Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
UnrealIRCd
open-in-new
<h2 id="development">Development</h2> <p>UnrealIRCd was originally based on <a href="/facts/DALnet/aEC68V6w">DALnet</a>'s DreamForge IRCd, "a now deprecated IRC server that was the predecessor to the actively maintained <i><a href="/facts/Bahamut/NVd2DjfR">Bahamut</a></i> server."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> </p><p>On July 13, 2007, Carsten V. Munk (stskeeps),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> the founder of the UnrealIRCd project,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> announced that a future v4.0 would be a fork of InspIRCd. Later on, this idea was dropped.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p><p>With the release of version 3.2.10 in December 2012, Bram Matthys (Syzop), the current project leader of UnrealIRCd,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> announced that development has been started on a 3.4 version. The 3.2 series will be maintained until the new version has been declared stable, which was expected to happen somewhere in 2014.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> In October 2015 it was announced that due to the many changes the new series will be called UnrealIRCd 4 and the first Release Candidate was made available for download.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> An UnrealIRCd 4.0.0 stable release was made on December 24, 2015.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> Next UnrealIRCd 5 stable series was first released on December 13, 2019.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="features">Features</h2> <p>Some of Unreal's features are referred to as "nonstandard",<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> in that they are not listed in the IRC-related RFCs 1459 and 2811–2813,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> but are beneficial "from a security point of view."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> The software "possibly has the most security features of any IRC server", including "spam filters, different styles of user bans, various channel modes to prevent abuse and flooding, SSL (<a href="/facts/Secure_Sockets_Layer/pGy16TnA">Secure Sockets Layer</a>) connection support, and compressed server connections."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> For example, the <i>shun</i> command blocks a user from transmitting any text, the <i>spamfilter</i> uses <a href="/facts/Regular_expressions/KFL3veHX">regular expressions</a> and can automatically ban, shun or disconnect users, and <i>dccdeny</i> can block files from being transmitted.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> It includes the ability to password-protect server restart and stop commands, for operator use only.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> The Windows version includes error reporting on startup.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> Unreal supports linking to IRC Services, and allowing Services to change channel modes.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a> Server-side filtering can be used by administrators to block transfers of files, or certain domains.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18"><sup>18</sup></a> </p><p>Unreal 3.2's "new-style" configuration file format is described as "more verbose" than traditional IRCd servers, which makes it easier set up; it is divided into "blocks" of related options, and has explanatory comments for each option.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19"><sup>19</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="reception">Reception</h2> <p>UnrealIRCd is "one of the most popular and full-featured IRC daemons"<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20"><sup>20</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21"><sup>21</sup></a> and is used on the largest number of IRC servers, according to SearchIRC.com.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22"><sup>22</sup></a> This server is described as having "possibly the most security features of any IRC server."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23"><sup>23</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="security-issues">Security issues</h2> <p>The <a href="/facts/Tar_(file_format)/DCJ37j3d">tarball</a> of version 3.2.8.1, from November 2009 to June 12, 2010, contained a <a href="/facts/Trojan_horse_(computing)/FVqh3nDy">trojan</a> that allowed people to execute commands with the <a href="/facts/Privilege_(computing)/7eS1wna4">privileges</a> of the user running the <a href="/facts/Daemon_(computer_software)/bzuEVGGX">daemon</a>, regardless of any user restrictions. The problem was fixed - the current tarball download is not suspected to contain a trojan.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24"><sup>24</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:25" href="#fn:25"><sup>25</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:26" href="#fn:26"><sup>26</sup></a> The attack was attributed to the group Ac1db1tch3z. </p><p>The "Firefox XPS" cross-protocol JavaScript-based attack on IRC networks was reported in January 2010;<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:27" href="#fn:27"><sup>27</sup></a> UnrealIRCd developers later released a patch to set its anti-spoofing configuration parameter to "on" - the default was previously "off" - and "kill/zline/etc such connections".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:28" href="#fn:28"><sup>28</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:29" href="#fn:29"><sup>29</sup></a> It is the first question in the configuration file.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:30" href="#fn:30"><sup>30</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul> <li>Free and open-source software portal</li></ul> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Internet_Relay_Chat/oDr3VN9q">Internet Relay Chat</a></li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="https://www.unrealircd.org/">UnrealIRCd site</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Piccard, Paul; Baskin, Brian; Spillman, George; Sachs, Marcus (May 2005). Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise (1st ed.). Syngress Publishing. p. 370. ISBN 978-1-59749-017-7. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="978-1-59749-017-7" target="_blank">978-1-59749-017-7</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Munk, Carsten V. (stskeeps) (December 6, 2008). "Stskeeps says goodbye". Unrealircd.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2011. <a href="http://forums.unrealircd.com/viewtopic.php?t=5701" target="_blank">http://forums.unrealircd.com/viewtopic.php?t=5701</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>"UnrealIRCd Staff/Contributors". UnrealIRCd.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-27. Retrieved 2009-09-10. <a href="http://www.unrealircd.com/staff.php" target="_blank">http://www.unrealircd.com/staff.php</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Bishop, Nathan (nate) (December 10, 2008). "UnrealIRCd Development & Future". UnrealIRCd.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2011-07-28. <a href="http://forums.unrealircd.com/viewtopic.php?t=5709" target="_blank">http://forums.unrealircd.com/viewtopic.php?t=5709</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>"UnrealIRCd Staff/Contributors". UnrealIRCd.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-27. Retrieved 2009-09-10. <a href="http://www.unrealircd.com/staff.php" target="_blank">http://www.unrealircd.com/staff.php</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Matthys, Bram (Syzop) (December 25, 2012). "Unreal3.2.10 released & Unreal3.4 development". UnrealIRCd.org. Archived from the original on 2015-03-30. Retrieved 2012-12-25. <a href="https://forums.unrealircd.org/viewtopic.php?t=8122" target="_blank">https://forums.unrealircd.org/viewtopic.php?t=8122</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Matthys, Bram (Syzop) (October 11, 2015). "UnrealIRCd 4.0.0-rc1 released". UnrealIRCd.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-13. Retrieved 2015-10-11. <a href="https://forums.unrealircd.org/viewtopic.php?t=8407" target="_blank">https://forums.unrealircd.org/viewtopic.php?t=8407</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>"UnrealIRCd 4.0.17 released". UnrealIRCd. Dec 23, 2017. Archived from the original on April 16, 2018. Retrieved Apr 15, 2018. <a href="https://forums.unrealircd.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8775" target="_blank">https://forums.unrealircd.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8775</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>"UnrealIRCd 5.0.0 released - UnrealIRCd Forums". UnrealIRCd. Dec 13, 2019. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved Aug 18, 2020. <a href="https://forums.unrealircd.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8947" target="_blank">https://forums.unrealircd.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8947</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Piccard, Paul; Baskin, Brian; Spillman, George; Sachs, Marcus (May 2005). Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise (1st ed.). Syngress Publishing. p. 370. ISBN 978-1-59749-017-7. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="978-1-59749-017-7" target="_blank">978-1-59749-017-7</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Piccard et al., p. 402 - Piccard, Paul; Baskin, Brian; Spillman, George; Sachs, Marcus (May 2005). Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise (1st ed.). Syngress Publishing. p. 370. ISBN 978-1-59749-017-7. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZU95ZdQ908C&pg=PA370" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZU95ZdQ908C&pg=PA370</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Piccard, Paul; Baskin, Brian; Spillman, George; Sachs, Marcus (May 2005). Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise (1st ed.). Syngress Publishing. p. 370. ISBN 978-1-59749-017-7. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="978-1-59749-017-7" target="_blank">978-1-59749-017-7</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>Piccard, Paul; Baskin, Brian; Spillman, George; Sachs, Marcus (May 2005). Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise (1st ed.). Syngress Publishing. p. 370. ISBN 978-1-59749-017-7. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="978-1-59749-017-7" target="_blank">978-1-59749-017-7</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Piccard et al., p. 371 - Piccard, Paul; Baskin, Brian; Spillman, George; Sachs, Marcus (May 2005). Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise (1st ed.). Syngress Publishing. p. 370. ISBN 978-1-59749-017-7. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZU95ZdQ908C&pg=PA370" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZU95ZdQ908C&pg=PA370</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>Leadbeater, David (2004). "Chapter 15, Servers and Services: Hack 95". In Mutton, Paul (ed.). IRC Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools. O'Reilly. p. 363. ISBN 0-596-00687-X. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-19. One of the most popular and full-featured ircds is Unreal. <a href="0-596-00687-X" target="_blank">0-596-00687-X</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>Leadbeater, David (2004). "Chapter 15, Servers and Services: Hack 95". In Mutton, Paul (ed.). IRC Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools. O'Reilly. p. 363. ISBN 0-596-00687-X. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-19. One of the most popular and full-featured ircds is Unreal. <a href="0-596-00687-X" target="_blank">0-596-00687-X</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:17"><p>Leadbeater, p. 366. - Leadbeater, David (2004). "Chapter 15, Servers and Services: Hack 95". In Mutton, Paul (ed.). IRC Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools. O'Reilly. p. 363. ISBN 0-596-00687-X. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-19. One of the most popular and full-featured ircds is Unreal. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=MbHAnBh9AqQC&pg=PA363" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=MbHAnBh9AqQC&pg=PA363</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:18"><p>Piccard et al., p. 409, 392 - Piccard, Paul; Baskin, Brian; Spillman, George; Sachs, Marcus (May 2005). Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise (1st ed.). Syngress Publishing. p. 370. ISBN 978-1-59749-017-7. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZU95ZdQ908C&pg=PA370" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZU95ZdQ908C&pg=PA370</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:19"><p>Leadbeater, p. 361. - Leadbeater, David (2004). "Chapter 15, Servers and Services: Hack 95". In Mutton, Paul (ed.). IRC Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools. O'Reilly. p. 363. ISBN 0-596-00687-X. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-19. One of the most popular and full-featured ircds is Unreal. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=MbHAnBh9AqQC&pg=PA363" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=MbHAnBh9AqQC&pg=PA363</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:20"><p>Piccard, Paul; Baskin, Brian; Spillman, George; Sachs, Marcus (May 2005). Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise (1st ed.). Syngress Publishing. p. 370. ISBN 978-1-59749-017-7. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="978-1-59749-017-7" target="_blank">978-1-59749-017-7</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:21"><p>Leadbeater, p. 360. - Leadbeater, David (2004). "Chapter 15, Servers and Services: Hack 95". In Mutton, Paul (ed.). IRC Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools. O'Reilly. p. 363. ISBN 0-596-00687-X. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-19. One of the most popular and full-featured ircds is Unreal. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=MbHAnBh9AqQC&pg=PA363" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=MbHAnBh9AqQC&pg=PA363</a> <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:22"><p>"IRCd version overview". SearchIRC. Archived from the original on 2010-02-09. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="http://searchirc.com/ircd-versions" target="_blank">http://searchirc.com/ircd-versions</a> <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:23"><p>Piccard, Paul; Baskin, Brian; Spillman, George; Sachs, Marcus (May 2005). Securing IM and P2P Applications for the Enterprise (1st ed.). Syngress Publishing. p. 370. ISBN 978-1-59749-017-7. Archived from the original on 2014-07-12. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="978-1-59749-017-7" target="_blank">978-1-59749-017-7</a> <a href="#fnref:23" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:24"><p>Bott, Ed (June 12, 2010). "Linux infection proves Windows malware monopoly is over; Gentoo ships backdoor? [updated]". ZDNet. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved September 20, 2011. <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-infection-proves-windows-malware-monopoly-is-over-gentoo-ships-backdoor-updated/" target="_blank">https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-infection-proves-windows-malware-monopoly-is-over-gentoo-ships-backdoor-updated/</a> <a href="#fnref:24" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:25"><p>"UnrealIRCd Security Advisory". UnrealIRCd.com. June 12, 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-09-04. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="http://www.unrealircd.com/txt/unrealsecadvisory.20100612.txt" target="_blank">http://www.unrealircd.com/txt/unrealsecadvisory.20100612.txt</a> <a href="#fnref:25" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:26"><p>Lederer, Christian (June 12, 2010). "Some UnrealIRCd 3.2.8.1 downloads trojaned (Update 3)". IRCJunkie.org. Archived from the original on 2011-08-01. Retrieved 2011-09-10. (rationale) <a href="http://www.irc-junkie.org/2010-06-12/some-unrealircd-3-2-8-1-downloads-trojaned/" target="_blank">http://www.irc-junkie.org/2010-06-12/some-unrealircd-3-2-8-1-downloads-trojaned/</a> <a href="#fnref:26" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:27"><p>Goodin, Dan (January 30, 2010). "Firefox-based attack wreaks havoc on IRC users". The Register. Archived from the original on 2011-08-17. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/30/firefox_interprotocol_attack/" target="_blank">https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/30/firefox_interprotocol_attack/</a> <a href="#fnref:27" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:28"><p>Syzop (February 28, 2010). "Browser/Javascript POST attack". UnrealIRCd.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="http://forums.unrealircd.com/viewtopic.php?t=6458" target="_blank">http://forums.unrealircd.com/viewtopic.php?t=6458</a> <a href="#fnref:28" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:29"><p>Lederer, Christian (March 1, 2010). "UnrealIRCd team releases patch against Firefox XPS attack". irc-junkie.org. Archived from the original on 2011-09-01. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="http://www.irc-junkie.org/2010-03-01/unrealircd-team-releases-patch-against-firefox-xps-attack/" target="_blank">http://www.irc-junkie.org/2010-03-01/unrealircd-team-releases-patch-against-firefox-xps-attack/</a> <a href="#fnref:29" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:30"><p>Lederer, Christian (March 1, 2010). "UnrealIRCd team releases patch against Firefox XPS attack". irc-junkie.org. Archived from the original on 2011-09-01. Retrieved 2011-09-10. <a href="http://www.irc-junkie.org/2010-03-01/unrealircd-team-releases-patch-against-firefox-xps-attack/" target="_blank">http://www.irc-junkie.org/2010-03-01/unrealircd-team-releases-patch-against-firefox-xps-attack/</a> <a href="#fnref:30" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>