1 From time to time, experimental features may be added to Exim.
2 While a feature is experimental, there will be a build-time
3 option whose name starts "EXPERIMENTAL_" that must be set in
4 order to include the feature. This file contains information
5 about experimental features, all of which are unstable and
6 liable to incompatible change.
10 --------------------------------------------------------------
12 Per-Recipient Data Reponse is an SMTP extension proposed by Eric Hall
13 in a (now-expired) IETF draft from 2007. It's not hit mainstream
14 use, but has apparently been implemented in the META1 MTA.
16 There is mention at http://mail.aegee.org/intern/sendmail.html
17 of a patch to sendmail "to make it PRDR capable".
19 ref: http://www.eric-a-hall.com/specs/draft-hall-prdr-00.txt
21 If Exim is built with EXPERIMENTAL_PRDR there is a new config
22 boolean "prdr_enable" which controls whether PRDR is advertised
23 as part of an EHLO response, a new "acl_data_smtp_prdr" ACL
24 (called for each recipient, after data arrives but before the
25 data ACL), and a new smtp transport option "hosts_try_prdr".
27 PRDR may be used to support per-user content filtering. Without it
28 one must defer any recipient after the first that has a different
29 content-filter configuration. With PRDR, the RCPT-time check
30 for this can be disabled when the MAIL-time $smtp_command included
31 "PRDR". Any required difference in behaviour of the main DATA-time
32 ACL should however depend on the PRDR-time ACL having run, as Exim
33 will avoid doing so in some situations (eg. single-recipient mails).
38 --------------------------------------------------------------
40 X.509 PKI certificates expire and can be revoked; to handle this, the
41 clients need some way to determine if a particular certificate, from a
42 particular Certificate Authority (CA), is still valid. There are three
45 The simplest way is to serve up a Certificate Revocation List (CRL) with
46 an ordinary web-server, regenerating the CRL before it expires. The
47 downside is that clients have to periodically re-download a potentially
48 huge file from every certificate authority it knows of.
50 The way with most moving parts at query time is Online Certificate
51 Status Protocol (OCSP), where the client verifies the certificate
52 against an OCSP server run by the CA. This lets the CA track all
53 usage of the certs. This requires running software with access to the
54 private key of the CA, to sign the responses to the OCSP queries. OCSP
55 is based on HTTP and can be proxied accordingly.
57 The only widespread OCSP server implementation (known to this writer)
58 comes as part of OpenSSL and aborts on an invalid request, such as
59 connecting to the port and then disconnecting. This requires
60 re-entering the passphrase each time some random client does this.
62 The third way is OCSP Stapling; in this, the server using a certificate
63 issued by the CA periodically requests an OCSP proof of validity from
64 the OCSP server, then serves it up inline as part of the TLS
65 negotiation. This approach adds no extra round trips, does not let the
66 CA track users, scales well with number of certs issued by the CA and is
67 resilient to temporary OCSP server failures, as long as the server
68 starts retrying to fetch an OCSP proof some time before its current
69 proof expires. The downside is that it requires server support.
71 If Exim is built with EXPERIMENTAL_OCSP and it was built with OpenSSL,
72 or with GnuTLS 3.1.3 or later, then it gains a new global option:
75 The file specified therein is expected to be in DER format, and contain
76 an OCSP proof. Exim will serve it as part of the TLS handshake. This
77 option will be re-expanded for SNI, if the tls_certificate option
78 contains $tls_sni, as per other TLS options.
80 Exim does not at this time implement any support for fetching a new OCSP
81 proof. The burden is on the administrator to handle this, outside of
82 Exim. The file specified should be replaced atomically, so that the
83 contents are always valid. Exim will expand the "tls_ocsp_file" option
84 on each connection, so a new file will be handled transparently on the
87 Exim will check for a valid next update timestamp in the OCSP proof;
88 if not present, or if the proof has expired, it will be ignored.
90 Also, given EXPERIMENTAL_OCSP, the smtp transport gains
91 a "hosts_require_ocsp" option; a host-list for which an OCSP Stapling
92 is requested and required for the connection to proceed. The host(s)
93 should also be in "hosts_require_tls", and "tls_verify_certificates"
94 configured for the transport.
96 For the client to be able to verify the stapled OCSP the server must
97 also supply, in its stapled information, any intermediate
98 certificates for the chain leading to the OCSP proof from the signer
99 of the server certificate. There may be zero or one such. These
100 intermediate certificates should be added to the server OCSP stapling
101 file (named by tls_ocsp_file).
103 Note that the proof only covers the terminal server certificate,
104 not any of the chain from CA to it.
106 At this point in time, we're gathering feedback on use, to determine if
107 it's worth adding complexity to the Exim daemon to periodically re-fetch
108 OCSP files and somehow handling multiple files.
110 A helper script "ocsp_fetch.pl" for fetching a proof from a CA
111 OCSP server is supplied. The server URL may be included in the
112 server certificate, if the CA is helpful.
114 One failure mode seen was the OCSP Signer cert expiring before the end
115 of validity of the OCSP proof. The checking done by Exim/OpenSSL
116 noted this as invalid overall, but the re-fetch script did not.
121 Brightmail AntiSpam (BMI) suppport
122 --------------------------------------------------------------
124 Brightmail AntiSpam is a commercial package. Please see
125 http://www.brightmail.com for more information on
126 the product. For the sake of clarity, we'll refer to it as
130 0) BMI concept and implementation overview
132 In contrast to how spam-scanning with SpamAssassin is
133 implemented in exiscan-acl, BMI is more suited for per
134 -recipient scanning of messages. However, each messages is
135 scanned only once, but multiple "verdicts" for multiple
136 recipients can be returned from the BMI server. The exiscan
137 implementation passes the message to the BMI server just
138 before accepting it. It then adds the retrieved verdicts to
139 the messages header file in the spool. These verdicts can then
140 be queried in routers, where operation is per-recipient
141 instead of per-message. To use BMI, you need to take the
144 1) Compile Exim with BMI support
145 2) Set up main BMI options (top section of Exim config file)
146 3) Set up ACL control statement (ACL section of the config
148 4) Set up your routers to use BMI verdicts (routers section
150 5) (Optional) Set up per-recipient opt-in information.
152 These four steps are explained in more details below.
154 1) Adding support for BMI at compile time
156 To compile with BMI support, you need to link Exim against
157 the Brighmail client SDK, consisting of a library
158 (libbmiclient_single.so) and a header file (bmi_api.h).
159 You'll also need to explicitly set a flag in the Makefile to
160 include BMI support in the Exim binary. Both can be achieved
161 with these lines in Local/Makefile:
163 EXPERIMENTAL_BRIGHTMAIL=yes
164 CFLAGS=-I/path/to/the/dir/with/the/includefile
165 EXTRALIBS_EXIM=-L/path/to/the/dir/with/the/library -lbmiclient_single
167 If you use other CFLAGS or EXTRALIBS_EXIM settings then
168 merge the content of these lines with them.
170 Note for BMI6.x users: You'll also have to add -lxml2_single
171 to the EXTRALIBS_EXIM line. Users of 5.5x do not need to do
174 You should also include the location of
175 libbmiclient_single.so in your dynamic linker configuration
176 file (usually /etc/ld.so.conf) and run "ldconfig"
177 afterwards, or else the produced Exim binary will not be
178 able to find the library file.
181 2) Setting up BMI support in the Exim main configuration
183 To enable BMI support in the main Exim configuration, you
184 should set the path to the main BMI configuration file with
185 the "bmi_config_file" option, like this:
187 bmi_config_file = /opt/brightmail/etc/brightmail.cfg
189 This must go into section 1 of Exim's configuration file (You
190 can put it right on top). If you omit this option, it
191 defaults to /opt/brightmail/etc/brightmail.cfg.
193 Note for BMI6.x users: This file is in XML format in V6.xx
194 and its name is /opt/brightmail/etc/bmiconfig.xml. So BMI
195 6.x users MUST set the bmi_config_file option.
198 3) Set up ACL control statement
200 To optimize performance, it makes sense only to process
201 messages coming from remote, untrusted sources with the BMI
202 server. To set up a messages for processing by the BMI
203 server, you MUST set the "bmi_run" control statement in any
204 ACL for an incoming message. You will typically do this in
205 an "accept" block in the "acl_check_rcpt" ACL. You should
206 use the "accept" block(s) that accept messages from remote
207 servers for your own domain(s). Here is an example that uses
208 the "accept" blocks from Exim's default configuration file:
211 accept domains = +local_domains
216 accept domains = +relay_to_domains
221 If bmi_run is not set in any ACL during reception of the
222 message, it will NOT be passed to the BMI server.
225 4) Setting up routers to use BMI verdicts
227 When a message has been run through the BMI server, one or
228 more "verdicts" are present. Different recipients can have
229 different verdicts. Each recipient is treated individually
230 during routing, so you can query the verdicts by recipient
231 at that stage. From Exim's view, a verdict can have the
234 o deliver the message normally
235 o deliver the message to an alternate location
236 o do not deliver the message
238 To query the verdict for a recipient, the implementation
239 offers the following tools:
242 - Boolean router preconditions. These can be used in any
243 router. For a simple implementation of BMI, these may be
244 all that you need. The following preconditions are
247 o bmi_deliver_default
249 This precondition is TRUE if the verdict for the
250 recipient is to deliver the message normally. If the
251 message has not been processed by the BMI server, this
252 variable defaults to TRUE.
254 o bmi_deliver_alternate
256 This precondition is TRUE if the verdict for the
257 recipient is to deliver the message to an alternate
258 location. You can get the location string from the
259 $bmi_alt_location expansion variable if you need it. See
260 further below. If the message has not been processed by
261 the BMI server, this variable defaults to FALSE.
265 This precondition is TRUE if the verdict for the
266 recipient is NOT to deliver the message to the
267 recipient. You will typically use this precondition in a
268 top-level blackhole router, like this:
270 # don't deliver messages handled by the BMI server
276 This router should be on top of all others, so messages
277 that should not be delivered do not reach other routers
278 at all. If the message has not been processed by
279 the BMI server, this variable defaults to FALSE.
282 - A list router precondition to query if rules "fired" on
283 the message for the recipient. Its name is "bmi_rule". You
284 use it by passing it a colon-separated list of rule
285 numbers. You can use this condition to route messages that
286 matched specific rules. Here is an example:
288 # special router for BMI rule #5, #8 and #11
292 data = postmaster@mydomain.com
295 - Expansion variables. Several expansion variables are set
296 during routing. You can use them in custom router
297 conditions, for example. The following variables are
300 o $bmi_base64_verdict
302 This variable will contain the BASE64 encoded verdict
303 for the recipient being routed. You can use it to add a
304 header to messages for tracking purposes, for example:
309 headers_add = X-Brightmail-Verdict: $bmi_base64_verdict
310 transport = local_delivery
312 If there is no verdict available for the recipient being
313 routed, this variable contains the empty string.
315 o $bmi_base64_tracker_verdict
317 This variable will contain a BASE64 encoded subset of
318 the verdict information concerning the "rules" that
319 fired on the message. You can add this string to a
320 header, commonly named "X-Brightmail-Tracker". Example:
325 headers_add = X-Brightmail-Tracker: $bmi_base64_tracker_verdict
326 transport = local_delivery
328 If there is no verdict available for the recipient being
329 routed, this variable contains the empty string.
333 If the verdict is to redirect the message to an
334 alternate location, this variable will contain the
335 alternate location string returned by the BMI server. In
336 its default configuration, this is a header-like string
337 that can be added to the message with "headers_add". If
338 there is no verdict available for the recipient being
339 routed, or if the message is to be delivered normally,
340 this variable contains the empty string.
344 This is an additional integer variable that can be used
345 to query if the message should be delivered at all. You
346 should use router preconditions instead if possible.
348 $bmi_deliver is '0': the message should NOT be delivered.
349 $bmi_deliver is '1': the message should be delivered.
352 IMPORTANT NOTE: Verdict inheritance.
353 The message is passed to the BMI server during message
354 reception, using the target addresses from the RCPT TO:
355 commands in the SMTP transaction. If recipients get expanded
356 or re-written (for example by aliasing), the new address(es)
357 inherit the verdict from the original address. This means
358 that verdicts also apply to all "child" addresses generated
359 from top-level addresses that were sent to the BMI server.
362 5) Using per-recipient opt-in information (Optional)
364 The BMI server features multiple scanning "profiles" for
365 individual recipients. These are usually stored in a LDAP
366 server and are queried by the BMI server itself. However,
367 you can also pass opt-in data for each recipient from the
368 MTA to the BMI server. This is particularly useful if you
369 already look up recipient data in Exim anyway (which can
370 also be stored in a SQL database or other source). This
371 implementation enables you to pass opt-in data to the BMI
372 server in the RCPT ACL. This works by setting the
373 'bmi_optin' modifier in a block of that ACL. If should be
374 set to a list of comma-separated strings that identify the
375 features which the BMI server should use for that particular
376 recipient. Ideally, you would use the 'bmi_optin' modifier
377 in the same ACL block where you set the 'bmi_run' control
378 flag. Here is an example that will pull opt-in data for each
379 recipient from a flat file called
380 '/etc/exim/bmi_optin_data'.
384 user1@mydomain.com: <OPTIN STRING1>:<OPTIN STRING2>
385 user2@thatdomain.com: <OPTIN STRING3>
390 accept domains = +relay_to_domains
393 bmi_optin = ${lookup{$local_part@$domain}lsearch{/etc/exim/bmi_optin_data}}
396 Of course, you can also use any other lookup method that
397 Exim supports, including LDAP, Postgres, MySQL, Oracle etc.,
398 as long as the result is a list of colon-separated opt-in
401 For a list of available opt-in strings, please contact your
402 Brightmail representative.
407 Sender Policy Framework (SPF) support
408 --------------------------------------------------------------
410 To learn more about SPF, visit http://www.openspf.org. This
411 document does not explain the SPF fundamentals, you should
412 read and understand the implications of deploying SPF on your
413 system before doing so.
415 SPF support is added via the libspf2 library. Visit
417 http://www.libspf2.org/
419 to obtain a copy, then compile and install it. By default,
420 this will put headers in /usr/local/include and the static
421 library in /usr/local/lib.
423 To compile Exim with SPF support, set these additional flags in
427 CFLAGS=-DSPF -I/usr/local/include
428 EXTRALIBS_EXIM=-L/usr/local/lib -lspf2
430 This assumes that the libspf2 files are installed in
431 their default locations.
433 You can now run SPF checks in incoming SMTP by using the "spf"
434 ACL condition in either the MAIL, RCPT or DATA ACLs. When
435 using it in the RCPT ACL, you can make the checks dependent on
436 the RCPT address (or domain), so you can check SPF records
437 only for certain target domains. This gives you the
438 possibility to opt-out certain customers that do not want
439 their mail to be subject to SPF checking.
441 The spf condition takes a list of strings on its right-hand
442 side. These strings describe the outcome of the SPF check for
443 which the spf condition should succeed. Valid strings are:
445 o pass The SPF check passed, the sending host
446 is positively verified by SPF.
447 o fail The SPF check failed, the sending host
448 is NOT allowed to send mail for the domain
449 in the envelope-from address.
450 o softfail The SPF check failed, but the queried
451 domain can't absolutely confirm that this
453 o none The queried domain does not publish SPF
455 o neutral The SPF check returned a "neutral" state.
456 This means the queried domain has published
457 a SPF record, but wants to allow outside
458 servers to send mail under its domain as well.
459 This should be treated like "none".
460 o permerror This indicates a syntax error in the SPF
461 record of the queried domain. You may deny
462 messages when this occurs. (Changed in 4.83)
463 o temperror This indicates a temporary error during all
464 processing, including Exim's SPF processing.
465 You may defer messages when this occurs.
467 o err_temp Same as permerror, deprecated in 4.83, will be
468 removed in a future release.
469 o err_perm Same as temperror, deprecated in 4.83, will be
470 removed in a future release.
472 You can prefix each string with an exclamation mark to invert
473 its meaning, for example "!fail" will match all results but
474 "fail". The string list is evaluated left-to-right, in a
475 short-circuit fashion. When a string matches the outcome of
476 the SPF check, the condition succeeds. If none of the listed
477 strings matches the outcome of the SPF check, the condition
480 Here is an example to fail forgery attempts from domains that
484 deny message = $sender_host_address is not allowed to send mail from ${if def:sender_address_domain {$sender_address_domain}{$sender_helo_name}}. \
485 Please see http://www.openspf.org/Why?scope=${if def:sender_address_domain {mfrom}{helo}};identity=${if def:sender_address_domain {$sender_address}{$sender_helo_name}};ip=$sender_host_address
487 --------------------- */
489 You can also give special treatment to specific domains:
492 deny message = AOL sender, but not from AOL-approved relay.
493 sender_domains = aol.com
495 --------------------- */
497 Explanation: AOL publishes SPF records, but is liberal and
498 still allows non-approved relays to send mail from aol.com.
499 This will result in a "neutral" state, while mail from genuine
500 AOL servers will result in "pass". The example above takes
501 this into account and treats "neutral" like "fail", but only
502 for aol.com. Please note that this violates the SPF draft.
504 When the spf condition has run, it sets up several expansion
508 This contains a human-readable string describing the outcome
509 of the SPF check. You can add it to a custom header or use
510 it for logging purposes.
513 This contains a complete Received-SPF: header that can be
514 added to the message. Please note that according to the SPF
515 draft, this header must be added at the top of the header
516 list. Please see section 10 on how you can do this.
518 Note: in case of "Best-guess" (see below), the convention is
519 to put this string in a header called X-SPF-Guess: instead.
522 This contains the outcome of the SPF check in string form,
523 one of pass, fail, softfail, none, neutral, permerror or
527 This contains a string that can be used in a SMTP response
528 to the calling party. Useful for "fail".
530 In addition to SPF, you can also perform checks for so-called
531 "Best-guess". Strictly speaking, "Best-guess" is not standard
532 SPF, but it is supported by the same framework that enables SPF
533 capability. Refer to http://www.openspf.org/FAQ/Best_guess_record
534 for a description of what it means.
536 To access this feature, simply use the spf_guess condition in place
537 of the spf one. For example:
540 deny message = $sender_host_address doesn't look trustworthy to me
542 --------------------- */
544 In case you decide to reject messages based on this check, you
545 should note that although it uses the same framework, "Best-guess"
546 is NOT SPF, and therefore you should not mention SPF at all in your
549 When the spf_guess condition has run, it sets up the same expansion
550 variables as when spf condition is run, described above.
552 Additionally, since Best-guess is not standardized, you may redefine
553 what "Best-guess" means to you by redefining spf_guess variable in
554 global config. For example, the following:
557 spf_guess = v=spf1 a/16 mx/16 ptr ?all
558 --------------------- */
560 would relax host matching rules to a broader network range.
563 SRS (Sender Rewriting Scheme) Support
564 --------------------------------------------------------------
566 Exiscan currently includes SRS support via Miles Wilton's
567 libsrs_alt library. The current version of the supported
570 In order to use SRS, you must get a copy of libsrs_alt from
572 http://srs.mirtol.com/
574 Unpack the tarball, then refer to MTAs/README.EXIM
575 to proceed. You need to set
579 in your Local/Makefile.
583 --------------------------------------------------------------
587 In order to build exim with DCC support add
591 to your Makefile. (Re-)build/install exim. exim -d should show
592 EXPERIMENTAL_DCC under "Support for".
597 In the main section of exim.cf add at least
598 dccifd_address = /usr/local/dcc/var/dccifd
600 dccifd_address = <ip> <port>
602 In the DATA ACL you can use the new condition
605 After that "$dcc_header" contains the X-DCC-Header.
608 fail for overall "R", "G" from dccifd
609 defer for overall "T" from dccifd
610 accept for overall "A", "S" from dccifd
612 dcc = */defer_ok works as for spamd.
614 The "$dcc_result" variable contains the overall result from DCC
615 answer. There will an X-DCC: header added to the mail.
619 to greylist with DCC.
621 If you set, in the main section,
622 dcc_direct_add_header = true
623 then the dcc header will be added "in deep" and if the spool
624 file was already written it gets removed. This forces Exim to
625 write it again if needed. This helps to get the DCC Header
626 through to eg. SpamAssassin.
628 If you want to pass even more headers in the middle of the
629 DATA stage you can set
630 $acl_m_dcc_add_header
631 to tell the DCC routines to add more information; eg, you might set
632 this to some results from ClamAV. Be careful. Header syntax is
633 not checked and is added "as is".
635 In case you've troubles with sites sending the same queue items from several
636 hosts and fail to get through greylisting you can use
637 $acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip
639 Setting $acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip to an IP address overrides the default
640 of $sender_host_address. eg. use the following ACL in DATA stage:
642 warn set acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip = \
643 ${lookup{$sender_helo_name}nwildlsearch{/etc/mail/multipleip_sites}{$value}{}}
644 condition = ${if def:acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip}
645 log_message = dbg: acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip set to \
646 $acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip
648 Then set something like
649 # cat /etc/mail/multipleip_sites
650 mout-xforward.gmx.net 82.165.159.12
651 mout.gmx.net 212.227.15.16
653 Use a reasonable IP. eg. one the sending cluster acutally uses.
656 --------------------------------------------------------------
658 DMARC combines feedback from SPF, DKIM, and header From: in order
659 to attempt to provide better indicators of the authenticity of an
660 email. This document does not explain the fundamentals, you
661 should read and understand how it works by visiting the website at
662 http://www.dmarc.org/.
664 DMARC support is added via the libopendmarc library. Visit:
666 http://sourceforge.net/projects/opendmarc/
668 to obtain a copy, or find it in your favorite rpm package
669 repository. If building from source, this description assumes
670 that headers will be in /usr/local/include, and that the libraries
671 are in /usr/local/lib.
673 1. To compile Exim with DMARC support, you must first enable SPF.
674 Please read the above section on enabling the EXPERIMENTAL_SPF
675 feature. You must also have DKIM support, so you cannot set the
676 DISABLE_DKIM feature. Once both of those conditions have been met
677 you can enable DMARC in Local/Makefile:
679 EXPERIMENTAL_DMARC=yes
680 LDFLAGS += -lopendmarc
681 # CFLAGS += -I/usr/local/include
682 # LDFLAGS += -L/usr/local/lib
684 The first line sets the feature to include the correct code, and
685 the second line says to link the libopendmarc libraries into the
686 exim binary. The commented out lines should be uncommented if you
687 built opendmarc from source and installed in the default location.
688 Adjust the paths if you installed them elsewhere, but you do not
689 need to uncomment them if an rpm (or you) installed them in the
690 package controlled locations (/usr/include and /usr/lib).
693 2. Use the following global settings to configure DMARC:
696 dmarc_tld_file Defines the location of a text file of valid
697 top level domains the opendmarc library uses
698 during domain parsing. Maintained by Mozilla,
699 the most current version can be downloaded
700 from a link at http://publicsuffix.org/list/.
703 dmarc_history_file Defines the location of a file to log results
704 of dmarc verification on inbound emails. The
705 contents are importable by the opendmarc tools
706 which will manage the data, send out DMARC
707 reports, and expire the data. Make sure the
708 directory of this file is writable by the user
711 dmarc_forensic_sender The email address to use when sending a
712 forensic report detailing alignment failures
713 if a sender domain's dmarc record specifies it
714 and you have configured Exim to send them.
715 Default: do-not-reply@$default_hostname
718 3. By default, the DMARC processing will run for any remote,
719 non-authenticated user. It makes sense to only verify DMARC
720 status of messages coming from remote, untrusted sources. You can
721 use standard conditions such as hosts, senders, etc, to decide that
722 DMARC verification should *not* be performed for them and disable
723 DMARC with a control setting:
725 control = dmarc_disable_verify
727 A DMARC record can also specify a "forensic address", which gives
728 exim an email address to submit reports about failed alignment.
729 Exim does not do this by default because in certain conditions it
730 results in unintended information leakage (what lists a user might
731 be subscribed to, etc). You must configure exim to submit forensic
732 reports to the owner of the domain. If the DMARC record contains a
733 forensic address and you specify the control statement below, then
734 exim will send these forensic emails. It's also advised that you
735 configure a dmarc_forensic_sender because the default sender address
736 construction might be inadequate.
738 control = dmarc_forensic_enable
740 (AGAIN: You can choose not to send these forensic reports by simply
741 not putting the dmarc_forensic_enable control line at any point in
742 your exim config. If you don't tell it to send them, it will not
745 There are no options to either control. Both must appear before
749 4. You can now run DMARC checks in incoming SMTP by using the
750 "dmarc_status" ACL condition in the DATA ACL. You are required to
751 call the spf condition first in the ACLs, then the "dmarc_status"
752 condition. Putting this condition in the ACLs is required in order
753 for a DMARC check to actually occur. All of the variables are set
754 up before the DATA ACL, but there is no actual DMARC check that
755 occurs until a "dmarc_status" condition is encountered in the ACLs.
757 The dmarc_status condition takes a list of strings on its
758 right-hand side. These strings describe recommended action based
759 on the DMARC check. To understand what the policy recommendations
760 mean, refer to the DMARC website above. Valid strings are:
762 o accept The DMARC check passed and the library recommends
764 o reject The DMARC check failed and the library recommends
766 o quarantine The DMARC check failed and the library recommends
767 keeping it for further inspection.
768 o none The DMARC check passed and the library recommends
769 no specific action, neutral.
770 o norecord No policy section in the DMARC record for this
772 o nofrom Unable to determine the domain of the sender.
773 o temperror Library error or dns error.
774 o off The DMARC check was disabled for this email.
776 You can prefix each string with an exclamation mark to invert its
777 meaning, for example "!accept" will match all results but
778 "accept". The string list is evaluated left-to-right in a
779 short-circuit fashion. When a string matches the outcome of the
780 DMARC check, the condition succeeds. If none of the listed
781 strings matches the outcome of the DMARC check, the condition
784 Of course, you can also use any other lookup method that Exim
785 supports, including LDAP, Postgres, MySQL, etc, as long as the
786 result is a list of colon-separated strings.
788 Several expansion variables are set before the DATA ACL is
789 processed, and you can use them in this ACL. The following
790 expansion variables are available:
793 This is a one word status indicating what the DMARC library
794 thinks of the email. It is a combination of the results of
795 DMARC record lookup and the SPF/DKIM/DMARC processing results
796 (if a DMARC record was found). The actual policy declared
797 in the DMARC record is in a separate expansion variable.
800 This is a slightly longer, human readable status.
803 This is the domain which DMARC used to look up the DMARC
806 o $dmarc_domain_policy
807 This is the policy declared in the DMARC record. Valid values
808 are "none", "reject" and "quarantine". It is blank when there
809 is any error, including no DMARC record.
812 This is the entire Authentication-Results header which you can
813 add using an add_header modifier.
816 5. How to enable DMARC advanced operation:
817 By default, Exim's DMARC configuration is intended to be
818 non-intrusive and conservative. To facilitate this, Exim will not
819 create any type of logging files without explicit configuration by
820 you, the admin. Nor will Exim send out any emails/reports about
821 DMARC issues without explicit configuration by you, the admin (other
822 than typical bounce messages that may come about due to ACL
823 processing or failure delivery issues).
825 In order to log statistics suitable to be imported by the opendmarc
827 a. Configure the global setting dmarc_history_file.
828 b. Configure cron jobs to call the appropriate opendmarc history
829 import scripts and truncating the dmarc_history_file.
831 In order to send forensic reports, you need to:
832 a. Configure the global setting dmarc_forensic_sender.
833 b. Configure, somewhere before the DATA ACL, the control option to
834 enable sending DMARC forensic reports.
839 warn domains = +local_domains
841 control = dmarc_disable_verify
843 warn !domains = +screwed_up_dmarc_records
844 control = dmarc_enable_forensic
846 warn condition = (lookup if destined to mailing list)
847 set acl_m_mailing_list = 1
850 warn dmarc_status = accept : none : off
852 log_message = DMARC DEBUG: $dmarc_status $dmarc_used_domain
853 add_header = $dmarc_ar_header
855 warn dmarc_status = !accept
857 log_message = DMARC DEBUG: '$dmarc_status' for $dmarc_used_domain
859 warn dmarc_status = quarantine
861 set $acl_m_quarantine = 1
862 # Do something in a transport with this flag variable
864 deny condition = ${if eq{$dmarc_domain_policy}{reject}}
865 condition = ${if eq{$acl_m_mailing_list}{1}}
866 message = Messages from $dmarc_used_domain break mailing lists
868 deny dmarc_status = reject
870 message = Message from $domain_used_domain failed sender's DMARC policy, REJECT
874 Transport post-delivery actions
875 --------------------------------------------------------------
877 An arbitrary per-transport string can be expanded on successful delivery,
878 and (for SMTP transports) a second string on deferrals caused by a host error.
879 This feature may be used, for example, to write exim internal log information
880 (not available otherwise) into a database.
882 In order to use the feature, you must set
884 EXPERIMENTAL_TPDA=yes
886 in your Local/Makefile
888 and define the expandable strings in the runtime config file, to
889 be executed at end of delivery.
891 Additionally, there are 6 more variables, available at end of
894 tpda_delivery_ip IP of host, which has accepted delivery
895 tpda_delivery_port Port of remote host which has accepted delivery
896 tpda_delivery_fqdn FQDN of host, which has accepted delivery
897 tpda_delivery_local_part local part of address being delivered
898 tpda_delivery_domain domain part of address being delivered
899 tpda_delivery_confirmation SMTP confirmation message
901 In case of a deferral caused by a host-error:
902 tpda_defer_errno Error number
903 tpda_defer_errstr Error string possibly containing more details
905 The $router_name and $transport_name variables are also usable.
908 To take action after successful deliveries, set the following option
909 on any transport of interest.
913 An example might look like:
915 tpda_delivery_action = \
916 ${lookup pgsql {SELECT * FROM record_Delivery( \
917 '${quote_pgsql:$sender_address_domain}',\
918 '${quote_pgsql:${lc:$sender_address_local_part}}', \
919 '${quote_pgsql:$tpda_delivery_domain}', \
920 '${quote_pgsql:${lc:$tpda_delivery_local_part}}', \
921 '${quote_pgsql:$tpda_delivery_ip}', \
922 '${quote_pgsql:${lc:$tpda_delivery_fqdn}}', \
923 '${quote_pgsql:$message_exim_id}')}}
925 The string is expanded after the delivery completes and any
926 side-effects will happen. The result is then discarded.
927 Note that for complex operations an ACL expansion can be used.
930 In order to log host deferrals, add the following option to an SMTP
933 tpda_host_defer_action
935 This is a private option of the SMTP transport. It is intended to
936 log failures of remote hosts. It is executed only when exim has
937 attempted to deliver a message to a remote host and failed due to
938 an error which doesn't seem to be related to the individual
939 message, sender, or recipient address.
940 See section 47.2 of the exim documentation for more details on how
945 tpda_host_defer_action = \
946 ${lookup mysql {insert into delivlog set \
947 msgid = '${quote_mysql:$message_exim_id}', \
948 senderlp = '${quote_mysql:${lc:$sender_address_local_part}}', \
949 senderdom = '${quote_mysql:$sender_address_domain}', \
950 delivlp = '${quote_mysql:${lc:$tpda_delivery_local_part}}', \
951 delivdom = '${quote_mysql:$tpda_delivery_domain}', \
952 delivip = '${quote_mysql:$tpda_delivery_ip}', \
953 delivport = '${quote_mysql:$tpda_delivery_port}', \
954 delivfqdn = '${quote_mysql:$tpda_delivery_fqdn}', \
955 deliverrno = '${quote_mysql:$tpda_defer_errno}', \
956 deliverrstr = '${quote_mysql:$tpda_defer_errstr}' \
961 --------------------------------------------------------------
963 Redis is open source advanced key-value data store. This document
964 does not explain the fundamentals, you should read and understand how
965 it works by visiting the website at http://www.redis.io/.
967 Redis lookup support is added via the hiredis library. Visit:
969 https://github.com/redis/hiredis
971 to obtain a copy, or find it in your operating systems package repository.
972 If building from source, this description assumes that headers will be in
973 /usr/local/include, and that the libraries are in /usr/local/lib.
975 1. In order to build exim with Redis lookup support add
977 EXPERIMENTAL_REDIS=yes
979 to your Local/Makefile. (Re-)build/install exim. exim -d should show
980 Experimental_Redis in the line "Support for:".
982 EXPERIMENTAL_REDIS=yes
984 # CFLAGS += -I/usr/local/include
985 # LDFLAGS += -L/usr/local/lib
987 The first line sets the feature to include the correct code, and
988 the second line says to link the hiredis libraries into the
989 exim binary. The commented out lines should be uncommented if you
990 built hiredis from source and installed in the default location.
991 Adjust the paths if you installed them elsewhere, but you do not
992 need to uncomment them if an rpm (or you) installed them in the
993 package controlled locations (/usr/include and /usr/lib).
996 2. Use the following global settings to configure Redis lookup support:
999 redis_servers This option provides a list of Redis servers
1000 and associated connection data, to be used in
1001 conjunction with redis lookups. The option is
1002 only available if Exim is configured with Redis
1007 redis_servers = 127.0.0.1/10/ - using database 10 with no password
1008 redis_servers = 127.0.0.1//password - to make use of the default database of 0 with a password
1009 redis_servers = 127.0.0.1// - for default database of 0 with no password
1011 3. Once you have the Redis servers defined you can then make use of the
1012 experimental Redis lookup by specifying ${lookup redis{}} in a lookup query.
1017 hostlist relay_from_ips = <\n ${lookup redis{SMEMBERS relay_from_ips}}
1019 Where relay_from_ips is a Redis set which contains entries such as "192.168.0.0/24" "10.0.0.0/8" and so on.
1020 The result set is returned as
1027 domainlist virtual_domains = ${lookup redis {HGET $domain domain}}
1029 Where $domain is a hash which includes the key 'domain' and the value '$domain'.
1031 (Adding or updating an existing key)
1032 set acl_c_spammer = ${if eq{${lookup redis{SPAMMER_SET}}}{OK}}
1034 Where SPAMMER_SET is a macro and it is defined as
1036 "SET SPAMMER <some_value>"
1038 (Getting a value from Redis)
1040 set acl_c_spam_host = ${lookup redis{GET...}}
1043 Proxy Protocol Support
1044 --------------------------------------------------------------
1046 Exim now has Experimental "Proxy Protocol" support. It was built on
1047 specifications from:
1048 http://haproxy.1wt.eu/download/1.5/doc/proxy-protocol.txt
1050 The purpose of this function is so that an application load balancer,
1051 such as HAProxy, can sit in front of several Exim servers and Exim
1052 will log the IP that is connecting to the proxy server instead of
1053 the IP of the proxy server when it connects to Exim. It resets the
1054 $sender_address_host and $sender_address_port to the IP:port of the
1055 connection to the proxy. It also re-queries the DNS information for
1056 this new IP address so that the original sender's hostname and IP
1057 get logged in the Exim logfile. There is no logging if a host passes or
1058 fails Proxy Protocol negotiation, but it can easily be determined and
1059 recorded in an ACL (example is below).
1061 1. To compile Exim with Proxy Protocol support, put this in
1064 EXPERIMENTAL_PROXY=yes
1066 2. Global configuration settings:
1068 proxy_required_hosts = HOSTLIST
1070 The proxy_required_hosts option will require any IP in that hostlist
1071 to use Proxy Protocol. The specification of Proxy Protocol is very
1072 strict, and if proxy negotiation fails, Exim will not allow any SMTP
1073 command other than QUIT. (See end of this section for an example.)
1074 The option is expanded when used, so it can be a hostlist as well as
1075 string of IP addresses. Since it is expanded, specifying an alternate
1076 separator is supported for ease of use with IPv6 addresses.
1078 To log the IP of the proxy in the incoming logline, add:
1079 log_selector = +proxy
1081 A default incoming logline (wrapped for appearance) will look like this:
1083 2013-11-04 09:25:06 1VdNti-0001OY-1V <= me@example.net
1084 H=mail.example.net [1.2.3.4] P=esmtp S=433
1086 With the log selector enabled, an email that was proxied through a
1087 Proxy Protocol server at 192.168.1.2 will look like this:
1089 2013-11-04 09:25:06 1VdNti-0001OY-1V <= me@example.net
1090 H=mail.example.net [1.2.3.4] P=esmtp PRX=192.168.1.2 S=433
1092 3. In the ACL's the following expansion variables are available.
1094 proxy_host_address The (internal) src IP of the proxy server
1095 making the connection to the Exim server.
1096 proxy_host_port The (internal) src port the proxy server is
1097 using to connect to the Exim server.
1098 proxy_target_address The dest (public) IP of the remote host to
1100 proxy_target_port The dest port the remote host is using to
1101 connect to the proxy server.
1102 proxy_session Boolean, yes/no, the connected host is required
1103 to use Proxy Protocol.
1105 There is no expansion for a failed proxy session, however you can detect
1106 it by checking if $proxy_session is true but $proxy_host is empty. As
1107 an example, in my connect ACL, I have:
1109 warn condition = ${if and{ {bool{$proxy_session}} \
1110 {eq{$proxy_host_address}{}} } }
1111 log_message = Failed required proxy protocol negotiation \
1112 from $sender_host_name [$sender_host_address]
1114 warn condition = ${if and{ {bool{$proxy_session}} \
1115 {!eq{$proxy_host_address}{}} } }
1116 # But don't log health probes from the proxy itself
1117 condition = ${if eq{$proxy_host_address}{$sender_host_address} \
1119 log_message = Successfully proxied from $sender_host_name \
1120 [$sender_host_address] through proxy protocol \
1121 host $proxy_host_address
1123 # Possibly more clear
1124 warn logwrite = Remote Source Address: $sender_host_address:$sender_host_port
1125 logwrite = Proxy Target Address: $proxy_target_address:$proxy_target_port
1126 logwrite = Proxy Internal Address: $proxy_host_address:$proxy_host_port
1127 logwrite = Internal Server Address: $received_ip_address:$received_port
1130 4. Runtime issues to be aware of:
1131 - Since the real connections are all coming from your proxy, and the
1132 per host connection tracking is done before Proxy Protocol is
1133 evaluated, smtp_accept_max_per_host must be set high enough to
1134 handle all of the parallel volume you expect per inbound proxy.
1135 - The proxy has 3 seconds (hard-coded in the source code) to send the
1136 required Proxy Protocol header after it connects. If it does not,
1137 the response to any commands will be:
1138 "503 Command refused, required Proxy negotiation failed"
1139 - If the incoming connection is configured in Exim to be a Proxy
1140 Protocol host, but the proxy is not sending the header, the banner
1141 does not get sent until the timeout occurs. If the sending host
1142 sent any input (before the banner), this causes a standard Exim
1143 synchronization error (i.e. trying to pipeline before PIPELINING
1145 - This is not advised, but is mentioned for completeness if you have
1146 a specific internal configuration that you want this: If the Exim
1147 server only has an internal IP address and no other machines in your
1148 organization will connect to it to try to send email, you may
1149 simply set the hostlist to "*", however, this will prevent local
1150 mail programs from working because that would require mail from
1151 localhost to use Proxy Protocol. Again, not advised!
1153 5. Example of a refused connection because the Proxy Protocol header was
1154 not sent from a host configured to use Proxy Protocol. In the example,
1155 the 3 second timeout occurred (when a Proxy Protocol banner should have
1156 been sent), the banner was displayed to the user, but all commands are
1157 rejected except for QUIT:
1159 # nc mail.example.net 25
1160 220-mail.example.net, ESMTP Exim 4.82+proxy, Mon, 04 Nov 2013 10:45:59
1161 220 -0800 RFC's enforced
1163 503 Command refused, required Proxy negotiation failed
1165 221 mail.example.net closing connection
1169 --------------------------------------------------------------
1171 --------------------------------------------------------------