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Bug #47240 is_spam_ip() creates false positives
Submitted: 2009-01-29 15:28 UTC Modified: 2011-05-17 19:05 UTC
From: kiam at avpnet dot org Assigned: danbrown (profile)
Status: Closed Package: Website problem
PHP Version: Irrelevant OS: Mac OS X
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
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From: kiam at avpnet dot org
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 [2009-01-29 15:28 UTC] kiam at avpnet dot org
Description:
------------
The function used to check the IP of whom submit a note in the 
documentation pages can create false positives.

This happens because:

* one of the three DNSBL servers it uses is not anymore active (see 
http://dsbl.org/).
* the code checks against three DNSBL servers, but it returns TRUE when 
a single server reported the IP to be in its list.

This means that the code could also check against 1,000 DNSBL servers, 
but it would report the IP like suspicious if only a single server 
doesn't contain update data about that IP.
Considering that most people has dynamic IPs, that is not a so remote 
possibility.


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 [2011-05-17 19:02 UTC] danbrown@php.net
Automatic comment from SVN on behalf of danbrown
Revision: http://svn.php.net/viewvc/?view=revision&revision=311143
Log: As pointed out in #47240, dsbl.org is gone.  It is no more.  It has ceased to be.
 [2011-05-17 19:05 UTC] danbrown@php.net
-Status: Open +Status: Closed -Assigned To: +Assigned To: danbrown
 [2011-05-17 19:05 UTC] danbrown@php.net
This bug has been fixed in SVN. Since the websites are not directly
updated from the SVN server, the fix might need some time to spread
across the globe to all mirror sites, including PHP.net itself.

Thank you for the report, and for helping us make PHP.net better.

I've removed dsbl.org from the list of providers.  However, at this time, we 
won't remove the IP check routine or modify it as it is.  This is because the 
reverse of what you've correctly presented is also true: if an IP has started 
sending junk and the SBLs have yet to update, that will cause more damage than 
the (very rare) cases of rejection due to an incorrect SBL entry.

While we regret any inconvenience it may cause to you and perhaps a small 
handful of others, we hope you'll understand that the decision to keep things 
this way is in the best interest of the community as a whole, and to protect the 
integrity of the PHP manual.
 
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