Extension:AbuseFilter

MediaWiki extensions manual - list

AbuseFilter Release status: stable
Implementation	User activity, Special page, API
Description	Allows specific behaviour-based restrictions to be placed on wiki activity.
Author(s)	Andrew Garrett (Werdnatalk)
MediaWiki	1.13+
PHP	5.3.4+ recommended
Database changes	yes
License	GPL v2 or later
Download	Download snapshot (Git master) Git [?]: repo summary tree code changes
Parameters $wgAbuseFilterAvailableActions $wgAbuseFilterConditionLimit $wgAbuseFilterEmergencyDisableThreshold $wgAbuseFilterEmergencyDisableCount $wgAbuseFilterEmergencyDisableAge $wgAbuseFilterParserClass $wgAbuseFilterStyleVersion $wgAbuseFilterRestrictedActions $wgAbuseFilterUDPPrefix $wgAbuseFilterUDPAddress $wgAbuseFilterUDPPort $wgAbuseFilterCentralDB $wgAbuseFilterIsCentral $wgAbuseFilterBlockDuration
Added rights abusefilter-view abusefilter-modify abusefilter-modify-restricted abusefilter-log abusefilter-log-detail abusefilter-private abusefilter-revert abusefilter-view-private abusefilter-hidden-log abusefilter-hide-log
Hooks used EditFilterMerged GetAutoPromoteGroups AbortMove AbortNewAccount ArticleDelete LoadExtensionSchemaUpdates RecentChange_save ListDefinedTags ContributionsToolLinks UploadVerification MakeGlobalVariablesScript EditFilterMergedContent AbortAutoAccount APIEditBeforeSave ArticleSaveComplete UnitTestsList
Check usage and version matrix; code metrics
Bugs: list open list all report

The AbuseFilter extension allows privileged users to set specific controls on actions by users, such as edits, and create automated reactions for certain behaviors.

Requirements

It's not needed to install any dependencies for this extension, but you still might want to install Extension:AntiSpoof to use string normalization features.

Download

You can download the extension directly from the MediaWiki source code repository (browse code). You can get:

One of the extensions tags

Not all extensions have tags. Some extensions have tags for each release, in which case those tags have the same stability as the release. To download a tag

• Go to the tags list
• Click the name of the tag you want to download
• Click "snapshot"

The latest version of one of the extensions branches

Each extension has a master branch containing the latest code (might be unstable). Extensions can have further branches as well.

• Go to the branches list
• Click the branch name
• Click "snapshot"

A snapshot made during the release of a MediaWiki version.

This might be unstable and is not guaranteed to work with the associated MediaWiki version.

• Download snapshot

After you've got the code, save it into the extensions/AbuseFilter directory of your wiki.

If you are familiar with git and have shell access to your server, you can obtain the extension, with all its tags and branches, as follows:

cd extensions
git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/p/mediawiki/extensions/AbuseFilter.git

Installation

• Download and extract the files in a directory called AbuseFilter in your extensions/ folder. If you're a developer then instead you should use git clone to clone the extension's repository in your extensions/ folder.
• Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php:

require_once ( dirname( __FILE__ ) . "/extensions/AbuseFilter/AbuseFilter.php" );

• Run the update script which will automatically create the necessary database tables that this extension needs.
• Y Done – Navigate to "Special:Version" on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.

User rights

Once you installed the extension, you'll have to set up the user rights in LocalSettings.php.

Right	Description
abusefilter-modify	Modify abuse filters
abusefilter-view	View abuse filters
abusefilter-log	View the abuse log
abusefilter-log-detail	View detailed abuse log entries
abusefilter-private	View private data in the abuse log
abusefilter-modify-restricted	Modify abuse filters with restricted actions
abusefilter-revert	Revert all changes by a given abuse filter
abusefilter-view-private	View abuse filters marked as private
abusefilter-log-private	View log entries of abuse filters marked as private
abusefilter-hide-log	Hide entries in the abuse log
abusefilter-hidden-log	View hidden abuse log entries

For example, the following sample configuration would allow sysops to do everything they want with AbuseFilter, and everyone to view the log and see public filter settings:

$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['abusefilter-modify'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['abusefilter-log-detail'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['abusefilter-view'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['abusefilter-log'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['abusefilter-private'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['abusefilter-modify-restricted'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['abusefilter-revert'] = true;

Filters marked as private can only be viewed by users with either the abusefilter-modify or abusefilter-view-private permission.

Abuse filter management

Once the extension has been installed, filters can be created/tested/changed/deleted and the logs can be accessed from the Abuse filter management page Special:AbuseFilter.

• The rules format
• Actions
• Global Rules
• To Import filters from Wikipedia: When you have installed the extension, go to w:Special:AbuseFilter, choose a filter (say w:Special:AbuseFilter/3), then click "Export this filter to another wiki", copy the text, go to "Special:AbuseFilter/import" on your wiki, paste the text.

Configuration

Variable name	Default value	Description
$wgAbuseFilterAvailableActions	array( 'flag', 'throttle', 'warn', 'disallow', 'blockautopromote', 'block', 'degroup', 'tag', 'rangeblock' )	The possible actions that can be taken by abuse filters.
$wgAbuseFilterConditionLimit	1000	The maximum number of 'conditions' that can be used each time the filters are run against a change. (More complex filters require more 'conditions').
$wgAbuseFilterEmergencyDisableThreshold	0.05	Disable filters if they match more than X edits, constituting more than Y% of the last Z edits, if they have been changed in the last S seconds
$wgAbuseFilterEmergencyDisableCount	2
$wgAbuseFilterEmergencyDisableAge	86400
$wgAbuseFilterParserClass	'AbuseFilterParser'	Name of AbuseFilter's parser class.
$wgAbuseFilterStyleVersion		Like $wgStyleVersion, but only for this extension. Developers should bump this number every time time they change any of the .css/.js files.
$wgAbuseFilterRestrictedActions	array( 'block', 'degroup', 'blockautopromote', 'rangeblock' )	Users must have the "abusefilter-modify-restricted" user right as well as "abusefilter-modify" in order to create or modify filters which carry out these actions.
$wgAbuseFilterUDPPrefix	'abusefilter:'	Like $wgRC2UDPPrefix, but only for AbuseFilter?
$wgAbuseFilterUDPAddress	null	Like $wgRC2UDPAddress, but only for AbuseFilter?
$wgAbuseFilterUDPPort	null	Like $wgRC2UDPPort, but only for AbuseFilter?
$wgAbuseFilterCentralDB	null	Name of a database where global abuse filters will be stored in (only supported in the latest, development version).
$wgAbuseFilterIsCentral	false	Set this variable to true for the wiki where global AbuseFilters are stored in (only supported in the latest, development version).
$wgAbuseFilterBlockDuration	'indefinite'	Duration of blocks made by AbuseFilter

API

AbuseFilter adds two API list modules, one for details of abuse filters ("abusefilters") and one for the abuse log, since it is separate from other MediaWiki logs ("abuselog"). It is not possible to create or modify abuse filters using the API.

list = abusefilters

List information about filters

Parameters

• abfstartid: The filter id to start enumerating from
• abfendid: The filter id to stop enumerating at
• abfdir: The direction in which to enumerate (older, newer)
• abfshow: Show only filters which meet these criteria (enabled|!enabled|deleted|!deleted|private|!private)
• abflimit: The maximum number of filters to list
• abfprop: Which properties to get (id|description|pattern|actions|hits|comments|lasteditor|lastedittime|status|private)

When filters are private, some of the properties specified with abfprop will be missing unless you have the appropriate user rights.

Examples

List non-private abuse filters

api.php?action=query&list=abusefilters&abfshow=!private&abfprop=id|hits

list = abuselog

List instances where actions triggered an abuse filter.

Parameters

• aflstart: The timestamp to start enumerating from
• aflend: The timestamp to stop enumerating at
• afldir: The direction in which to enumerate (older, newer)
• afluser: Show only entries where the action was attempted by a given user or IP address.
• afltitle: Show only entries where the action involved a given page.
• aflfilter: Show only entries that triggered a given filter ID
• afllimit: The maximum number of entries to list
• aflprop: Which properties to get (ids|user|title|action|result|timestamp|details)

Example

List instances where the abuse filter was triggered in response to actions from the user "SineBot"

api.php?action=query&list=abuselog&afluser=SineBot&aflprop=ids

See also

• Several WMF wikis where it's enabled (and with which configuration)