UseBB Community

Before I begin to install your script I was wondering how secure it is. I have over the years tried to install quite a few forums. But I am quite the novice and most seems to get hacked and the database corrupted. I just don't wish to try again and have that happen with UseBB.

Also is the forum search engine friendly?

Thx for your help

Same question asked a few years ago: http://www.usebb.net/community/topic-237.html

This still applies nowadays, even for the slightest vulnerability an update is being done, even when it doesn't necessarily poses a direct threat. The last time a directly exploitable vulnerability was found was 10 months ago in a 1.0 release candidate. However, vulnerabilities will always remain to be found in all web applications.

Of course, you need to update your forum in order to remain secure. Most people install a forum and forget about updating it, even many years afterwards. I still discover versions ranging from 0.2(!) to 0.8 on the Internet.

thx for your fast reply

Dietrich wrote

I still discover versions ranging from 0.2(!) to 0.8 on the Internet.

You do, really...

It isn't hard to find, until 1.0 UseBB had the version number in the footer. One 0.2 version is somewhere hidden and owned by people who I once recommended UseBB to. I guess the forum isn't used anymore but still... As of UseBB 0.3 you'll find quite a lot of them using Google.

Ah, found one running 0.3.2, can not believe some are still running older versions.

Yet another one that is being disused...

Sadly there isn't really a cure for this, automatic updates are out of the question since I don't have the resources to serve individual update files for an automated script (SF.net FRS is not usable, usebb.sf.net could be an option but I have my doubts about the security of SF.net's hosting). Also, we are currently hosted on a shared server with limited bandwidth, it could be usable for some time but it could pose problems later on. Perhaps if there is a colocated server some time.

All we could do is make the version check notice more prominent and perform a check as soon as an admin logs into the forum, perhaps even making small delays (10 seconds) for administrators when the version is too much outdated.

0.5.1, been around since June 30, 2005, and its recently used and yet they don't upgrade/update forum.

My last old one, be alot safer if people would get the latest.