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.
9 Brightmail AntiSpam (BMI) suppport
10 --------------------------------------------------------------
12 Brightmail AntiSpam is a commercial package. Please see
13 http://www.brightmail.com for more information on
14 the product. For the sake of clarity, we'll refer to it as
18 0) BMI concept and implementation overview
20 In contrast to how spam-scanning with SpamAssassin is
21 implemented in exiscan-acl, BMI is more suited for per
22 -recipient scanning of messages. However, each messages is
23 scanned only once, but multiple "verdicts" for multiple
24 recipients can be returned from the BMI server. The exiscan
25 implementation passes the message to the BMI server just
26 before accepting it. It then adds the retrieved verdicts to
27 the messages header file in the spool. These verdicts can then
28 be queried in routers, where operation is per-recipient
29 instead of per-message. To use BMI, you need to take the
32 1) Compile Exim with BMI support
33 2) Set up main BMI options (top section of Exim config file)
34 3) Set up ACL control statement (ACL section of the config
36 4) Set up your routers to use BMI verdicts (routers section
38 5) (Optional) Set up per-recipient opt-in information.
40 These four steps are explained in more details below.
42 1) Adding support for BMI at compile time
44 To compile with BMI support, you need to link Exim against
45 the Brighmail client SDK, consisting of a library
46 (libbmiclient_single.so) and a header file (bmi_api.h).
47 You'll also need to explicitly set a flag in the Makefile to
48 include BMI support in the Exim binary. Both can be achieved
49 with these lines in Local/Makefile:
51 EXPERIMENTAL_BRIGHTMAIL=yes
52 CFLAGS=-I/path/to/the/dir/with/the/includefile
53 EXTRALIBS_EXIM=-L/path/to/the/dir/with/the/library -lbmiclient_single
55 If you use other CFLAGS or EXTRALIBS_EXIM settings then
56 merge the content of these lines with them.
58 Note for BMI6.x users: You'll also have to add -lxml2_single
59 to the EXTRALIBS_EXIM line. Users of 5.5x do not need to do
62 You should also include the location of
63 libbmiclient_single.so in your dynamic linker configuration
64 file (usually /etc/ld.so.conf) and run "ldconfig"
65 afterwards, or else the produced Exim binary will not be
66 able to find the library file.
69 2) Setting up BMI support in the Exim main configuration
71 To enable BMI support in the main Exim configuration, you
72 should set the path to the main BMI configuration file with
73 the "bmi_config_file" option, like this:
75 bmi_config_file = /opt/brightmail/etc/brightmail.cfg
77 This must go into section 1 of Exim's configuration file (You
78 can put it right on top). If you omit this option, it
79 defaults to /opt/brightmail/etc/brightmail.cfg.
81 Note for BMI6.x users: This file is in XML format in V6.xx
82 and its name is /opt/brightmail/etc/bmiconfig.xml. So BMI
83 6.x users MUST set the bmi_config_file option.
86 3) Set up ACL control statement
88 To optimize performance, it makes sense only to process
89 messages coming from remote, untrusted sources with the BMI
90 server. To set up a messages for processing by the BMI
91 server, you MUST set the "bmi_run" control statement in any
92 ACL for an incoming message. You will typically do this in
93 an "accept" block in the "acl_check_rcpt" ACL. You should
94 use the "accept" block(s) that accept messages from remote
95 servers for your own domain(s). Here is an example that uses
96 the "accept" blocks from Exim's default configuration file:
99 accept domains = +local_domains
104 accept domains = +relay_to_domains
109 If bmi_run is not set in any ACL during reception of the
110 message, it will NOT be passed to the BMI server.
113 4) Setting up routers to use BMI verdicts
115 When a message has been run through the BMI server, one or
116 more "verdicts" are present. Different recipients can have
117 different verdicts. Each recipient is treated individually
118 during routing, so you can query the verdicts by recipient
119 at that stage. From Exim's view, a verdict can have the
122 o deliver the message normally
123 o deliver the message to an alternate location
124 o do not deliver the message
126 To query the verdict for a recipient, the implementation
127 offers the following tools:
130 - Boolean router preconditions. These can be used in any
131 router. For a simple implementation of BMI, these may be
132 all that you need. The following preconditions are
135 o bmi_deliver_default
137 This precondition is TRUE if the verdict for the
138 recipient is to deliver the message normally. If the
139 message has not been processed by the BMI server, this
140 variable defaults to TRUE.
142 o bmi_deliver_alternate
144 This precondition is TRUE if the verdict for the
145 recipient is to deliver the message to an alternate
146 location. You can get the location string from the
147 $bmi_alt_location expansion variable if you need it. See
148 further below. If the message has not been processed by
149 the BMI server, this variable defaults to FALSE.
153 This precondition is TRUE if the verdict for the
154 recipient is NOT to deliver the message to the
155 recipient. You will typically use this precondition in a
156 top-level blackhole router, like this:
158 # don't deliver messages handled by the BMI server
164 This router should be on top of all others, so messages
165 that should not be delivered do not reach other routers
166 at all. If the message has not been processed by
167 the BMI server, this variable defaults to FALSE.
170 - A list router precondition to query if rules "fired" on
171 the message for the recipient. Its name is "bmi_rule". You
172 use it by passing it a colon-separated list of rule
173 numbers. You can use this condition to route messages that
174 matched specific rules. Here is an example:
176 # special router for BMI rule #5, #8 and #11
180 data = postmaster@mydomain.com
183 - Expansion variables. Several expansion variables are set
184 during routing. You can use them in custom router
185 conditions, for example. The following variables are
188 o $bmi_base64_verdict
190 This variable will contain the BASE64 encoded verdict
191 for the recipient being routed. You can use it to add a
192 header to messages for tracking purposes, for example:
197 headers_add = X-Brightmail-Verdict: $bmi_base64_verdict
198 transport = local_delivery
200 If there is no verdict available for the recipient being
201 routed, this variable contains the empty string.
203 o $bmi_base64_tracker_verdict
205 This variable will contain a BASE64 encoded subset of
206 the verdict information concerning the "rules" that
207 fired on the message. You can add this string to a
208 header, commonly named "X-Brightmail-Tracker". Example:
213 headers_add = X-Brightmail-Tracker: $bmi_base64_tracker_verdict
214 transport = local_delivery
216 If there is no verdict available for the recipient being
217 routed, this variable contains the empty string.
221 If the verdict is to redirect the message to an
222 alternate location, this variable will contain the
223 alternate location string returned by the BMI server. In
224 its default configuration, this is a header-like string
225 that can be added to the message with "headers_add". If
226 there is no verdict available for the recipient being
227 routed, or if the message is to be delivered normally,
228 this variable contains the empty string.
232 This is an additional integer variable that can be used
233 to query if the message should be delivered at all. You
234 should use router preconditions instead if possible.
236 $bmi_deliver is '0': the message should NOT be delivered.
237 $bmi_deliver is '1': the message should be delivered.
240 IMPORTANT NOTE: Verdict inheritance.
241 The message is passed to the BMI server during message
242 reception, using the target addresses from the RCPT TO:
243 commands in the SMTP transaction. If recipients get expanded
244 or re-written (for example by aliasing), the new address(es)
245 inherit the verdict from the original address. This means
246 that verdicts also apply to all "child" addresses generated
247 from top-level addresses that were sent to the BMI server.
250 5) Using per-recipient opt-in information (Optional)
252 The BMI server features multiple scanning "profiles" for
253 individual recipients. These are usually stored in a LDAP
254 server and are queried by the BMI server itself. However,
255 you can also pass opt-in data for each recipient from the
256 MTA to the BMI server. This is particularly useful if you
257 already look up recipient data in Exim anyway (which can
258 also be stored in a SQL database or other source). This
259 implementation enables you to pass opt-in data to the BMI
260 server in the RCPT ACL. This works by setting the
261 'bmi_optin' modifier in a block of that ACL. If should be
262 set to a list of comma-separated strings that identify the
263 features which the BMI server should use for that particular
264 recipient. Ideally, you would use the 'bmi_optin' modifier
265 in the same ACL block where you set the 'bmi_run' control
266 flag. Here is an example that will pull opt-in data for each
267 recipient from a flat file called
268 '/etc/exim/bmi_optin_data'.
272 user1@mydomain.com: <OPTIN STRING1>:<OPTIN STRING2>
273 user2@thatdomain.com: <OPTIN STRING3>
278 accept domains = +relay_to_domains
281 bmi_optin = ${lookup{$local_part@$domain}lsearch{/etc/exim/bmi_optin_data}}
284 Of course, you can also use any other lookup method that
285 Exim supports, including LDAP, Postgres, MySQL, Oracle etc.,
286 as long as the result is a list of colon-separated opt-in
289 For a list of available opt-in strings, please contact your
290 Brightmail representative.
295 Sender Policy Framework (SPF) support
296 --------------------------------------------------------------
298 To learn more about SPF, visit http://www.openspf.org. This
299 document does not explain the SPF fundamentals, you should
300 read and understand the implications of deploying SPF on your
301 system before doing so.
303 SPF support is added via the libspf2 library. Visit
305 http://www.libspf2.org/
307 to obtain a copy, then compile and install it. By default,
308 this will put headers in /usr/local/include and the static
309 library in /usr/local/lib.
311 To compile Exim with SPF support, set these additional flags in
315 CFLAGS=-DSPF -I/usr/local/include
316 EXTRALIBS_EXIM=-L/usr/local/lib -lspf2
318 This assumes that the libspf2 files are installed in
319 their default locations.
321 You can now run SPF checks in incoming SMTP by using the "spf"
322 ACL condition in either the MAIL, RCPT or DATA ACLs. When
323 using it in the RCPT ACL, you can make the checks dependent on
324 the RCPT address (or domain), so you can check SPF records
325 only for certain target domains. This gives you the
326 possibility to opt-out certain customers that do not want
327 their mail to be subject to SPF checking.
329 The spf condition takes a list of strings on its right-hand
330 side. These strings describe the outcome of the SPF check for
331 which the spf condition should succeed. Valid strings are:
333 o pass The SPF check passed, the sending host
334 is positively verified by SPF.
335 o fail The SPF check failed, the sending host
336 is NOT allowed to send mail for the domain
337 in the envelope-from address.
338 o softfail The SPF check failed, but the queried
339 domain can't absolutely confirm that this
341 o none The queried domain does not publish SPF
343 o neutral The SPF check returned a "neutral" state.
344 This means the queried domain has published
345 a SPF record, but wants to allow outside
346 servers to send mail under its domain as well.
347 This should be treated like "none".
348 o permerror This indicates a syntax error in the SPF
349 record of the queried domain. You may deny
350 messages when this occurs. (Changed in 4.83)
351 o temperror This indicates a temporary error during all
352 processing, including Exim's SPF processing.
353 You may defer messages when this occurs.
355 o err_temp Same as permerror, deprecated in 4.83, will be
356 removed in a future release.
357 o err_perm Same as temperror, deprecated in 4.83, will be
358 removed in a future release.
360 You can prefix each string with an exclamation mark to invert
361 its meaning, for example "!fail" will match all results but
362 "fail". The string list is evaluated left-to-right, in a
363 short-circuit fashion. When a string matches the outcome of
364 the SPF check, the condition succeeds. If none of the listed
365 strings matches the outcome of the SPF check, the condition
368 Here is an example to fail forgery attempts from domains that
372 deny message = $sender_host_address is not allowed to send mail from ${if def:sender_address_domain {$sender_address_domain}{$sender_helo_name}}. \
373 Please see http://www.openspf.org/Why?scope=${if def:sender_address_domain {mfrom}{helo}};identity=${if def:sender_address_domain {$sender_address}{$sender_helo_name}};ip=$sender_host_address
375 --------------------- */
377 You can also give special treatment to specific domains:
380 deny message = AOL sender, but not from AOL-approved relay.
381 sender_domains = aol.com
383 --------------------- */
385 Explanation: AOL publishes SPF records, but is liberal and
386 still allows non-approved relays to send mail from aol.com.
387 This will result in a "neutral" state, while mail from genuine
388 AOL servers will result in "pass". The example above takes
389 this into account and treats "neutral" like "fail", but only
390 for aol.com. Please note that this violates the SPF draft.
392 When the spf condition has run, it sets up several expansion
396 This contains a human-readable string describing the outcome
397 of the SPF check. You can add it to a custom header or use
398 it for logging purposes.
401 This contains a complete Received-SPF: header that can be
402 added to the message. Please note that according to the SPF
403 draft, this header must be added at the top of the header
404 list. Please see section 10 on how you can do this.
406 Note: in case of "Best-guess" (see below), the convention is
407 to put this string in a header called X-SPF-Guess: instead.
410 This contains the outcome of the SPF check in string form,
411 one of pass, fail, softfail, none, neutral, permerror or
415 This contains a string that can be used in a SMTP response
416 to the calling party. Useful for "fail".
418 In addition to SPF, you can also perform checks for so-called
419 "Best-guess". Strictly speaking, "Best-guess" is not standard
420 SPF, but it is supported by the same framework that enables SPF
421 capability. Refer to http://www.openspf.org/FAQ/Best_guess_record
422 for a description of what it means.
424 To access this feature, simply use the spf_guess condition in place
425 of the spf one. For example:
428 deny message = $sender_host_address doesn't look trustworthy to me
430 --------------------- */
432 In case you decide to reject messages based on this check, you
433 should note that although it uses the same framework, "Best-guess"
434 is NOT SPF, and therefore you should not mention SPF at all in your
437 When the spf_guess condition has run, it sets up the same expansion
438 variables as when spf condition is run, described above.
440 Additionally, since Best-guess is not standardized, you may redefine
441 what "Best-guess" means to you by redefining spf_guess variable in
442 global config. For example, the following:
445 spf_guess = v=spf1 a/16 mx/16 ptr ?all
446 --------------------- */
448 would relax host matching rules to a broader network range.
451 A lookup expansion is also available. It takes an email
452 address as the key and an IP address as the database:
454 $lookup (username@domain} spf {ip.ip.ip.ip}}
456 The lookup will return the same result strings as they can appear in
457 $spf_result (pass,fail,softfail,neutral,none,err_perm,err_temp).
458 Currently, only IPv4 addresses are supported.
462 SRS (Sender Rewriting Scheme) Support
463 --------------------------------------------------------------
465 Exiscan currently includes SRS support via Miles Wilton's
466 libsrs_alt library. The current version of the supported
469 In order to use SRS, you must get a copy of libsrs_alt from
471 http://srs.mirtol.com/
473 Unpack the tarball, then refer to MTAs/README.EXIM
474 to proceed. You need to set
478 in your Local/Makefile.
482 --------------------------------------------------------------
483 Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse; http://www.rhyolite.com/dcc/
487 In order to build exim with DCC support add
491 to your Makefile. (Re-)build/install exim. exim -d should show
492 EXPERIMENTAL_DCC under "Support for".
497 In the main section of exim.cf add at least
498 dccifd_address = /usr/local/dcc/var/dccifd
500 dccifd_address = <ip> <port>
502 In the DATA ACL you can use the new condition
505 After that "$dcc_header" contains the X-DCC-Header.
508 fail for overall "R", "G" from dccifd
509 defer for overall "T" from dccifd
510 accept for overall "A", "S" from dccifd
512 dcc = */defer_ok works as for spamd.
514 The "$dcc_result" variable contains the overall result from DCC
515 answer. There will an X-DCC: header added to the mail.
519 to greylist with DCC.
521 If you set, in the main section,
522 dcc_direct_add_header = true
523 then the dcc header will be added "in deep" and if the spool
524 file was already written it gets removed. This forces Exim to
525 write it again if needed. This helps to get the DCC Header
526 through to eg. SpamAssassin.
528 If you want to pass even more headers in the middle of the
529 DATA stage you can set
530 $acl_m_dcc_add_header
531 to tell the DCC routines to add more information; eg, you might set
532 this to some results from ClamAV. Be careful. Header syntax is
533 not checked and is added "as is".
535 In case you've troubles with sites sending the same queue items from several
536 hosts and fail to get through greylisting you can use
537 $acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip
539 Setting $acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip to an IP address overrides the default
540 of $sender_host_address. eg. use the following ACL in DATA stage:
542 warn set acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip = \
543 ${lookup{$sender_helo_name}nwildlsearch{/etc/mail/multipleip_sites}{$value}{}}
544 condition = ${if def:acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip}
545 log_message = dbg: acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip set to \
546 $acl_m_dcc_override_client_ip
548 Then set something like
549 # cat /etc/mail/multipleip_sites
550 mout-xforward.gmx.net 82.165.159.12
551 mout.gmx.net 212.227.15.16
553 Use a reasonable IP. eg. one the sending cluster acutally uses.
556 --------------------------------------------------------------
558 DMARC combines feedback from SPF, DKIM, and header From: in order
559 to attempt to provide better indicators of the authenticity of an
560 email. This document does not explain the fundamentals, you
561 should read and understand how it works by visiting the website at
562 http://www.dmarc.org/.
564 DMARC support is added via the libopendmarc library. Visit:
566 http://sourceforge.net/projects/opendmarc/
568 to obtain a copy, or find it in your favorite rpm package
569 repository. If building from source, this description assumes
570 that headers will be in /usr/local/include, and that the libraries
571 are in /usr/local/lib.
573 1. To compile Exim with DMARC support, you must first enable SPF.
574 Please read the above section on enabling the EXPERIMENTAL_SPF
575 feature. You must also have DKIM support, so you cannot set the
576 DISABLE_DKIM feature. Once both of those conditions have been met
577 you can enable DMARC in Local/Makefile:
579 EXPERIMENTAL_DMARC=yes
580 LDFLAGS += -lopendmarc
581 # CFLAGS += -I/usr/local/include
582 # LDFLAGS += -L/usr/local/lib
584 The first line sets the feature to include the correct code, and
585 the second line says to link the libopendmarc libraries into the
586 exim binary. The commented out lines should be uncommented if you
587 built opendmarc from source and installed in the default location.
588 Adjust the paths if you installed them elsewhere, but you do not
589 need to uncomment them if an rpm (or you) installed them in the
590 package controlled locations (/usr/include and /usr/lib).
593 2. Use the following global settings to configure DMARC:
596 dmarc_tld_file Defines the location of a text file of valid
597 top level domains the opendmarc library uses
598 during domain parsing. Maintained by Mozilla,
599 the most current version can be downloaded
600 from a link at http://publicsuffix.org/list/.
603 dmarc_history_file Defines the location of a file to log results
604 of dmarc verification on inbound emails. The
605 contents are importable by the opendmarc tools
606 which will manage the data, send out DMARC
607 reports, and expire the data. Make sure the
608 directory of this file is writable by the user
611 dmarc_forensic_sender The email address to use when sending a
612 forensic report detailing alignment failures
613 if a sender domain's dmarc record specifies it
614 and you have configured Exim to send them.
615 Default: do-not-reply@$default_hostname
618 3. By default, the DMARC processing will run for any remote,
619 non-authenticated user. It makes sense to only verify DMARC
620 status of messages coming from remote, untrusted sources. You can
621 use standard conditions such as hosts, senders, etc, to decide that
622 DMARC verification should *not* be performed for them and disable
623 DMARC with a control setting:
625 control = dmarc_disable_verify
627 A DMARC record can also specify a "forensic address", which gives
628 exim an email address to submit reports about failed alignment.
629 Exim does not do this by default because in certain conditions it
630 results in unintended information leakage (what lists a user might
631 be subscribed to, etc). You must configure exim to submit forensic
632 reports to the owner of the domain. If the DMARC record contains a
633 forensic address and you specify the control statement below, then
634 exim will send these forensic emails. It's also advised that you
635 configure a dmarc_forensic_sender because the default sender address
636 construction might be inadequate.
638 control = dmarc_enable_forensic
640 (AGAIN: You can choose not to send these forensic reports by simply
641 not putting the dmarc_enable_forensic control line at any point in
642 your exim config. If you don't tell it to send them, it will not
645 There are no options to either control. Both must appear before
649 4. You can now run DMARC checks in incoming SMTP by using the
650 "dmarc_status" ACL condition in the DATA ACL. You are required to
651 call the spf condition first in the ACLs, then the "dmarc_status"
652 condition. Putting this condition in the ACLs is required in order
653 for a DMARC check to actually occur. All of the variables are set
654 up before the DATA ACL, but there is no actual DMARC check that
655 occurs until a "dmarc_status" condition is encountered in the ACLs.
657 The dmarc_status condition takes a list of strings on its
658 right-hand side. These strings describe recommended action based
659 on the DMARC check. To understand what the policy recommendations
660 mean, refer to the DMARC website above. Valid strings are:
662 o accept The DMARC check passed and the library recommends
664 o reject The DMARC check failed and the library recommends
666 o quarantine The DMARC check failed and the library recommends
667 keeping it for further inspection.
668 o none The DMARC check passed and the library recommends
669 no specific action, neutral.
670 o norecord No policy section in the DMARC record for this
672 o nofrom Unable to determine the domain of the sender.
673 o temperror Library error or dns error.
674 o off The DMARC check was disabled for this email.
676 You can prefix each string with an exclamation mark to invert its
677 meaning, for example "!accept" will match all results but
678 "accept". The string list is evaluated left-to-right in a
679 short-circuit fashion. When a string matches the outcome of the
680 DMARC check, the condition succeeds. If none of the listed
681 strings matches the outcome of the DMARC check, the condition
684 Of course, you can also use any other lookup method that Exim
685 supports, including LDAP, Postgres, MySQL, etc, as long as the
686 result is a list of colon-separated strings.
688 Several expansion variables are set before the DATA ACL is
689 processed, and you can use them in this ACL. The following
690 expansion variables are available:
693 This is a one word status indicating what the DMARC library
694 thinks of the email. It is a combination of the results of
695 DMARC record lookup and the SPF/DKIM/DMARC processing results
696 (if a DMARC record was found). The actual policy declared
697 in the DMARC record is in a separate expansion variable.
700 This is a slightly longer, human readable status.
703 This is the domain which DMARC used to look up the DMARC
706 o $dmarc_domain_policy
707 This is the policy declared in the DMARC record. Valid values
708 are "none", "reject" and "quarantine". It is blank when there
709 is any error, including no DMARC record.
712 This is the entire Authentication-Results header which you can
713 add using an add_header modifier.
716 5. How to enable DMARC advanced operation:
717 By default, Exim's DMARC configuration is intended to be
718 non-intrusive and conservative. To facilitate this, Exim will not
719 create any type of logging files without explicit configuration by
720 you, the admin. Nor will Exim send out any emails/reports about
721 DMARC issues without explicit configuration by you, the admin (other
722 than typical bounce messages that may come about due to ACL
723 processing or failure delivery issues).
725 In order to log statistics suitable to be imported by the opendmarc
727 a. Configure the global setting dmarc_history_file.
728 b. Configure cron jobs to call the appropriate opendmarc history
729 import scripts and truncating the dmarc_history_file.
731 In order to send forensic reports, you need to:
732 a. Configure the global setting dmarc_forensic_sender.
733 b. Configure, somewhere before the DATA ACL, the control option to
734 enable sending DMARC forensic reports.
739 warn domains = +local_domains
741 control = dmarc_disable_verify
743 warn !domains = +screwed_up_dmarc_records
744 control = dmarc_enable_forensic
746 warn condition = (lookup if destined to mailing list)
747 set acl_m_mailing_list = 1
750 warn dmarc_status = accept : none : off
752 log_message = DMARC DEBUG: $dmarc_status $dmarc_used_domain
753 add_header = $dmarc_ar_header
755 warn dmarc_status = !accept
757 log_message = DMARC DEBUG: '$dmarc_status' for $dmarc_used_domain
759 warn dmarc_status = quarantine
761 set $acl_m_quarantine = 1
762 # Do something in a transport with this flag variable
764 deny condition = ${if eq{$dmarc_domain_policy}{reject}}
765 condition = ${if eq{$acl_m_mailing_list}{1}}
766 message = Messages from $dmarc_used_domain break mailing lists
768 deny dmarc_status = reject
770 message = Message from $dmarc_used_domain failed sender's DMARC policy, REJECT
775 ------------------------------------------------------------
776 DNS-based Authentication of Named Entities, as applied
777 to SMTP over TLS, provides assurance to a client that
778 it is actually talking to the server it wants to rather
779 than some attacker operating a Man In The Middle (MITM)
780 operation. The latter can terminate the TLS connection
781 you make, and make another one to the server (so both
782 you and the server still think you have an encrypted
783 connection) and, if one of the "well known" set of
784 Certificate Authorities has been suborned - something
785 which *has* been seen already (2014), a verifiable
786 certificate (if you're using normal root CAs, eg. the
787 Mozilla set, as your trust anchors).
789 What DANE does is replace the CAs with the DNS as the
790 trust anchor. The assurance is limited to a) the possibility
791 that the DNS has been suborned, b) mistakes made by the
792 admins of the target server. The attack surface presented
793 by (a) is thought to be smaller than that of the set
796 It also allows the server to declare (implicitly) that
797 connections to it should use TLS. An MITM could simply
798 fail to pass on a server's STARTTLS.
800 DANE scales better than having to maintain (and
801 side-channel communicate) copies of server certificates
802 for every possible target server. It also scales
803 (slightly) better than having to maintain on an SMTP
804 client a copy of the standard CAs bundle. It also
805 means not having to pay a CA for certificates.
807 DANE requires a server operator to do three things:
808 1) run DNSSEC. This provides assurance to clients
809 that DNS lookups they do for the server have not
810 been tampered with. The domain MX record applying
811 to this server, its A record, its TLSA record and
812 any associated CNAME records must all be covered by
814 2) add TLSA DNS records. These say what the server
815 certificate for a TLS connection should be.
816 3) offer a server certificate, or certificate chain,
817 in TLS connections which is traceable to the one
818 defined by (one of?) the TSLA records
820 There are no changes to Exim specific to server-side
823 The TLSA record for the server may have "certificate
824 usage" of DANE-TA(2) or DANE-EE(3). The latter specifies
825 the End Entity directly, i.e. the certificate involved
826 is that of the server (and should be the sole one transmitted
827 during the TLS handshake); this is appropriate for a
828 single system, using a self-signed certificate.
829 DANE-TA usage is effectively declaring a specific CA
830 to be used; this might be a private CA or a public,
831 well-known one. A private CA at simplest is just
832 a self-signed certificate which is used to sign
833 cerver certificates, but running one securely does
834 require careful arrangement. If a private CA is used
835 then either all clients must be primed with it, or
836 (probably simpler) the server TLS handshake must transmit
837 the entire certificate chain from CA to server-certificate.
838 If a public CA is used then all clients must be primed with it
839 (losing one advantage of DANE) - but the attack surface is
840 reduced from all public CAs to that single CA.
841 DANE-TA is commonly used for several services and/or
842 servers, each having a TLSA query-domain CNAME record,
843 all of which point to a single TLSA record.
845 The TLSA record should have a Selector field of SPKI(1)
846 and a Matching Type field of SHA2-512(2).
848 At the time of writing, https://www.huque.com/bin/gen_tlsa
849 is useful for quickly generating TLSA records; and commands like
851 openssl x509 -in -pubkey -noout <certificate.pem \
852 | openssl rsa -outform der -pubin 2>/dev/null \
856 are workable for 4th-field hashes.
858 For use with the DANE-TA model, server certificates
859 must have a correct name (SubjectName or SubjectAltName).
861 The use of OCSP-stapling should be considered, allowing
862 for fast revocation of certificates (which would otherwise
863 be limited by the DNS TTL on the TLSA records). However,
864 this is likely to only be usable with DANE-TA. NOTE: the
865 default of requesting OCSP for all hosts is modified iff
868 hosts_request_ocsp = ${if or { {= {0}{$tls_out_tlsa_usage}} \
869 {= {4}{$tls_out_tlsa_usage}} } \
872 The (new) variable $tls_out_tlsa_usage is a bitfield with
873 numbered bits set for TLSA record usage codes.
874 The zero above means DANE was not in use,
875 the four means that only DANE-TA usage TLSA records were
876 found. If the definition of hosts_request_ocsp includes the
877 string "tls_out_tlsa_usage", they are re-expanded in time to
878 control the OCSP request.
880 This modification of hosts_request_ocsp is only done if
881 it has the default value of "*". Admins who change it, and
882 those who use hosts_require_ocsp, should consider the interaction
883 with DANE in their OCSP settings.
886 For client-side DANE there are two new smtp transport options,
887 hosts_try_dane and hosts_require_dane. They do the obvious thing.
888 [ should they be domain-based rather than host-based? ]
890 DANE will only be usable if the target host has DNSSEC-secured
891 MX, A and TLSA records.
893 A TLSA lookup will be done if either of the above options match
894 and the host-lookup succeded using dnssec.
895 If a TLSA lookup is done and succeeds, a DANE-verified TLS connection
896 will be required for the host.
898 (TODO: specify when fallback happens vs. when the host is not used)
900 If DANE is requested and useable (see above) the following transport
905 tls_verify_certificates
907 tls_verify_cert_hostnames
909 If DANE is not usable, whether requested or not, and CA-anchored
910 verification evaluation is wanted, the above variables should be set
913 Currently dnssec_request_domains must be active (need to think about that)
914 and dnssec_require_domains is ignored.
916 If verification was successful using DANE then the "CV" item
917 in the delivery log line will show as "CV=dane".
919 There is a new variable $tls_out_dane which will have "yes" if
920 verification succeeded using DANE and "no" otherwise (only useful
921 in combination with EXPERIMENTAL_EVENT), and a new variable
922 $tls_out_tlsa_usage (detailed above).
926 DSN extra information
927 ---------------------
928 If compiled with EXPERIMENTAL_DSN_INFO extra information will be added
929 to DSN fail messages ("bounces"), when available. The intent is to aid
930 tracing of specific failing messages, when presented with a "bounce"
931 complaint and needing to search logs.
934 The remote MTA IP address, with port number if nonstandard.
936 Remote-MTA: X-ip; [127.0.0.1]:587
938 Several addresses may correspond to the (already available)
939 dns name for the remote MTA.
941 The remote MTA connect-time greeting.
943 X-Remote-MTA-smtp-greeting: X-str; 220 the.local.host.name ESMTP Exim x.yz Tue, 2 Mar 1999 09:44:33 +0000
945 This string sometimes presents the remote MTA's idea of its
946 own name, and sometimes identifies the MTA software.
948 The remote MTA response to HELO or EHLO.
950 X-Remote-MTA-helo-response: X-str; 250-the.local.host.name Hello localhost [127.0.0.1]
952 Only the first line of a multiline response is recorded.
954 This string sometimes presents the remote MTA's view of
955 the peer IP connecting to it.
957 The reporting MTA detailed diagnostic.
959 X-Exim-Diagnostic: X-str; SMTP error from remote mail server after RCPT TO:<d3@myhost.test.ex>: 550 hard error
961 This string somtimes give extra information over the
962 existing (already available) Diagnostic-Code field.
965 Note that non-RFC-documented field names and data types are used.
970 --------------------------------------------------------------
972 --------------------------------------------------------------