Is PHP used on the forum?

Karellen · 10-21-2026, 04:55 AM

Could this be a problem on the Mobileread forum?

https://arstechnica.com/security/202...urity-patches/

Gormagon · 10-21-2026, 08:03 AM

"Is PHP used on the forum?"

Just look at the URL with something like "showthread.php". Although that could be a rewrite rule via htaccess, but usually a rewrite rule to mask ".php" as ".html" may be more common: https://www.php.net/manual/en/security.hiding.php

ownedbycats · 10-21-2026, 10:30 AM

It's vBulletin so yes. I'm surprised it wasn't down this morning with most of the other PHP sites I check.

JSWolf · 10-21-2026, 04:39 PM

It's possible the software here is too old to use one of the newly patched PHP versions and will need to be upgraded to a newer forum version.

BetterRed · 10-21-2026, 05:55 PM

None of the vbully sites I've bookmarked are down - they're all pretty old like this one. The only site I've run into this morning that is down is the AU federal department of health.

DiapDealer · 10-21-2026, 07:00 PM

Vbulletin was not one of the apps mentioned in the article:

Quote:

The report showed a video of an exploit tool dubbed PHP2Shell executing code on webservers running:

WordPress 7.1.3
MediaWiki 1.46.2
phpBB 3.3.17
Magento 2.4.9
Joomla 6.2.0
Laravel 13.36.0
Laravel 8.83.29
Symphony 8.1.9
Drupal 11.4.10
WHMCS 9.0.9

It's entirely possible the version of vbulletin here is too old for the exploit to work.

But it's all moot since none of the active admins have the access to update any server-level components that MobileRead's forum software runs on.

ownedbycats · 10-21-2026, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

None of the vbully sites I've bookmarked are down - they're all pretty old like this one. The only site I've run into this morning that is down is the AU federal department of health.

ModTheSims is on a heavily-modified vBulletin and was down for maintenance earlier (owner confirmed on Discord it was patching the vulnerability)

JSWolf · 10-23-2026, 05:20 AM

Is the forum going to be updated to fix the PHP issue?

DiapDealer · 10-23-2026, 06:34 AM

I doubt the server's PHP could even be updated to the necessary version without breaking Mobileread entirely.

For what it's worth, most of the data I've seen states that the new exploit can impact PHP versions dating back to 5.4. Mobileread's PHP is older than that. That doesn't mean MR is safe from all exploits by any means. But it just might be safe from this one. I'm sure Alex has heard the warnings. There's nothing to be done about this unless he decides to do something anyway.

10-21-2026, 04:55 AM	#1
Karellen Wizard Posts: 1,916 Karma: 9600930 Join Date: Sep 2021 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Libra 2	Is PHP used on the forum? Could this be a problem on the Mobileread forum? https://arstechnica.com/security/202...urity-patches/

10-21-2026, 04:39 PM	#4
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 85,421 Karma: 154365103 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	It's possible the software here is too old to use one of the newly patched PHP versions and will need to be upgraded to a newer forum version. Last edited by JSWolf; 10-21-2026 at 04:50 PM.

10-23-2026, 06:34 AM	#9
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 29,869 Karma: 212614993 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	I doubt the server's PHP could even be updated to the necessary version without breaking Mobileread entirely. For what it's worth, most of the data I've seen states that the new exploit can impact PHP versions dating back to 5.4. Mobileread's PHP is older than that. That doesn't mean MR is safe from all exploits by any means. But it just might be safe from this one. I'm sure Alex has heard the warnings. There's nothing to be done about this unless he decides to do something anyway. Last edited by DiapDealer; 10-23-2026 at 06:39 AM.

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10-21-2026, 08:03 AM	#2
Gormagon monstrous mythical beast Posts: 224 Karma: 5078396 Join Date: May 2023 Location: Klopstokia Device: Tab Ultra C, Meebook P78 Pro, Viwoods AIPaper Reader, various NXTPAPER	"Is PHP used on the forum?" Just look at the URL with something like "showthread.php". Although that could be a rewrite rule via htaccess, but usually a rewrite rule to mask ".php" as ".html" may be more common: https://www.php.net/manual/en/security.hiding.php

10-21-2026, 10:30 AM	#3
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 11,886 Karma: 83333333 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	It's vBulletin so yes. I'm surprised it wasn't down this morning with most of the other PHP sites I check.

10-21-2026, 05:55 PM	#5
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 22,886 Karma: 34252744 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	None of the vbully sites I've bookmarked are down - they're all pretty old like this one. The only site I've run into this morning that is down is the AU federal department of health.

10-23-2026, 05:20 AM	#8
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 85,421 Karma: 154365103 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Is the forum going to be updated to fix the PHP issue?