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

[avitor]

i try to import from this file --product-vbstopforumspam.xml

from this direction


and is show

Database error in vBulletin 3.6.9:
Invalid SQL:
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `vbstopforumspam` (
APIKey VARCHAR( 255 ) NOT NULL ,
ExcludeIPs VARCHAR( 5000 ) NOT NULL ,
ExcludeNames VARCHAR( 5000 ) NOT NULL ,
ExcludeEmails VARCHAR( 5000 ) NOT NULL ,
PRIMARY KEY ( APIKey )
) TYPE=MyISAM;;
MySQL Error : Too big column length for column 'ExcludeIPs' (max = 255). Use BLOB instead
Error Number : 1074
Date : Friday, April 18th 2008 @ 03:28:16 PM
Script : http://www.beneficiofamily.com/new/a...=productimport
Referrer : http://www.beneficiofamily.com/new/a...?do=productadd
IP Address : 87.111.36.43
Username : avi
Classname : vB_Database

i ask in vbulletin.com forums and the say

Gomjaba
Senior Member

You will have to ask the author who actually gave you the product (probably vb.org)

[pedigree]

what version of mySQL are you using? Ill try to back port to non-v5 (but really, v4 is ending for end-of-live support)

Currently, those fields are there to support an upcoming version. Ill remove them in 0.3 (tonight) and attempt to support mySQL4. I dont have it installed and I cant really start installing multiple versions when v4 is so old. The 1.0 release will only support mySQL5...

If you get that error, open the XML file in notepad and delete these three lines (line 21-23) or just install v0.3

ExcludeIPs VARCHAR( 5000 ) NOT NULL ,
ExcludeNames VARCHAR( 5000 ) NOT NULL ,
ExcludeEmails VARCHAR( 5000 ) NOT NULL ,

save and then import the XML

[mikesz]

This mod appears to be incomplete and dependent on data returned from the StopForumSpam site. I would be very nervous to install it in its present condition, maybe ever. I think the premise is okay but the implementation was not thought out as well as it might have been. Its dependency on StopForumSpam is troublesome in that they are but a single incomplete resource for IP addresses of forum spammers. I have been running a pilot spambuster for several months using their IP list for a starter lookup table and they are not as "uptodate" as you would think. I get a huge number of hits from spammers that are not in their list at all. Using only the IP address is also troublesome in that some spammer footprints get through simply because they are "not on the list".

Good idea though...

[pedigree]

do you provide an IP list that I can make the mod work with, either downloadable or accessible?

The mod is completely dependant on SFS website, its just a RBL check. spamhaus isnt always uptodate as some would like but in stops billions of spam each day and it had to start somewhere.

With the mod installed, a spammer wll bypass its checks if not known about. Without the mod, it would get on regardless, this just puts one more step in the way.

[bigmonay2k]

great work, I'll give it atry.

[Simplicity]

One thing that concerns me is what happens if the SFS is down, does the registration just timeout or is their an expiry on the db call which if no return is made from the SFS site registration continues regardless of username used?

[pedigree]

If the SFS website is down, the query will time out, adding about 10-20 seconds to the registration process but the script handles that.

You can configure the action to be taken if it times out, either allowing the registration or denying it with a configurable error, which defaults to something like "We verify new registrations against a database but its currently down, please try again later, sorry for the inconvenience"

[tpearl5]

Sounds interesting. Maybe I'll give it a try later.

[pedigree]

Well, its blocking between 2-10 registrations per day on my small site, so it does work as another annoyance for the spammers

[lazytown]

Great mod!

Quick question: Is the check for username/ip/email an "AND" check or an "OR" check? In other words, do all 3 have to match in order for someone to be blocked, or can any one match for a block? If it's an "OR" check, I probably will turn off username check as that could block a lot of potentially legit users.

Thanks!
-vissa