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 Under OpenSSL Exim will check for a valid next update timestamp in the
88 OCSP proof; if not present, or if the proof has expired, it will be
91 Also, given EXPERIMENTAL_OCSP, the smtp transport gains two options:
92 - "hosts_require_ocsp"; a host-list for which an OCSP Stapling
93 is requested and required for the connection to proceed. The default
95 - "hosts_request_ocsp"; a host-list for which (additionally) an OCSP
96 Stapling is requested (but not necessarily verified). The default
97 value is "*" meaning that requests are made unless configured
100 The host(s) should also be in "hosts_require_tls", and
101 "tls_verify_certificates" configured for the transport.
103 For the client to be able to verify the stapled OCSP the server must
104 also supply, in its stapled information, any intermediate
105 certificates for the chain leading to the OCSP proof from the signer
106 of the server certificate. There may be zero or one such. These
107 intermediate certificates should be added to the server OCSP stapling
108 file (named by tls_ocsp_file).
110 Note that the proof only covers the terminal server certificate,
111 not any of the chain from CA to it.
113 At this point in time, we're gathering feedback on use, to determine if
114 it's worth adding complexity to the Exim daemon to periodically re-fetch
115 OCSP files and somehow handling multiple files.
117 A helper script "ocsp_fetch.pl" for fetching a proof from a CA
118 OCSP server is supplied. The server URL may be included in the
119 server certificate, if the CA is helpful.
121 One failure mode seen was the OCSP Signer cert expiring before the end
122 of validity of the OCSP proof. The checking done by Exim/OpenSSL
123 noted this as invalid overall, but the re-fetch script did not.
128 Brightmail AntiSpam (BMI) suppport
129 --------------------------------------------------------------
131 Brightmail AntiSpam is a commercial package. Please see
132 http://www.brightmail.com for more information on
133 the product. For the sake of clarity, we'll refer to it as
137 0) BMI concept and implementation overview
139 In contrast to how spam-scanning with SpamAssassin is
140 implemented in exiscan-acl, BMI is more suited for per
141 -recipient scanning of messages. However, each messages is
142 scanned only once, but multiple "verdicts" for multiple
143 recipients can be returned from the BMI server. The exiscan
144 implementation passes the message to the BMI server just
145 before accepting it. It then adds the retrieved verdicts to
146 the messages header file in the spool. These verdicts can then
147 be queried in routers, where operation is per-recipient
148 instead of per-message. To use BMI, you need to take the
151 1) Compile Exim with BMI support
152 2) Set up main BMI options (top section of Exim config file)
153 3) Set up ACL control statement (ACL section of the config
155 4) Set up your routers to use BMI verdicts (routers section
157 5) (Optional) Set up per-recipient opt-in information.
159 These four steps are explained in more details below.
161 1) Adding support for BMI at compile time
163 To compile with BMI support, you need to link Exim against
164 the Brighmail client SDK, consisting of a library
165 (libbmiclient_single.so) and a header file (bmi_api.h).
166 You'll also need to explicitly set a flag in the Makefile to
167 include BMI support in the Exim binary. Both can be achieved
168 with these lines in Local/Makefile:
170 EXPERIMENTAL_BRIGHTMAIL=yes
171 CFLAGS=-I/path/to/the/dir/with/the/includefile
172 EXTRALIBS_EXIM=-L/path/to/the/dir/with/the/library -lbmiclient_single
174 If you use other CFLAGS or EXTRALIBS_EXIM settings then
175 merge the content of these lines with them.
177 Note for BMI6.x users: You'll also have to add -lxml2_single
178 to the EXTRALIBS_EXIM line. Users of 5.5x do not need to do
181 You should also include the location of
182 libbmiclient_single.so in your dynamic linker configuration
183 file (usually /etc/ld.so.conf) and run "ldconfig"
184 afterwards, or else the produced Exim binary will not be
185 able to find the library file.
188 2) Setting up BMI support in the Exim main configuration
190 To enable BMI support in the main Exim configuration, you
191 should set the path to the main BMI configuration file with
192 the "bmi_config_file" option, like this:
194 bmi_config_file = /opt/brightmail/etc/brightmail.cfg
196 This must go into section 1 of Exim's configuration file (You
197 can put it right on top). If you omit this option, it
198 defaults to /opt/brightmail/etc/brightmail.cfg.
200 Note for BMI6.x users: This file is in XML format in V6.xx
201 and its name is /opt/brightmail/etc/bmiconfig.xml. So BMI
202 6.x users MUST set the bmi_config_file option.
205 3) Set up ACL control statement
207 To optimize performance, it makes sense only to process
208 messages coming from remote, untrusted sources with the BMI
209 server. To set up a messages for processing by the BMI
210 server, you MUST set the "bmi_run" control statement in any
211 ACL for an incoming message. You will typically do this in
212 an "accept" block in the "acl_check_rcpt" ACL. You should
213 use the "accept" block(s) that accept messages from remote
214 servers for your own domain(s). Here is an example that uses
215 the "accept" blocks from Exim's default configuration file:
218 accept domains = +local_domains
223 accept domains = +relay_to_domains
228 If bmi_run is not set in any ACL during reception of the
229 message, it will NOT be passed to the BMI server.
232 4) Setting up routers to use BMI verdicts
234 When a message has been run through the BMI server, one or
235 more "verdicts" are present. Different recipients can have
236 different verdicts. Each recipient is treated individually
237 during routing, so you can query the verdicts by recipient
238 at that stage. From Exim's view, a verdict can have the
241 o deliver the message normally
242 o deliver the message to an alternate location
243 o do not deliver the message
245 To query the verdict for a recipient, the implementation
246 offers the following tools:
249 - Boolean router preconditions. These can be used in any
250 router. For a simple implementation of BMI, these may be
251 all that you need. The following preconditions are
254 o bmi_deliver_default
256 This precondition is TRUE if the verdict for the
257 recipient is to deliver the message normally. If the
258 message has not been processed by the BMI server, this
259 variable defaults to TRUE.
261 o bmi_deliver_alternate
263 This precondition is TRUE if the verdict for the
264 recipient is to deliver the message to an alternate
265 location. You can get the location string from the
266 $bmi_alt_location expansion variable if you need it. See
267 further below. If the message has not been processed by
268 the BMI server, this variable defaults to FALSE.
272 This precondition is TRUE if the verdict for the
273 recipient is NOT to deliver the message to the
274 recipient. You will typically use this precondition in a
275 top-level blackhole router, like this:
277 # don't deliver messages handled by the BMI server
283 This router should be on top of all others, so messages
284 that should not be delivered do not reach other routers
285 at all. If the message has not been processed by
286 the BMI server, this variable defaults to FALSE.
289 - A list router precondition to query if rules "fired" on
290 the message for the recipient. Its name is "bmi_rule". You
291 use it by passing it a colon-separated list of rule
292 numbers. You can use this condition to route messages that
293 matched specific rules. Here is an example:
295 # special router for BMI rule #5, #8 and #11
299 data = postmaster@mydomain.com
302 - Expansion variables. Several expansion variables are set
303 during routing. You can use them in custom router
304 conditions, for example. The following variables are
307 o $bmi_base64_verdict
309 This variable will contain the BASE64 encoded verdict
310 for the recipient being routed. You can use it to add a
311 header to messages for tracking purposes, for example:
316 headers_add = X-Brightmail-Verdict: $bmi_base64_verdict
317 transport = local_delivery
319 If there is no verdict available for the recipient being
320 routed, this variable contains the empty string.
322 o $bmi_base64_tracker_verdict
324 This variable will contain a BASE64 encoded subset of
325 the verdict information concerning the "rules" that
326 fired on the message. You can add this string to a
327 header, commonly named "X-Brightmail-Tracker". Example:
332 headers_add = X-Brightmail-Tracker: $bmi_base64_tracker_verdict
333 transport = local_delivery
335 If there is no verdict available for the recipient being
336 routed, this variable contains the empty string.
340 If the verdict is to redirect the message to an
341 alternate location, this variable will contain the
342 alternate location string returned by the BMI server. In
343 its default configuration, this is a header-like string
344 that can be added to the message with "headers_add". If
345 there is no verdict available for the recipient being
346 routed, or if the message is to be delivered normally,
347 this variable contains the empty string.
351 This is an additional integer variable that can be used
352 to query if the message should be delivered at all. You
353 should use router preconditions instead if possible.
355 $bmi_deliver is '0': the message should NOT be delivered.
356 $bmi_deliver is '1': the message should be delivered.
359 IMPORTANT NOTE: Verdict inheritance.
360 The message is passed to the BMI server during message
361 reception, using the target addresses from the RCPT TO:
362 commands in the SMTP transaction. If recipients get expanded
363 or re-written (for example by aliasing), the new address(es)
364 inherit the verdict from the original address. This means
365 that verdicts also apply to all "child" addresses generated
366 from top-level addresses that were sent to the BMI server.
369 5) Using per-recipient opt-in information (Optional)
371 The BMI server features multiple scanning "profiles" for
372 individual recipients. These are usually stored in a LDAP
373 server and are queried by the BMI server itself. However,
374 you can also pass opt-in data for each recipient from the
375 MTA to the BMI server. This is particularly useful if you
376 already look up recipient data in Exim anyway (which can
377 also be stored in a SQL database or other source). This
378 implementation enables you to pass opt-in data to the BMI
379 server in the RCPT ACL. This works by setting the
380 'bmi_optin' modifier in a block of that ACL. If should be
381 set to a list of comma-separated strings that identify the
382 features which the BMI server should use for that particular
383 recipient. Ideally, you would use the 'bmi_optin' modifier
384 in the same ACL block where you set the 'bmi_run' control
385 flag. Here is an example that will pull opt-in data for each
386 recipient from a flat file called
387 '/etc/exim/bmi_optin_data'.
391 user1@mydomain.com: <OPTIN STRING1>:<OPTIN STRING2>
392 user2@thatdomain.com: <OPTIN STRING3>
397 accept domains = +relay_to_domains
400 bmi_optin = ${lookup{$local_part@$domain}lsearch{/etc/exim/bmi_optin_data}}
403 Of course, you can also use any other lookup method that
404 Exim supports, including LDAP, Postgres, MySQL, Oracle etc.,
405 as long as the result is a list of colon-separated opt-in
408 For a list of available opt-in strings, please contact your
409 Brightmail representative.
414 Sender Policy Framework (SPF) support
415 --------------------------------------------------------------
417 To learn more about SPF, visit http://www.openspf.org. This
418 document does not explain the SPF fundamentals, you should
419 read and understand the implications of deploying SPF on your
420 system before doing so.
422 SPF support is added via the libspf2 library. Visit
424 http://www.libspf2.org/
426 to obtain a copy, then compile and install it. By default,
427 this will put headers in /usr/local/include and the static
428 library in /usr/local/lib.
430 To compile Exim with SPF support, set these additional flags in
434 CFLAGS=-DSPF -I/usr/local/include
435 EXTRALIBS_EXIM=-L/usr/local/lib -lspf2
437 This assumes that the libspf2 files are installed in
438 their default locations.
440 You can now run SPF checks in incoming SMTP by using the "spf"
441 ACL condition in either the MAIL, RCPT or DATA ACLs. When
442 using it in the RCPT ACL, you can make the checks dependent on
443 the RCPT address (or domain), so you can check SPF records
444 only for certain target domains. This gives you the
445 possibility to opt-out certain customers that do not want
446 their mail to be subject to SPF checking.
448 The spf condition takes a list of strings on its right-hand
449 side. These strings describe the outcome of the SPF check for
450 which the spf condition should succeed. Valid strings are:
452 o pass The SPF check passed, the sending host
453 is positively verified by SPF.
454 o fail The SPF check failed, the sending host
455 is NOT allowed to send mail for the domain
456 in the envelope-from address.
457 o softfail The SPF check failed, but the queried
458 domain can't absolutely confirm that this
460 o none The queried domain does not publish SPF
462 o neutral The SPF check returned a "neutral" state.
463 This means the queried domain has published
464 a SPF record, but wants to allow outside
465 servers to send mail under its domain as well.
466 This should be treated like "none".
467 o permerror This indicates a syntax error in the SPF
468 record of the queried domain. You may deny
469 messages when this occurs. (Changed in 4.83)
470 o temperror This indicates a temporary error during all
471 processing, including Exim's SPF processing.
472 You may defer messages when this occurs.
474 o err_temp Same as permerror, deprecated in 4.83, will be
475 removed in a future release.
476 o err_perm Same as temperror, deprecated in 4.83, will be
477 removed in a future release.
479 You can prefix each string with an exclamation mark to invert
480 its meaning, for example "!fail" will match all results but
481 "fail". The string list is evaluated left-to-right, in a
482 short-circuit fashion. When a string matches the outcome of
483 the SPF check, the condition succeeds. If none of the listed
484 strings matches the outcome of the SPF check, the condition
487 Here is an example to fail forgery attempts from domains that
491 deny message = $sender_host_address is not allowed to send mail from ${if def:sender_address_domain {$sender_address_domain}{$sender_helo_name}}. \
492 Please see http://www.openspf.org/Why?scope=${if def:sender_address_domain {mfrom}{helo}};identity=${if def:sender_address_domain {$sender_address}{$sender_helo_name}};ip=$sender_host_address
494 --------------------- */
496 You can also give special treatment to specific domains:
499 deny message = AOL sender, but not from AOL-approved relay.
500 sender_domains = aol.com
502 --------------------- */
504 Explanation: AOL publishes SPF records, but is liberal and
505 still allows non-approved relays to send mail from aol.com.
506 This will result in a "neutral" state, while mail from genuine
507 AOL servers will result in "pass". The example above takes
508 this into account and treats "neutral" like "fail", but only
509 for aol.com. Please note that this violates the SPF draft.
511 When the spf condition has run, it sets up several expansion
515 This contains a human-readable string describing the outcome
516 of the SPF check. You can add it to a custom header or use
517 it for logging purposes.
520 This contains a complete Received-SPF: header that can be
521 added to the message. Please note that according to the SPF
522 draft, this header must be added at the top of the header
523 list. Please see section 10 on how you can do this.
525 Note: in case of "Best-guess" (see below), the convention is
526 to put this string in a header called X-SPF-Guess: instead.
529 This contains the outcome of the SPF check in string form,
530 one of pass, fail, softfail, none, neutral, permerror or
534 This contains a string that can be used in a SMTP response
535 to the calling party. Useful for "fail".
537 In addition to SPF, you can also perform checks for so-called
538 "Best-guess". Strictly speaking, "Best-guess" is not standard
539 SPF, but it is supported by the same framework that enables SPF
540 capability. Refer to http://www.openspf.org/FAQ/Best_guess_record
541 for a description of what it means.
543 To access this feature, simply use the spf_guess condition in place
544 of the spf one. For example:
547 deny message = $sender_host_address doesn't look trustworthy to me
549 --------------------- */
551 In case you decide to reject messages based on this check, you
552 should note that although it uses the same framework, "Best-guess"
553 is NOT SPF, and therefore you should not mention SPF at all in your
556 When the spf_guess condition has run, it sets up the same expansion
557 variables as when spf condition is run, described above.
559 Additionally, since Best-guess is not standardized, you may redefine
560 what "Best-guess" means to you by redefining spf_guess variable in
561 global config. For example, the following:
564 spf_guess = v=spf1 a/16 mx/16 ptr ?all
565 --------------------- */
567 would relax host matching rules to a broader network range.
570 SRS (Sender Rewriting Scheme) Support
571 --------------------------------------------------------------
573 Exiscan currently includes SRS support via Miles Wilton's
574 libsrs_alt library. The current version of the supported
577 In order to use SRS, you must get a copy of libsrs_alt from
579 http://srs.mirtol.com/
581 Unpack the tarball, then refer to MTAs/README.EXIM
582 to proceed. You need to set
586 in your Local/Makefile.
590 --------------------------------------------------------------
594 In order to build exim with DCC support add
598 to your Makefile. (Re-)build/install exim. exim -d should show
599 EXPERIMENTAL_DCC under "Support for".
604 In the main section of exim.cf add at least
605 dccifd_address = /usr/local/dcc/var/dccifd
607 dccifd_address = <ip> <port>
609 In the DATA ACL you can use the new condition
612 After that "$dcc_header" contains the X-DCC-Header.
615 fail for overall "R", "G" from dccifd
616 defer for overall "T" from dccifd
617 accept for overall "A", "S" from dccifd
619 dcc = */defer_ok works as for spamd.
621 The "$dcc_result" variable contains the overall result from DCC
622 answer. There will an X-DCC: header added to the mail.
626 to greylist with DCC.
628 If you set, in the main section,
629 dcc_direct_add_header = true
630 then the dcc header will be added "in deep" and if the spool
631 file was already written it gets removed. This forces Exim to
632 write it again if needed. This helps to get the DCC Header
633 through to eg. SpamAssassin.
635 If you want to pass even more headers in the middle of the
636 DATA stage you can set
637 $acl_m_dcc_add_header
638 to tell the DCC routines to add more information; eg, you might set
639 this to some results from ClamAV. Be careful. Header syntax is
640 not checked and is added "as is".
642 In case you've troubles with sites sending the same queue items from several
643 hosts and fail to get through greylisting you can use
644 $acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip
646 Setting $acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip to an IP address overrides the default
647 of $sender_host_address. eg. use the following ACL in DATA stage:
649 warn set acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip = \
650 ${lookup{$sender_helo_name}nwildlsearch{/etc/mail/multipleip_sites}{$value}{}}
651 condition = ${if def:acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip}
652 log_message = dbg: acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip set to \
653 $acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip
655 Then set something like
656 # cat /etc/mail/multipleip_sites
657 mout-xforward.gmx.net 82.165.159.12
658 mout.gmx.net 212.227.15.16
660 Use a reasonable IP. eg. one the sending cluster acutally uses.
663 --------------------------------------------------------------
665 DMARC combines feedback from SPF, DKIM, and header From: in order
666 to attempt to provide better indicators of the authenticity of an
667 email. This document does not explain the fundamentals, you
668 should read and understand how it works by visiting the website at
669 http://www.dmarc.org/.
671 DMARC support is added via the libopendmarc library. Visit:
673 http://sourceforge.net/projects/opendmarc/
675 to obtain a copy, or find it in your favorite rpm package
676 repository. If building from source, this description assumes
677 that headers will be in /usr/local/include, and that the libraries
678 are in /usr/local/lib.
680 1. To compile Exim with DMARC support, you must first enable SPF.
681 Please read the above section on enabling the EXPERIMENTAL_SPF
682 feature. You must also have DKIM support, so you cannot set the
683 DISABLE_DKIM feature. Once both of those conditions have been met
684 you can enable DMARC in Local/Makefile:
686 EXPERIMENTAL_DMARC=yes
687 LDFLAGS += -lopendmarc
688 # CFLAGS += -I/usr/local/include
689 # LDFLAGS += -L/usr/local/lib
691 The first line sets the feature to include the correct code, and
692 the second line says to link the libopendmarc libraries into the
693 exim binary. The commented out lines should be uncommented if you
694 built opendmarc from source and installed in the default location.
695 Adjust the paths if you installed them elsewhere, but you do not
696 need to uncomment them if an rpm (or you) installed them in the
697 package controlled locations (/usr/include and /usr/lib).
700 2. Use the following global settings to configure DMARC:
703 dmarc_tld_file Defines the location of a text file of valid
704 top level domains the opendmarc library uses
705 during domain parsing. Maintained by Mozilla,
706 the most current version can be downloaded
707 from a link at http://publicsuffix.org/list/.
710 dmarc_history_file Defines the location of a file to log results
711 of dmarc verification on inbound emails. The
712 contents are importable by the opendmarc tools
713 which will manage the data, send out DMARC
714 reports, and expire the data. Make sure the
715 directory of this file is writable by the user
718 dmarc_forensic_sender The email address to use when sending a
719 forensic report detailing alignment failures
720 if a sender domain's dmarc record specifies it
721 and you have configured Exim to send them.
722 Default: do-not-reply@$default_hostname
725 3. By default, the DMARC processing will run for any remote,
726 non-authenticated user. It makes sense to only verify DMARC
727 status of messages coming from remote, untrusted sources. You can
728 use standard conditions such as hosts, senders, etc, to decide that
729 DMARC verification should *not* be performed for them and disable
730 DMARC with a control setting:
732 control = dmarc_disable_verify
734 A DMARC record can also specify a "forensic address", which gives
735 exim an email address to submit reports about failed alignment.
736 Exim does not do this by default because in certain conditions it
737 results in unintended information leakage (what lists a user might
738 be subscribed to, etc). You must configure exim to submit forensic
739 reports to the owner of the domain. If the DMARC record contains a
740 forensic address and you specify the control statement below, then
741 exim will send these forensic emails. It's also advised that you
742 configure a dmarc_forensic_sender because the default sender address
743 construction might be inadequate.
745 control = dmarc_forensic_enable
747 (AGAIN: You can choose not to send these forensic reports by simply
748 not putting the dmarc_forensic_enable control line at any point in
749 your exim config. If you don't tell it to send them, it will not
752 There are no options to either control. Both must appear before
756 4. You can now run DMARC checks in incoming SMTP by using the
757 "dmarc_status" ACL condition in the DATA ACL. You are required to
758 call the spf condition first in the ACLs, then the "dmarc_status"
759 condition. Putting this condition in the ACLs is required in order
760 for a DMARC check to actually occur. All of the variables are set
761 up before the DATA ACL, but there is no actual DMARC check that
762 occurs until a "dmarc_status" condition is encountered in the ACLs.
764 The dmarc_status condition takes a list of strings on its
765 right-hand side. These strings describe recommended action based
766 on the DMARC check. To understand what the policy recommendations
767 mean, refer to the DMARC website above. Valid strings are:
769 o accept The DMARC check passed and the library recommends
771 o reject The DMARC check failed and the library recommends
773 o quarantine The DMARC check failed and the library recommends
774 keeping it for further inspection.
775 o none The DMARC check passed and the library recommends
776 no specific action, neutral.
777 o norecord No policy section in the DMARC record for this
779 o nofrom Unable to determine the domain of the sender.
780 o temperror Library error or dns error.
781 o off The DMARC check was disabled for this email.
783 You can prefix each string with an exclamation mark to invert its
784 meaning, for example "!accept" will match all results but
785 "accept". The string list is evaluated left-to-right in a
786 short-circuit fashion. When a string matches the outcome of the
787 DMARC check, the condition succeeds. If none of the listed
788 strings matches the outcome of the DMARC check, the condition
791 Of course, you can also use any other lookup method that Exim
792 supports, including LDAP, Postgres, MySQL, etc, as long as the
793 result is a list of colon-separated strings.
795 Several expansion variables are set before the DATA ACL is
796 processed, and you can use them in this ACL. The following
797 expansion variables are available:
800 This is a one word status indicating what the DMARC library
801 thinks of the email. It is a combination of the results of
802 DMARC record lookup and the SPF/DKIM/DMARC processing results
803 (if a DMARC record was found). The actual policy declared
804 in the DMARC record is in a separate expansion variable.
807 This is a slightly longer, human readable status.
810 This is the domain which DMARC used to look up the DMARC
813 o $dmarc_domain_policy
814 This is the policy declared in the DMARC record. Valid values
815 are "none", "reject" and "quarantine". It is blank when there
816 is any error, including no DMARC record.
819 This is the entire Authentication-Results header which you can
820 add using an add_header modifier.
823 5. How to enable DMARC advanced operation:
824 By default, Exim's DMARC configuration is intended to be
825 non-intrusive and conservative. To facilitate this, Exim will not
826 create any type of logging files without explicit configuration by
827 you, the admin. Nor will Exim send out any emails/reports about
828 DMARC issues without explicit configuration by you, the admin (other
829 than typical bounce messages that may come about due to ACL
830 processing or failure delivery issues).
832 In order to log statistics suitable to be imported by the opendmarc
834 a. Configure the global setting dmarc_history_file.
835 b. Configure cron jobs to call the appropriate opendmarc history
836 import scripts and truncating the dmarc_history_file.
838 In order to send forensic reports, you need to:
839 a. Configure the global setting dmarc_forensic_sender.
840 b. Configure, somewhere before the DATA ACL, the control option to
841 enable sending DMARC forensic reports.
846 warn domains = +local_domains
848 control = dmarc_disable_verify
850 warn !domains = +screwed_up_dmarc_records
851 control = dmarc_enable_forensic
853 warn condition = (lookup if destined to mailing list)
854 set acl_m_mailing_list = 1
857 warn dmarc_status = accept : none : off
859 log_message = DMARC DEBUG: $dmarc_status $dmarc_used_domain
860 add_header = $dmarc_ar_header
862 warn dmarc_status = !accept
864 log_message = DMARC DEBUG: '$dmarc_status' for $dmarc_used_domain
866 warn dmarc_status = quarantine
868 set $acl_m_quarantine = 1
869 # Do something in a transport with this flag variable
871 deny condition = ${if eq{$dmarc_domain_policy}{reject}}
872 condition = ${if eq{$acl_m_mailing_list}{1}}
873 message = Messages from $dmarc_used_domain break mailing lists
875 deny dmarc_status = reject
877 message = Message from $domain_used_domain failed sender's DMARC policy, REJECT
881 Transport post-delivery actions
882 --------------------------------------------------------------
884 An arbitrary per-transport string can be expanded on successful delivery,
885 and (for SMTP transports) a second string on deferrals caused by a host error.
886 This feature may be used, for example, to write exim internal log information
887 (not available otherwise) into a database.
889 In order to use the feature, you must set
891 EXPERIMENTAL_TPDA=yes
893 in your Local/Makefile
895 and define the expandable strings in the runtime config file, to
896 be executed at end of delivery.
898 Additionally, there are 6 more variables, available at end of
901 tpda_delivery_ip IP of host, which has accepted delivery
902 tpda_delivery_port Port of remote host which has accepted delivery
903 tpda_delivery_fqdn FQDN of host, which has accepted delivery
904 tpda_delivery_local_part local part of address being delivered
905 tpda_delivery_domain domain part of address being delivered
906 tpda_delivery_confirmation SMTP confirmation message
908 In case of a deferral caused by a host-error:
909 tpda_defer_errno Error number
910 tpda_defer_errstr Error string possibly containing more details
912 The $router_name and $transport_name variables are also usable.
915 To take action after successful deliveries, set the following option
916 on any transport of interest.
920 An example might look like:
922 tpda_delivery_action = \
923 ${lookup pgsql {SELECT * FROM record_Delivery( \
924 '${quote_pgsql:$sender_address_domain}',\
925 '${quote_pgsql:${lc:$sender_address_local_part}}', \
926 '${quote_pgsql:$tpda_delivery_domain}', \
927 '${quote_pgsql:${lc:$tpda_delivery_local_part}}', \
928 '${quote_pgsql:$tpda_delivery_ip}', \
929 '${quote_pgsql:${lc:$tpda_delivery_fqdn}}', \
930 '${quote_pgsql:$message_exim_id}')}}
932 The string is expanded after the delivery completes and any
933 side-effects will happen. The result is then discarded.
934 Note that for complex operations an ACL expansion can be used.
937 In order to log host deferrals, add the following option to an SMTP
940 tpda_host_defer_action
942 This is a private option of the SMTP transport. It is intended to
943 log failures of remote hosts. It is executed only when exim has
944 attempted to deliver a message to a remote host and failed due to
945 an error which doesn't seem to be related to the individual
946 message, sender, or recipient address.
947 See section 47.2 of the exim documentation for more details on how
952 tpda_host_defer_action = \
953 ${lookup mysql {insert into delivlog set \
954 msgid = '${quote_mysql:$message_exim_id}', \
955 senderlp = '${quote_mysql:${lc:$sender_address_local_part}}', \
956 senderdom = '${quote_mysql:$sender_address_domain}', \
957 delivlp = '${quote_mysql:${lc:$tpda_delivery_local_part}}', \
958 delivdom = '${quote_mysql:$tpda_delivery_domain}', \
959 delivip = '${quote_mysql:$tpda_delivery_ip}', \
960 delivport = '${quote_mysql:$tpda_delivery_port}', \
961 delivfqdn = '${quote_mysql:$tpda_delivery_fqdn}', \
962 deliverrno = '${quote_mysql:$tpda_defer_errno}', \
963 deliverrstr = '${quote_mysql:$tpda_defer_errstr}' \
968 --------------------------------------------------------------
970 Redis is open source advanced key-value data store. This document
971 does not explain the fundamentals, you should read and understand how
972 it works by visiting the website at http://www.redis.io/.
974 Redis lookup support is added via the hiredis library. Visit:
976 https://github.com/redis/hiredis
978 to obtain a copy, or find it in your operating systems package repository.
979 If building from source, this description assumes that headers will be in
980 /usr/local/include, and that the libraries are in /usr/local/lib.
982 1. In order to build exim with Redis lookup support add
984 EXPERIMENTAL_REDIS=yes
986 to your Local/Makefile. (Re-)build/install exim. exim -d should show
987 Experimental_Redis in the line "Support for:".
989 EXPERIMENTAL_REDIS=yes
991 # CFLAGS += -I/usr/local/include
992 # LDFLAGS += -L/usr/local/lib
994 The first line sets the feature to include the correct code, and
995 the second line says to link the hiredis libraries into the
996 exim binary. The commented out lines should be uncommented if you
997 built hiredis from source and installed in the default location.
998 Adjust the paths if you installed them elsewhere, but you do not
999 need to uncomment them if an rpm (or you) installed them in the
1000 package controlled locations (/usr/include and /usr/lib).
1003 2. Use the following global settings to configure Redis lookup support:
1006 redis_servers This option provides a list of Redis servers
1007 and associated connection data, to be used in
1008 conjunction with redis lookups. The option is
1009 only available if Exim is configured with Redis
1014 redis_servers = 127.0.0.1/10/ - using database 10 with no password
1015 redis_servers = 127.0.0.1//password - to make use of the default database of 0 with a password
1016 redis_servers = 127.0.0.1// - for default database of 0 with no password
1018 3. Once you have the Redis servers defined you can then make use of the
1019 experimental Redis lookup by specifying ${lookup redis{}} in a lookup query.
1024 hostlist relay_from_ips = <\n ${lookup redis{SMEMBERS relay_from_ips}}
1026 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.
1027 The result set is returned as
1034 domainlist virtual_domains = ${lookup redis {HGET $domain domain}}
1036 Where $domain is a hash which includes the key 'domain' and the value '$domain'.
1038 (Adding or updating an existing key)
1039 set acl_c_spammer = ${if eq{${lookup redis{SPAMMER_SET}}}{OK}}
1041 Where SPAMMER_SET is a macro and it is defined as
1043 "SET SPAMMER <some_value>"
1045 (Getting a value from Redis)
1047 set acl_c_spam_host = ${lookup redis{GET...}}
1050 Proxy Protocol Support
1051 --------------------------------------------------------------
1053 Exim now has Experimental "Proxy Protocol" support. It was built on
1054 specifications from:
1055 http://haproxy.1wt.eu/download/1.5/doc/proxy-protocol.txt
1057 The purpose of this function is so that an application load balancer,
1058 such as HAProxy, can sit in front of several Exim servers and Exim
1059 will log the IP that is connecting to the proxy server instead of
1060 the IP of the proxy server when it connects to Exim. It resets the
1061 $sender_address_host and $sender_address_port to the IP:port of the
1062 connection to the proxy. It also re-queries the DNS information for
1063 this new IP address so that the original sender's hostname and IP
1064 get logged in the Exim logfile. There is no logging if a host passes or
1065 fails Proxy Protocol negotiation, but it can easily be determined and
1066 recorded in an ACL (example is below).
1068 1. To compile Exim with Proxy Protocol support, put this in
1071 EXPERIMENTAL_PROXY=yes
1073 2. Global configuration settings:
1075 proxy_required_hosts = HOSTLIST
1077 The proxy_required_hosts option will require any IP in that hostlist
1078 to use Proxy Protocol. The specification of Proxy Protocol is very
1079 strict, and if proxy negotiation fails, Exim will not allow any SMTP
1080 command other than QUIT. (See end of this section for an example.)
1081 The option is expanded when used, so it can be a hostlist as well as
1082 string of IP addresses. Since it is expanded, specifying an alternate
1083 separator is supported for ease of use with IPv6 addresses.
1085 To log the IP of the proxy in the incoming logline, add:
1086 log_selector = +proxy
1088 A default incoming logline (wrapped for appearance) will look like this:
1090 2013-11-04 09:25:06 1VdNti-0001OY-1V <= me@example.net
1091 H=mail.example.net [1.2.3.4] P=esmtp S=433
1093 With the log selector enabled, an email that was proxied through a
1094 Proxy Protocol server at 192.168.1.2 will look like this:
1096 2013-11-04 09:25:06 1VdNti-0001OY-1V <= me@example.net
1097 H=mail.example.net [1.2.3.4] P=esmtp PRX=192.168.1.2 S=433
1099 3. In the ACL's the following expansion variables are available.
1101 proxy_host_address The (internal) src IP of the proxy server
1102 making the connection to the Exim server.
1103 proxy_host_port The (internal) src port the proxy server is
1104 using to connect to the Exim server.
1105 proxy_target_address The dest (public) IP of the remote host to
1107 proxy_target_port The dest port the remote host is using to
1108 connect to the proxy server.
1109 proxy_session Boolean, yes/no, the connected host is required
1110 to use Proxy Protocol.
1112 There is no expansion for a failed proxy session, however you can detect
1113 it by checking if $proxy_session is true but $proxy_host is empty. As
1114 an example, in my connect ACL, I have:
1116 warn condition = ${if and{ {bool{$proxy_session}} \
1117 {eq{$proxy_host_address}{}} } }
1118 log_message = Failed required proxy protocol negotiation \
1119 from $sender_host_name [$sender_host_address]
1121 warn condition = ${if and{ {bool{$proxy_session}} \
1122 {!eq{$proxy_host_address}{}} } }
1123 # But don't log health probes from the proxy itself
1124 condition = ${if eq{$proxy_host_address}{$sender_host_address} \
1126 log_message = Successfully proxied from $sender_host_name \
1127 [$sender_host_address] through proxy protocol \
1128 host $proxy_host_address
1130 # Possibly more clear
1131 warn logwrite = Remote Source Address: $sender_host_address:$sender_host_port
1132 logwrite = Proxy Target Address: $proxy_target_address:$proxy_target_port
1133 logwrite = Proxy Internal Address: $proxy_host_address:$proxy_host_port
1134 logwrite = Internal Server Address: $received_ip_address:$received_port
1137 4. Runtime issues to be aware of:
1138 - Since the real connections are all coming from your proxy, and the
1139 per host connection tracking is done before Proxy Protocol is
1140 evaluated, smtp_accept_max_per_host must be set high enough to
1141 handle all of the parallel volume you expect per inbound proxy.
1142 - The proxy has 3 seconds (hard-coded in the source code) to send the
1143 required Proxy Protocol header after it connects. If it does not,
1144 the response to any commands will be:
1145 "503 Command refused, required Proxy negotiation failed"
1146 - If the incoming connection is configured in Exim to be a Proxy
1147 Protocol host, but the proxy is not sending the header, the banner
1148 does not get sent until the timeout occurs. If the sending host
1149 sent any input (before the banner), this causes a standard Exim
1150 synchronization error (i.e. trying to pipeline before PIPELINING
1152 - This is not advised, but is mentioned for completeness if you have
1153 a specific internal configuration that you want this: If the Exim
1154 server only has an internal IP address and no other machines in your
1155 organization will connect to it to try to send email, you may
1156 simply set the hostlist to "*", however, this will prevent local
1157 mail programs from working because that would require mail from
1158 localhost to use Proxy Protocol. Again, not advised!
1160 5. Example of a refused connection because the Proxy Protocol header was
1161 not sent from a host configured to use Proxy Protocol. In the example,
1162 the 3 second timeout occurred (when a Proxy Protocol banner should have
1163 been sent), the banner was displayed to the user, but all commands are
1164 rejected except for QUIT:
1166 # nc mail.example.net 25
1167 220-mail.example.net, ESMTP Exim 4.82+proxy, Mon, 04 Nov 2013 10:45:59
1168 220 -0800 RFC's enforced
1170 503 Command refused, required Proxy negotiation failed
1172 221 mail.example.net closing connection
1176 --------------------------------------------------------------
1178 --------------------------------------------------------------