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Major vBulletin Software Flaw Leaves You Vulnerable to Hack Attack

23 Jul 2010 by Graham Lyons - News , , No Comments


One of the most popular providers of online discussion software is reeling after a serious flaw was discovered by AV forums and reported on the BBC News website last night. The issue means that it is remarkably easy for someone to access the username and password of any individual using the software and to access data on the user. The firm is now hastily trying to remedy the horrendous problem with a patch but the real problem is for people as yet unaware of the problem that are still to update their software with the crucial fix. Internet Brands has been telling its vBulletin users through emails and on their control panels but it seems they were very slow off the mark as third party firms were first on the spot with a warning and a solution.

The flaw effects version 3.8.6 of the software which was available from 13th July meaning it has been a virtual open door for over a week. vBulletin was conceived in 1999 but was sold to Internet Brands in 2007. Internet Brands are yet to comment on the fault.

Since the acquisition of vBulletin it has not been plain sailing for Internet Brands:

  • July 4th 2007 – Jelsoft acquired by Internet Brands. Admin section of vBulletin.com became accessible by the public for 13 minutes revealing company pricing plans.
  • Oct 13th 2009 – 200% price increase for the service which somehow offered customers who were least invested in the product, the most cost effective deal.
  • Oct 23rd 2009 – vBulletin 4 software launched but site is suddenly down for 28 hours and unreliable for days after and for the next couple of months a succession of fixes is brought out.
  • Dec 22nd 2009 – vBulletin 4.0 Gold released. Many feel it was released before it was a stable product in order to meet a release schedule. What followed was a myriad of faults and updates and more faults and further updates.
  • July 21st 2010 – critical security flaw in vBulletin v3.8.6 uncovered.

Since the acquisition it seems there has been no end of complaints and fiascos blighting Internet Brands. Maybe this is a sign that concentrating on making money and forgetting about pleasing or even meeting the needs of your users is the wrong way to go. It seems the integrity and talent that had built the vBulletin brand jumped ship in a classic management failure case study type deal and may well have been the reason for vBulletin’s drop in overall quality of service.

This post on vBTruth.com has some reason for why the core vBulletin staff exodus happened. And this post on thelawprofessor.com offers a legal point of view on the vBulletin’s current issues.

Do you think it is too easy for ‘new media’ companies to snap up good smaller companies in vertical markets? Can you think of a solution to this problem?



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