MyBB Community Forums

I thought of this idea after seeing the file checker that MyBB has installed.

Hacking etc involves coding being input or deleted from files or templates normally and I think a plugin that can check this would be good. It will also be helpful to check if other admins etc are making changes.

The way I imagine it working is:

When first installed the plugin reads every file and template. The current forum would of course have to be "clean". This is then used as the default safe status.

Then when either the user manually runs it, or perhaps via an automated task, this plugin then reads all the files and templates again and compares then to its original "safe" information.

It would then list (or possibly email if running via a task) the following information:

Coding that has changed, been added, deleted.
New files, or files that have been deleted.
New templates or templates that have been deleted.

Ideally if it could specify the line etc.

This way if any files or malicious coding is input without your knowledge (such as happened on my forum), it is easy to spot and rectify.

Of course you also need to option to accept the new changes, for example if are changing the files yourself, new plugins etc. So there should be the option to accept the new version as your new "safe" version.

Possibly also might be a nice idea to have a secondary option to compare your forum to the core MyBB one, so you can see all the additions you have made.

Hope that all makes sense? Wonder what the rest of you think?

This would require a LOT of resources. Imagine manually checking through 5000+ lines of code manually for 1 little difference. That is basiically what PHP would have to do!

But if that one little thing is some malicious javascript hidden away somewhere like it was on my site it would be a lifesaver.

I think it would be treated like an antivirus on your PC which generally takes up a lot of resources. Can be annoying but in the end worth it to make sure your code is clean.