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

[rsw686]

FYI db->query is depreciated as of 3.6. You should be using db->query_read and db->query_write. Not that this changes functionality but sticks with the vBulletin coding style.

I also noticed that you don't free the result of the database queries with db->free_result. db->query_first should be used in a number of places since you only want the value of one field. This will make remove the need for db->fetch_array and db->free_result.

Please use db->escape_string instead of addslashes. addslashes doesn't catch all cases nor does it take into account the SQL connection encoding.

For the datediff consider db->query_first_slave as we don't need to be hitting the master db server with that query.

[pedigree]

rsw686 thanks for the heads up

[lovefords]

Excellent with 4.0.1 Thank you.
I had similar experience with 3.84
J.R.

[rharbison]

I installed this, on multiple forums, and it's working great! I've had a couple spammers slip through, but it has drastically slowed them down.

I do have a problem though, and I don't know what's causing it. Many of my members are now complaining that they need to log in daily, or sometimes even every time they visit the forum now. I don't know how it could be related, but it started afer installing this plug-in. Anyone else seen this? Anyone have a clue how to fix it?

I'm running 3.84 patch level 2

[skubaman]

Gotta say, thanks!
In 2 days, this plugin caught 88 spammers trying to register!

[Floris]

As of today I have had 25+ new members complain that the plugin isn't working. The stop forum spam database check step doesn't complete and registration is blocked.

I wonder if we're blocked, the database down, or the plugin needs an update or whatever?

I for now have turned off this mod so I do not lose 50 potential registrations in a day from valid members.

[Thomas P]

There are two settings in case of connection errors: "Query Connection Errors" (What should happen if the remote connection times out when querying the new registration?) and "Data Fetching - Cache" which help to identify these type of errors.

[websissy]

I've just installed StopForumSpam. It was super-easy. After carefully studying what it does, I realized it essentially automates most of the successful bot-blocking strategies I've been using manually here for over 2 or 3 years. Wish I'd found this add-on l-o-n-g ago. Duhhh!

It has blocked a dozen spambot registrations in its first hour. I have every expectation it will eliminate 99% of all spambot registrations and cut the risk of spam-posts to a minimal level. I suspect I'll be able to stop moderating new registrations almost completely. We'll see. But that's my guess.

Thanks a lot!

[websissy]

Here's a very minor bug in vbstopforumspam.php

Database error in vBulletin 3.8.2:

Invalid SQL:

SELECT * FROM vb3_vbstopforumspam_log AS logs

ORDER BY ip ASC, date DESC
LIMIT 0, 15;

MySQL Error : Unknown column 'ip' in 'order clause'
Error Number : 1054
Request Date : Monday, January 25th 2010 @ 04:50:55 PM
Error Date : Monday, January 25th 2010 @ 04:50:56 PM
Script : http://myforums.com/forums/admincp/v...erby=ip&page=1
Referrer : http://myforums.com/forums/admincp/v...am.php?do=view
IP Address : xx.xxx.xxx.x
Username : webmaster
Classname : vB_Database
MySQL Version : 5.1.30

The column-name reference in this query should be to "ipaddress" and NOT to "ip". I fixed it here. But it should be fixed in the released code too.

[TheInsaneManiac]

Unistalled, the server seems to be down most of the time now causing no one to be able to register. This works really well!
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=183917