Important - Spammers bypassing 'Moderate Users' Queue ?

[Suri.CMS]

Hi All,

I am currently using vB 3.7.2 Patch Level2.

I have turned on options: Verify Email address in Registration & Moderate New Members -> Yes

So in my ACP > Moderate Users queue, I should be getting all those new users who verified their Email Id.
I mean, New members are supposed to be listed in "Moderate Users" queue first, before being listing in "Registered Users" list.
But it's not happening. Some spammers are able to bypass it.

Today, I noticed 4 spammers.

2 of them are directly in 'Registered Users' group. (But I never approved their membership.)

2 of them are in 'Awaiting Email Validation' group.

First of all I don't understand how they directly went in to 'Registered Users' group without admin approval.

Is this a known problem ? Is this solved in latest version ?

[Dismounted]

If you think this is a bug in vBulletin, post it in the Bug Tracker. But before you do that, disable any modifications you have running to see if the problem goes away.

[Paul M]

Are you sure another admin didnt approve them ?

[vbplusme]

I have never had my site in any other mode but moderate users and I too have seen this same scenario where some spammers have been able to bypass the moderation loop. I believe it has something to do with the Russian Scumbags that developed the Xrumer's new functionality that targets vBulletin's security as something that their POS must do. They were blatantly bragging about it when it was released at around the same time that vB 3.7.2 Patch Level2 came out.

BTW, Xrumer is one of the favorite tools that Black Hatters just LOVE so its still being used but it is very pricey so I think its use is limited by it cost, fortunately.

I reported it on the vBulletin.com site when it happened but never got a good answer. I just got a "yes, we know about, xrumer, use re-captcha."

I have since created my own spammer control system that seems to have stopped them.

HTH

[Suri.CMS]

Originally Posted by Dismounted

If you think this is a bug in vBulletin, post it in the Bug Tracker. But before you do that, disable any modifications you have running to see if the problem goes away.

I am not using any modifications / plug-ins.

Originally Posted by Paul M

Are you sure another admin didnt approve them ?

There is only one admin.

Anyway, I will upgrade to latest version of vB and then see if the problem repeats.

--------------- Added [DATE]1233861790[/DATE] at [TIME]1233861790[/TIME] ---------------

Originally Posted by vbplusme

I have since created my own spammer control system that seems to have stopped them.

Hi vbplus,

Do you mind sharing what exactly you did to stop spammers ? And do you have any specific suggestions to stop spam ?

I am a newbie to all these.