a spammer was blocked due to SFS.com being down who then visited again when it was up but within the cache expiry time
- Remote query failure when the result page isnt XML should work a bit better now. It does a very basic test for valid XML results.
- Fixed log purging (again) and it should actually work properly now.
- No longer requires PHP5
- The log viewer now links to a user profile when registration is allowed.

v0.61 - Removed a template change that was invalid vBulletin code. The package you download will still say its 0.60 however

NB : When upgrading from any version to 0.6, you must remove and then add the plugin due to changes in one of the database tables

You need to have an API key from www.stopforumspam.com in order to submit data, its free and easy to get... You DONT need an API key in order to use this mod however, only to submit spammer data.

Issues are
- The usergroup permissions / view details etc DONT work. I jumped the gun and put the permissions controls in there before I put the code in. Please delete the includes/xml/bitfield_vbstopforumspam.xml file and rebuild your postbit

Installation
- Follow the instructions in the zip file, that includes upload the correct folders
- ONLY download the 3.54 xml file if youre using a vbulletin version prior to 3.6.0. use this file to install the mod instead of the xml file in the zip file.

Please click Installed

[pedigree]

the API key is available from www.stopforumspam.com - its a feature that never quite made it into 0.6 but will make its appearance in 0.7. It allows you to submit user details to the ban list on stopforumspam.com

[BadgerDog]

Thanks pedigree....

Is there any way to test this mod after install to make sure that people can still register and it's not blocking legitimate users?

I installed it earlier, but I haven't seen any new registrations since then, so I wanted to make sure everything was functioning ok.

Looking forward to v.07 .....

Regards,
Badger

[pedigree]

You can disable blocking in the options and set actions to "Log and allow registration".

if you look at admincp -> logs -> vbstopforumspam -> submit

you should see if youve have any new registrations logged by vbsfs

Im sitting here look at all the debug logs for 0.7 and I might go to bed now

[skippybosco]

Badger,

In theory, you can register for your own site to test, and then test by registering while browsing your site with a few random anonymous proxy websites (http://www.the-cloak.com , etc.)

[BadgerDog]

Thanks ... :up:

I did a test by pretending to be a spammer and using an email address that was known from the "stop forum spam" web site and that seemed to work fine. I got the rejected error message and a log entry was created. Unfortunately, it was from my own IP address, so I hope it didn't send that anywhere reporting my IP address as a spammer..

I'll have to try registering using correct information and see if it lets me though now ...

Regards,
Badger

[Wired1]

Originally Posted by BadgerDog

Thanks ... :up:

I did a test by pretending to be a spammer and using an email address that was known from the "stop forum spam" web site and that seemed to work fine. I got the rejected error message and a log entry was created. Unfortunately, it was from my own IP address, so I hope it didn't send that anywhere reporting my IP address as a spammer..

I'll have to try registering using correct information and see if it lets me though now ...

Regards,
Badger

0.6.1 does NOT send your info anywhere to be banned. You'll be able to log on just fine.

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by Wired1

0.6.1 does NOT send your info anywhere to be banned. You'll be able to log on just fine.

Thanks .... :up:

I've tested it thoroughly now and it seems to be working fine. I guess the real value of this is how accurate and up to date we can keep "stop forum spam" using the feedback mechanism of this mod, once it's available in v0.7.

Appreciate the author's efforts in trying to help us all deal with spam. It's the most annoying aspect of trying to run a professional and mature Vbulletin environment.

Regards,
Badger

[pedigree]

Thanks for the feedback all.

A couple of people that have added to comments and provided feedback are running larger boards and havent had any issues with 0.60/0.61. It seems stable and is working well, not as well as it could be but that will be addressed in the next version.

What Wired1 said about sending information, it doesnt. Its completely passive and only ever retrieves information. 0.7 will have the functionality to submit details based on group membership. I hope Russ is updating sfs.com in real time but he seems to be a very difficult person to get a response out of.

[Alfa1]

Installed on vb 3.7.1 pl2 with php 5.2.6 and curl. I will let you know how it goes.

Many thanks for this!!

BTW: does this mod extend the time needed for registration? Does it conflict with ISBOT?

[BadgerDog]

Originally Posted by pedigree

Thanks for the feedback all.

A couple of people that have added to comments and provided feedback are running larger boards and havent had any issues with 0.60/0.61. It seems stable and is working well, not as well as it could be but that will be addressed in the next version.

What Wired1 said about sending information, it doesnt. Its completely passive and only ever retrieves information. 0.7 will have the functionality to submit details based on group membership. I hope Russ is updating sfs.com in real time but he seems to be a very difficult person to get a response out of.

You're welcome....

Thank you for investing your time in this... appreciate it... :up:

Been using it for about a day now and the log is building. I notice one set of entries that repeated 6 times with the last one (2008-07-01 09:56:33) having the underline clickable link,whereas the other entries don't.

joe 2008-07-01 09:56:33 joe@xxxx.de xx.xx.xxx.xxx Allowed registration
joe 2008-07-01 09:53:37 joe@xxxx.de xx.xx.xxx.xxx Allowed registration
joe 2008-07-01 09:52:53 joe@xxxx.de xx.xx.xxx.xxx Allowed registration
joe 2008-07-01 09:52:02 joe@xxxx.de xx.xx.xxx.xxx Allowed registration
joe 2008-07-01 09:51:17 joe@xxxx.de xx.xx.xxx.xxx Allowed registration
joe 2008-07-01 09:50:11 joe@xxxx.de xx.xx.xxx.xxx Allowed registration

Why would this repeat that many times?

BTW, I put in X's and chanhed the username to protect the registrant's privacy.

Regards,
Badger