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

[chrisbr]

I have just installed this on a bord i keep getting spam registrations onto; i had previously seen the API's on stopforumspam.com and wondered if anyone would ever implement it, of course someone has - GREAT WORK and i will see how this runs for me

C

[ddmobley]

I can confirm the latest release (.61) will work on 3.5.4 if you use the attached product XML file, which simply replaces the "select : pipe" sections with CDATA for select method code. Installed fine after that was edited. Installers should remember to refresh their ACP navigation window when they first install it so they can see the new log file menu item. This edit to the XML file should be forward-compatible.

Good job.

[ddmobley]

I can't tell you how much I appreciate this mod. In less than 24 hours, it has allowed only 2 legit registrations to go through while blocking 15 spammers. Thanks again.

Donation sent!

[orchidsi]

Awesome! Works very well on 3.8.0 for me.

[wpwood3]

Working great on 3.8.2
Thanks for a great mod!

[Titania]

Originally Posted by pedigree

This error presents itself when a couple of things happen.
1. Your forum cant contact the remote database in the allowed period of time
2. Our database is down (cough, it happens, I blame Russ )
3. Youve exceeded the (newly implemented) limit of 5,000 queries in a 24 hour period (which is unlikely).

Are you using cURL for doing the queries? Its one of the options in vbStopForumSpam configuration. With cURL, you can control the timeout time window a little more but thats often at the cost of risks a "mysql has disapeared" error.

I am using cURL (as it was set by default).

Over the last week or two, things seem to have returned to normal and I'm no longer getting time outs so I'm a happy camper
As I mentioned earlier, this mod has saved me heaps of work removing spammers manually. Great work.

[BarryW]

We are getting multiple entries in the spam log. One accepted user has 25 entries!
We are also getting rejections due to 'Result on field username' ???

Any idea's?

Barry

[mmurtha]

Originally Posted by BarryW

We are getting multiple entries in the spam log. One accepted user has 25 entries!
We are also getting rejections due to 'Result on field username' ???

Any idea's?

Barry

Hey Barry,

This has been my experience with this Mod -

The "accepted" listings in the stopforumspam logs could be either that the user did not respond to the email you sent during the registration process (if you sent one), or that the user got past the SFS Mod, but got stopped by your settings in VBulletin. The .logs show all who try to register whether they were able to or not.

The "Rejections" due to result on field username means that the Mod is doing its thing, and catching the spammers, then preventing them from registering on your forum.

What happens is, recorded spammers are reported to StopForumSpam by their username, IP address, and email address (these are the field results), so when the Mod goes to the SFS site, the site relays varification back to yours.

So basically, the logs are letting you know who is caught, and who was allowed to register.

Hope this helps ...

Mary

P.S. This Mod is a really great one. Let it do its job, and you will be pleasently surprised at how many spammers it stops dead cold!

[BarryW]

Thanks for the prompt reply Mary. I understand the multiple logs now.

I am still a little concerned that it looks at user names as it is rejecting quite legitimate users on my site. I have just had a user rejected because his chosen username was Andrew? There are no other Andrew's on my site, the spam database does not find any issue with his IP or email Address.

Other than this its been a great tool.

EDIT: I have just found out that usernames can be removed from the search.

Regards

Barry

[ddmobley]

Originally Posted by BarryW

We are getting multiple entries in the spam log. One accepted user has 25 entries!

If a legitimate user re-submits the new user registration multiple times, it will show up in the log multiple times. For example, where they change a setting, or fail the CAPTCHA, or edit their email address, each time it is resubmitted, it shows up in the log.

Originally Posted by BarryW

We are also getting rejections due to 'Result on field username' ???

Originally Posted by BarryW

I am still a little concerned that it looks at user names as it is rejecting quite legitimate users on my site. I have just had a user rejected because his chosen username was Andrew? There are no other Andrew's on my site, the spam database does not find any issue with his IP or email Address.

You have to be careful of the username searches. StopForumSpam.com searches for partial matches to username searches, which can result in high false positives. Your user "Andrew" did return a hit on StopForumSpam.com, but it also turned up false positives for other usernames that include the phrase "andrew" in it, even email addresses. I would prefer StopForumSpam.com to modify their username searches to only return exact matches, otherwise the username search becomes nearly useless.