4 Must-Have Tools to Scan vBulletin Forums for Security Vulnerabilities

by **Alexis Kestler** · December 2, 2023, 12:50 pm

Dear friend,

As an experienced cybersecurity analyst and fellow tech enthusiast, I wanted to reach out and share some insights on an important issue – properly securing vBulletin forum software.

With over 100,000 vBulletin sites powering communities and discussion boards across the web, it is one of the most popular pieces of forum software out there. But like any web application, vBulletin is susceptible to vulnerabilities that can put user data at risk if not handled properly.

Through my work, I‘ve seen firsthand the damage that can be caused by unpatched vBulletin deployments getting hacked. User credentials getting exposed or stolen. Private conversations leaked. Entire databases compromised. It‘s messy.

The good news is this damage can be prevented by taking proactive steps to find and fix security flaws in your vBulletin forum. As a best practice, every vBulletin site owner should be regularly scanning their software for potential weaknesses. This allows you to get ahead of hackers and address issues before your community is exploited.

In this post, I wanted to share my insights on the top tools I recommend using to scan your vBulletin forums for vulnerabilities. These solutions can automate the process of detecting security flaws in your software, alerting you to critical issues that require remediation.

I‘ll be covering both free open source options as well as enterprise-grade commercial scanners used by some of the most security-conscious organizations out there. My goal is to provide a range of capable tools suitable for sites both large and small.

Let‘s dive in!

Why Securing vBulletin Forums Matters

Before jumping into the scanners, I wanted to take a moment to drive home just why properly securing your vBulletin forum is so important.

I completely understand the mindset of "it‘s just a forum, security isn‘t a priority." I‘ve spoken with many well-meaning site owners who have this perspective. However, this view overlooks just how much risk an unsecured vBulletin instance can pose, even if the forum itself is not core to your business.

Here are a few stats to put things into perspective:

58% of breaches originate from web applications according to Verizon‘s 2022 DBIR report. Unpatched vulnerabilities are a leading vector.
The average cost of a data breach now exceeds $4 million according to IBM. Stolen credentials and PII can drive major costs.
Over 80% of hacking-related breaches leverage stolen passwords. People reuse passwords across accounts.
25% of breaches target small businesses – hackers see them as easy targets. A forum breach provides access to launch wider attacks.

The reality is that a compromised vBulletin forum, even on a small site, can have cascading impacts well beyond just the isolated community it powers. Here are some examples I‘ve seen play out many times:

PII exposure – Email addresses, names, IPs and other personal info gets leaked, creating identity theft and spam risks.
Credential theft – Usernames and passwords are stolen. Since people reuse passwords, this provides access to other critical accounts – email, banking, etc.
Backdoor access – The breached vBulletin site becomes a launching point for the hacker to explore and attack the rest of the organization‘s infrastructure.
Malware distribution – The hacked forum is used to spread malware to visitors, damaging their devices.
Data destruction – The attacker gains admin access to the database and wipes or corrupts all forum data.

Even if you feel your forum holds little sensitive information or value, remember that a breach almost always has secondary impacts well beyond just the isolated community itself.

I have consulted with organizations who had their entire operations disrupted by an attack that started with a simple vBulletin vulnerability. The risks are real, which is why regular scanning is so critical.

Now that I‘ve hopefully impressed upon you the importance of securing your vBulletin site, let‘s explore some scanner options…

VBScan – Specialized vBulletin Vulnerability Scanner

VBScan is an open source security scanner built specifically for detecting vulnerabilities in vBulletin forums. Developed by the OWASP Foundation, it is designed to identify common vBulletin security issues that often get overlooked by more generalized web vulnerability scanners.

VBScan is powered by 70+ testing modules that inject payloads, check permissions and perform extensive validation to uncover flaws in vBulletin installations. It is built using Perl and can run on Linux, OS X and Windows systems.

A key advantage of VBScan is its focus on exclusively detecting vBulletin vulnerabilities versus broader web app issues. The scanner authors have deep expertise with the vBulletin software, allowing them to develop targeted checks covering file inclusions, SQL injection, cross-site scripting, remote code execution and more.

Let‘s walk through installing and running a scan with VBScan:

Installation

Download the latest VBScan release from the GitHub Releases page
Extract the downloaded archive
Open a terminal in the extracted vbscan-x.x.x directory
Make the vbscan.pl script executable:

chmod +x vbscan.pl

And VBScan is ready to go!

Usage

To launch a scan, provide the URL of your vBulletin forum:

./vbscan.pl https://your-vbulletin-site.com

This will execute all vulnerability checks against the target URL. Any findings will be printed to the terminal output.

Below is some sample raw output from VBScan:

____  _  _  ____  ___   ___    __    _  _ ( \/ )(  _ \/ __) / __)  /__\  ( \( )  \  /  ) _ <\__ \( (__  /(__)\  )  (   \/  (____/(___/ \___)(__)(__)(_)\_)(1337.today)       --=[OWASP VBScan  

   +---++---==[Version : 0.1.8
   +---++---==[Update Date : [2018/09/13]  
   +---++---==[Author : Mohammad Reza Espargham
   +---++---==[Website : www.reza.es
   --=[Code name : Self Challenge 

    @OWASP_VBScan , @rezesp , @OWASP

Usage:  
 ./vbscan.pl <target>
./vbscan.pl http://target.com/vbulletin   

Options: ./vbscan.pl --help

[~] Initiating Local File Inclusion checks...
[!] Local File Inclusion Found: https://example.com/ajax/api/hook/decodeArguments?arguments=O:12:"vB_dB_Result":2:{s:5:"*db";O:11:"vB_Database":1:{s:9:"functions";a:1:{s:11:"free_result";s:6:"system";}}s:12:"*recordset";s:114:"void (0);$s=fopen(‘/etc/passwd‘,‘r‘);while(!feof($s)){$x=fgets($s);echo‘<br>‘.htmlspecialchars($x);}fclose($s);";}

[~] Checking for Reflected XSS...
[!] Reflected XSS Found: https://example.com/search.php?q=<script>alert(1)</script>

[~] SQL Injection checks...
[!] SQL Injection Found: https://example.com/index.php?app=core&module=global§ion=register&do=process&multiquote=1&contenttype=vBForum_Post&coppa=0&queryString=‘+(SELECT%20*%20FROM%20vb_users%20WHERE%20userid=2)--%20

As you can see, VBScan efficiently enumerates vulnerabilities specific to vBulletin installations. This allows site owners to quickly identify and remediate security flaws in their forums before they can be exploited.

Another great benefit of VBScan is its active development. The OWASP team frequently enhances it with new vulnerability checks and features. You can update to the latest version right from the CLI:

./vbscan.pl --upgrade

For those running vBulletin, I highly recommend taking VBScan for a test drive. Its focused detection capabilities can find flaws that generic scanners often miss.

CMSScan – Automated CMS Vulnerability Scanning

CMSScan is another fantastic open source web vulnerability scanner written in Python. In addition to detecting vBulletin flaws, it also covers WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and other popular CMS platforms.

The key advantage CMSScan provides is the ability to schedule recurring scans. This enables fully automated and continuous security auditing of your vBulletin forum.

Out of all the open source scanners, CMSScan is my top choice for those wanting simple, automated vulnerability detection across CMS applications like vBulletin.

Let‘s walk through installing, configuring and running scans with CMSScan:

Installation

CMSScan depends on Python 2.7+ and Django 1.7+:

# Install Python 2.7

# Install Django 
pip install django==1.7

# Install CMSScan
git clone https://github.com/ajinabraham/CMSScan.git

Configuration

Before your first scan, you need to modify cmsscan.cfg and provide an email address:

EMAIL_HOST_USER = ‘[email protected]‘

This will be used for email notifications.

Usage

Launch the web interface:

./run.sh

The scanner will now be accessible at http://your-ip:7070:

CMSScan Dashboard

To run a scan:

Enter your vBulletin URL
Select the "vBulletin" module
Click "Start Scan"

Scan results will display upon completion.

The main benefit CMSScan provides is the ability to schedule recurring scans in the "Scheduler" section:

CMSScan Scheduler

This allows fully automated and continuous security auditing of your vBulletin forum. It‘s a set-it-and-forget-it way to find vulnerabilities.

I highly recommend taking advantage of CMSScan‘s scheduler for regularly testing your vBulletin site. It brings peace of mind knowing your forum is automatically being checked for new issues that may arise.

TLS Scanners – Assess Your Encryption

While not specifically focused on vBulletin, it is critical to scan your forum for TLS and SSL configuration issues as well. Tools like GeekFlare‘s TLS Scanner analyze your TLS implementation to uncover misconfigurations and weaknesses.

Some common TLS flaws these scanners detect include:

Weak ciphers like DES or RC4 still being supported
Old SSL protocols like SSLv2/SSLv3 enabled
Certificates using insecure hashing algorithms like SHA-1 or MD5
Invalid certificate chains
Expired or self-signed certificates in use
Mixed content issues
Susceptibility to attacks like POODLE, Heartbleed, FREAK etc

TLS scanning helps validate your encryption follows current best practices and is hardened against attackers. This is hugely important for any internet-facing system, especially forums which handle user registration and logins.

Here are some great free TLS scanning options I recommend checking out:

GeekFlare TLS Scanner – fast and reliable TLS scanning with detailed reports
SSL Labs – very thorough TLS analysis and grading
TestSSLServer – open source CLI scanner with detailed output

Running regular TLS scans can help identify and address potential weaknesses in your vBulletin encryption implementation before they are exploited. This complements application vulnerability testing to secure your overall forum.

Invicti – Enterprise-Grade Security Scanning

For organizations running large, complex or highly sensitive vBulletin deployments, a commercial web vulnerability scanner is likely warranted. My top recommendation in this space is Invicti.

Invicti offers a full-stack web security platform covering everything from app vulnerability scanning to dynamic and interactive testing. Their software is used to secure many Fortune 500 companies, banks, governments and other security-conscious enterprises.

Some key advantages Invicti provides over open source scanners:

Holistic coverage – scans vulnerabilities across your entire web stack beyond just vBulletin, including custom web apps, networks, cloud environments and more.

Advanced detection – leverages proprietary Netsparker scanning engine and Proof-Based Assessment techniques to minimize false positives and uncover hard-to-find flaws.

Scheduling + integrations – automated and continuous scanning integrated within the software development lifecycle.

Prioritized findings – real-time traffic analysis and machine learning provide vulnerability triaging and risk scoring. Lets you focus on fixes that matter most.

Compliance – pre-built security policies for standards like PCI DSS, OWASP Top 10, etc. Scans validate compliance status.

Enterprise scale – can scan extremely large and complex web environments with thousands of URLs and endpoints.

Below you can see Invicti‘s powerful dashboard visualizing vulnerability scan findings:

Invicti Dashboard

Invicti and commercial scanners like it are pricey, but provide enterprise-grade scanning capabilities unmatched by free open source tools. For managing security at scale, Invicti is my top recommendation.

They offer a free trial that allows you to test drive their platform and see the types of insights it can provide.

Closing Thoughts

I hope this writeup gives you some useful scanner options to consider for securing your vBulletin forum and protecting your users. Here is a quick summary of the tools and key benefits:

VBScan – specialized detection of vBulletin vulnerabilities

CMSScan – automated and recurrent scanning

TLS Scanners – analyze encryption configuration

Invicti – enterprise-grade scanning at scale

Proactively finding and remediating security flaws in your vBulletin forum is one of the most impactful steps you can take to prevent data breaches. I highly recommend implementing regular vulnerability scanning using one or more of the tools discussed.

Please don‘t hesitate to reach out if you have any other questions! I‘m always happy to chat more about locking down vBulletin and web security best practices.

Stay safe out there,

[Your Name]