RE: [Exim] Temporary defer on callouts

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Author: Eli
Date:  
To: 'Edgar Lovecraft', exim-users
Subject: RE: [Exim] Temporary defer on callouts
>I have also found that this problem has just gotte worse this week as
>even more silly admins seem to think that not accepting mail from: <> is
>a good way to stop the virus


Unfortunately, sometimes that's the only immediate "fix" for a huge problem.
I know from having to do it myself - the reason was that 1) we were using
Imail in all it's horrendous glory, and 2) Imail had (among many others) a
bug that would literally bring the most powerful of servers to a crawl
within minutes of 1 spammer doing a relatively simple spam attack. Our only
fix at the time was to deny null senders, although even that didn't help
completely (although it did prevent a ton of clients calling up and
yelling).

Just one of the many reasons why I'm working on getting Exim up and running
to replace all our crappy Windows based servers!

Eli.

-----Original Message-----
From: exim-users-admin@??? [mailto:exim-users-admin@exim.org] On Behalf
Of Edgar Lovecraft
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2004 9:37 PM
To: exim-users@???
Subject: Re: [Exim] Temporary defer on callouts

> Date:        Fri, 30 Jan 2004 16:41:32 -0800
> From:        Bill Moseley <moseley@???>
> To:        exim-users@???
> Subject:    [Exim] Temporary defer on callouts

>
> I'm now rejecting based on a failed sender callout. I'm using defer_ok
> on the callout which does allow a few bad apples through. Are others
> that are rejecting by sender callouts also using deny_ok?
>

I currently use the deny_ok in sender callout verification, that is not
where the problem is. I am currently working on a better solution than
the callouts (or atleast more selective callouts) as there are WAY too
many 'legite' domains out there that do not accept the 'mail from: <>'
command, so I get alot of complaints from users about so-and-so not being
able to send them email any more...
I have also found that this problem has just gotte worse this week as
even more silly admins seem to think that not accepting mail from: <> is
a good way to stop the virus, or more likely all of the
MailScanner/TrendMicro/NortonAV reject messages.
>
> I'd like to deny on timeout/temporary error, but I think that might be
> too extreme. So, I'm wondering if it would be possible to somehow give
> a temporary error, but cache the event and if they try again in an hour
> or longer then accept.
>
> The idea is that spammers may not try again on a temporary error, but
> legitimate mail would try again.
>
> Is something like that possible -- or even a good idea?
>
> BTW -- I notice in my logs that many of the rejects are three at a time.
> That is, I see this listed three times in a row in the log:
>
> rejected RCPT <ted@???>: Unrouteable address
>
> Is that just the way the spammer/virus is programmed to try? Or is
> there another reason for three attempts in a row?
>
> --
> Bill Moseley
> moseley@???
>
>
> --
>
> ## List details at http://www.exim.org/mailman/listinfo/exim-users Exim
> details at http://www.exim.org/ ##



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