exim or cppopper bug or

[buddhafinder]

When a particular domain generates an email to mine, Exim logs show the following result:

2002-02-11 01:24:12 16a9sq-0002mo-00 rejected from mail-2.channeladvisor.com (r-mailrover2.auctionrover.com) [66.45.7.133]: syntax error in 'Reply-To' header when scanning for sender: malformed address: &&[email protected]&& may not follow [email protected] in &[email protected]&[email protected]&& (envelope sender is &&[email protected]&&amp

I have noticed the missing space in the line &[email protected]&[email protected]&& between the m and &.

Successfully send messages from channeladvisor.com to a non-exim server also show the space missing in the reply-to address.

Is this normal? Is exim choking because of a bug? Why does exim even check the syntax on the reply-to? Is this a cpanel customization?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give.

 

[bdraco]

[quote:b9ca9307dc][i:b9ca9307dc]Originally posted by buddhafinder[/i:b9ca9307dc]

When a particular domain generates an email to mine, Exim logs show the following result:

2002-02-11 01:24:12 16a9sq-0002mo-00 rejected from mail-2.channeladvisor.com (r-mailrover2.auctionrover.com) [66.45.7.133]: syntax error in 'Reply-To' header when scanning for sender: malformed address: &&[email protected]&& may not follow [email protected] in &[email protected]&[email protected]&& (envelope sender is &&[email protected]&&amp

I have noticed the missing space in the line &[email protected]&[email protected]&& between the m and &.

Successfully send messages from channeladvisor.com to a non-exim server also show the space missing in the reply-to address.

Is this normal? Is exim choking because of a bug? Why does exim even check the syntax on the reply-to? Is this a cpanel customization?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give.[/quote:b9ca9307dc]


exim is just rejecting an invalid Reply-To: header becaues it violates the smtp RFC. You'll need to correct the problem with whatever is generating the reply-to header

 

[buddhafinder]

Thanks for the reply. Please excuse my newbie questions, but I'm still learning.

Does the sender or cppopper generate the header?

 

[bdraco]

[quote:696d318bf3][i:696d318bf3]Originally posted by buddhafinder[/i:696d318bf3]

Thanks for the reply. Please excuse my newbie questions, but I'm still learning.

Does the sender or cppopper generate the header?[/quote:696d318bf3]

The mail client that sent the mail generates that header..

 

[buddhafinder]

Thanks again.

The info I'm getting from the exim user board indicates that checking for syntax on these headers is unusual. This problem started just after a cpanel upgrade at the end of January. Were there modifications in the cpanel Exim implementation to strengthen syntax checking of headers?

Is there a way to disable syntax checking for the reply-to header?

 

[bdraco]

[quote:c3c54483a1][i:c3c54483a1]Originally posted by buddhafinder[/i:c3c54483a1]

Thanks again.

The info I'm getting from the exim user board indicates that checking for syntax on these headers is unusual. This problem started just after a cpanel upgrade at the end of January. Were there modifications in the cpanel Exim implementation to strengthen syntax checking of headers?

Is there a way to disable syntax checking for the reply-to header?[/quote:c3c54483a1]

There were no updates to the syntax checking that I'm aware of.. Is there a reason you cannot fix the problem on the sender's end ?

 

[buddhafinder]

Since I'm not the webhost nor the sender, I've been caught between them for some time now. The sender only has this problem sending to my host.

I'm not clear there is a syntax error, actually. I've been reading rfc2822, and the header looks ok. What do you think? Here it is:

Reply-To: &[email protected]&&[email protected]&

According to rfc2822, the text between the quotes should disappear. The syntax error seems to be the lack of a space between the second quote and the bracket. rfc2822 does not seem to require the space. Other servers can receive these messages just fine.

edited to add: I didn't disable smilies earlier in the thread, so the line did not appear correctly.

 

[moronhead]

[quote:b8b94932cd][i:b8b94932cd]Originally posted by buddhafinder[/i:b8b94932cd]

Reply-To: &[email protected]&&[email protected]&

According to rfc2822, the text between the quotes should disappear. The syntax error seems to be the lack of a space between the second quote and the bracket. rfc2822 does not seem to require the space. Other servers can receive these messages just fine.
[/quote:b8b94932cd]

Whoever sent the email missed the double quotes around the first [email protected]! I've tried all the combinations: with space and without space in-between and all the emails arrived without a hitch when the first email address was quoted. When I tried to send it without the quotes the message was rejected by the server with an identical message to the one you posted.

 

[buddhafinder]

moronhead

I think you are right. I've just gone back and reviewed all of the log entries I've got available, and that seems right on.

Here's the issue now:

When the email is sent to [email protected], the quote is missing. The cc: sent at the same time to [email protected], the same message has no quote in that spot on the reply-to header.

It does not matter who is the to: and who is the cc: - the message is rejected for syntax in the reply-to header because the quote is missing on the cpanel/exim server. It does not matter what address is in the reply-to header.

This started just after an upgrade on 1/27 or 1/28. I know that, because all the emails left on my server had new uid's the next morning, and downloaded duplicates. A sure sign that the nightly upgrade involved either Exim or maybe cppopper.

I'm a rank newbie - so, am I making sense?

 

[moronhead]

[quote:fc03017663][i:fc03017663]Originally posted by buddhafinder[/i:fc03017663]

moronhead

I think you are right. I've just gone back and reviewed all of the log entries I've got available, and that seems right on.

Here's the issue now:

When the email is sent to [email protected], the quote is missing. The cc: sent at the same time to [email protected], the same message has no quote in that spot on the reply-to header.

It does not matter who is the to: and who is the cc: - the message is rejected for syntax in the reply-to header because the quote is missing on the cpanel/exim server. It does not matter what address is in the reply-to header.

This started just after an upgrade on 1/27 or 1/28. I know that, because all the emails left on my server had new uid's the next morning, and downloaded duplicates. A sure sign that the nightly upgrade involved either Exim or maybe cppopper.

I'm a rank newbie - so, am I making sense?[/quote:fc03017663]

Don't worry, you are making sense .... ;¬) The Cpanel server is seemingly correct in rejecting the message in compliance with rfc2822. According to that you need to put the first portion of the Reply-To: header in quotes if it's got any punctuation marks in it: e.g. @ , . ; ! (except ?).

You don't need the quotes if you have no punctuation marks. So blank spaces (e.g. John Gabriel) and question marks (e.g. who?) need no quotes either.

 

[buddhafinder]

Yeah, that makes sense. What's got be baffled is why the quote is missing on reply-to header of the message received by the cpanel server, but not on the very same message's reply-to header on the cc: received by a different server.

Same goes if the cpanel server receives the cc: and the non-cpanel server the to. Either way, the cpanel shows the quote as missing on the reply-to, but the other server shows the quote present.

How is that possible? The only thing I can imagine is that cpanel is playing with the header in some way.

 

[buddhafinder]

Thanks for the help so far! I've been able to get my emails by having the host turn off header syntax checking in the exim config file. That is the most common state for Exim to be in, according to the folks at Cambridge. So, now I have emails coming for further diagnosis. Does cpanel strip out the quotes? Here are two headers from the same email. One to the non-cpanel host, and the other to the cpanel host. Where did the quotes go in the second set of headers? This has got to be happenning on the receiving end.

not cpanel 2/18/02 ===============
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Reply-To: &[email protected]&&[email protected]&
From: &[email protected]& &[email protected]&

cpanel host 2/18/02 ==============
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Reply-To: [email protected]&[email protected]&
From: us[email protected] &[email protected]&

 

[moronhead]

[quote:1390a27622][i:1390a27622]Originally posted by buddhafinder[/i:1390a27622]

So, now I have emails coming for further diagnosis. Does cpanel strip out the quotes? Here are two headers from the same email. One to the non-cpanel host, and the other to the cpanel host. Where did the quotes go in the second set of headers? This has got to be happenning on the receiving end.

not cpanel 2/18/02 ===============
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Reply-To: &[email protected]&&[email protected]&
From: &[email protected]& &[email protected]&

cpanel host 2/18/02 ==============
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Reply-To: [email protected]&[email protected]&
From: us[email protected] &[email protected]&
[/quote:1390a27622]

That's a very interesting point. If the sender omits the quotes the Cpanel server will correctly omit them too. Could the non-cpanel server be wrapping the quotes automatically around the first portion of Reply-To: even if the email comes with no quotes in it? That's what it seems to be hapenning with the From: header. Let's face it, why should an email address as us[email protected] have quotes? This may be worth further investigating.

[quote:1390a27622]I've been able to get my emails by having the host turn off header syntax checking in the exim config file. That is the most common state for Exim to be in, according to the folks at Cambridge. [/quote:1390a27622]

You are probably referring to headers_sender_verify = false in /etc/exim.conf. That brought about an interesting conclusion tonight.

If the incoming email hasn't got a Reply-To: header but just a From: header such as: Eric Knowles &[email protected]& (no quotes around Eric Knowles) and if headers_sender_verify is set to true (the current default setting in exim.conf) the server is rejecting the email. This may not be desirable as many people won't fill in the Reply-To: box in their email client and logically won't put quotes around their Full Name which usually makes up the first portion of the From: header.

Could interested members verify this to be sure it's consistent?

Regards,

Norman