Re: SMTP RFC: "MUST NOT" change or delete Received header

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

 




On 29 March 2014 16:01, Dale R. Worley <worley@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: "Kevin M. Gallagher" <kevin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> What do people today think of the SMTP RFC's current requirement that
> mail programs and servers must not under any circumstances change or
> delete Received: headers? Is exposing sender IP addresses to any
> attacker who can view e-mail headers, for the purposes of preserving
> trace information, really worth it when weighed against considerations
> like security and privacy?

Received: headers are quite useful when you're trying to figure out
which mail server sat on the message for four days.

They're also useful when you're trying to figure out what sequence of
address rewrites got the message to you.

 
Try explaining to some other organisation that their mail system is broken without the evidence readily available.

The longest delivery delay I ever investigated was a magnificent 17 months! The recipient was truly baffled.  A mailserver far away had a disk restored from backup, complete with a queued message in the level 0 dump.


[Index of Archives]     [IETF Annoucements]     [IETF]     [IP Storage]     [Yosemite News]     [Linux SCTP]     [Linux Newbies]     [Fedora Users]