[3.0] Bots - view likes attacks#9148
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jdarwood007 merged 1 commit intoSimpleMachines:release-3.0from Mar 12, 2026
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Signed-off-by: Shawn Bulen <bulens@pacbell.net>
sbulen
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Fixes #9112
3.0 version of #9127 - More discussion may be found there.
This PR removes the link allowing users to drill down to see who liked a post. Only guests & bots are affected.
This link is a bot magnet during botnet attacks. During some attacks, these are the ONLY requests made - in the tens of thousands. Note that the request includes the session var & value in the URL. (I believe this is the only guest link that does so...???) When bots pass this bogus session info, the existing session is destroyed and a new one is created, ultimately causing TWO session writes for each bot request. I.e., double the impact.
I believe this should be removed from guests/bots altogether. If that user wants to drill down, they can register.
For more discussion see:
https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=592442.0
https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=590069.0
NOTE I cannot test this due to #9146 , but it looks simple enough...