Hi NeilF,

The VBulletin configuration scripts should have the database connection details (host,username and password) that it is using to connect to the MySQL database. You could then usen DBI (you will also require DBD::MYSQL if you do not already have it) to connect to the database via Perl. Check out Reading from a database from the Tutorials section of this site to give you an introduction to DBI.

Once you have a working database connection set up you will be able to run a query using the user login details to validate their accounts.

Hope this helps.

Martin