[CentOS] close open relay

Wed Nov 12 23:53:24 UTC 2008
Ross Walker <rswwalker at gmail.com>

On Nov 12, 2008, at 5:08 PM, Jerry Geis <geisj at pagestation.com> wrote:

>
> lists-centos wrote:
>> sorry, the start page is:
>>
>> <http://www.abuse.net/relay.html>
>>
>>
>> look at the headers of the original messages (probably included as
>> attachments) that sbcglobal is sending back. it's very possible that
>> a spammer has forged an address from your machine on their outbound
>> spam, and sbcglobal is bouncing that, (rather than rejecting,
>> because they haven't a clue), generating scatter-back spam.
>>
>>
>>       - Rick
>>
>> ------------ Original Message ------------
>>
>>> Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 04:44:02 PM -0500
>>> From: Jerry Geis <geisj at pagestation.com>
>>> To: CentOS ML <centos at centos.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [CentOS] close open relay
>>>
>>> lists-centos wrote:
>>>
>>>> You have to have changed more than just the sendmail.mc/cf to
>>>> make a default centos sendmail setup an open mail relay.
>>>>
>>>> Your /etc/mail/access file is where things are defined as to what
>>>> you  relay for. The /etc/mail/local-host-names effects what you
>>>> accept mail for.
>>>>
>>>> Make certain that what you're using to test that's it's an open
>>>> relay is reporting things correctly. There's a difference between
>>>> sendmail being "open" (accepting mail from the outside) and an
>>>> "open relay". The former is expected from a mail server, the
>>>> latter is a problem.
>>>>
>>>> I use:
>>>>
>>>>  <http://verify.abuse.net/cgi-bin/relaytest>
>>>>
>>>> which runs through a range of tests. I tried it against your
>>>> 24.123.23.170 mail server a few min. ago and all was fine.
>>>>
>>>> - Rick
>>>>
>>>> ------------ Original Message ------------
>>>>
>>>>> Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 03:33:11 PM -0500
>>>>> From: Jerry Geis <geisj at pagestation.com>
>>>>> To: CentOS ML <centos at centos.org>
>>>>> Subject: [CentOS] close open relay
>>>>>
>>>>> hi all, running centos 4.7 i686.
>>>>>
>>>>> I seem to have an o pen  r elay sendmail server.
>>>>> How do I close it?
>>>>>
>>>>> I have the STRAIGHT centos install sendmail.mc file.
>>>>> Only thing I changed was:
>>>>> dnl DAEMON_OPTIONS(`Port=smtp,Addr=127.0.0.1, Name=MTA')dnl
>>>>>
>>>>> so as to allow incoming email and not just localhost. however
>>>>> this seems to relay everyone.
>>>>>
>>>>> I looked at http://www.sendmail.org/tips/relaying but it just
>>>>> talks about (AFIKT)
>>>>> enabling specific relays to occur - not how to CLOSE the
>>>>> relaying.
>>>>>
>>>>> How do I close the relay?
>>>>>
>>>>> Jerry
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> CentOS mailing list
>>>>> CentOS at centos.org
>>>>> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
>>>>>
>>>> ------------ End Original Message ------------
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> When I run the following I get broken web page:
>>>
>>> http://verify.abuse.net/cgi-bin/relaytest
>>>
>>>
>>> I am getting investigating all this as I am getting return emails
>>> from sbcglobal that I am spam.
>>>
>>> Jerry
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> CentOS mailing list
>>> CentOS at centos.org
>>> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
>>>
>>
>> ------------ End Original Message ------------
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> Sure enough I tried your test and that looks good...
>
> HOwever, when i run this test:
> HELO example.com
> MAIL From: TheBoss at example.com
> RCPT To: geisj at pagestation.com
> DATA
> Subject: Think we're insecure...
> I have a feeling our mail server is being abused...
> .
> QUIT
>
> and paste that into port 25 of my server (telnet I'm talking)
> I get the email and I should not ( I presume) as I am not example.com.

That's not relaying. A true test is if you telnet from a public ip to  
your SMTP port and try to send an email to a domain that isn't yours,  
like a gmail account, does it go through. It shouldn't, but it should  
if sent from an internal ip.

Basically you need a file of hosts/networks allowed to relay to any  
domain (your internal hosts), and a file of domains that are allowed  
to be relayed by anyone (domains you handle).

Can't remember their names, look in /etc/mail/Makefile for hints.

-Ross