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Re: draft-klensin-rfc2821bis-04: VRFY and EXPN syntax

2007-07-16 11:14:00

Hi Peter,
At 01:15 16-07-2007, Peter J. Holzer wrote:
Speaking of local mailboxes and user names, I think it is extremely
inadvisable to let VRFY return a list of real addresses on a partial
match. If "VRFY john" returns a list of all addresses of users whose
first or last name is John, it is simple to harvest addresses.

That would only be a problem if VRFY is not restricted. Section 3.5.2 states that VRFY is not required to work across relays. Section 3.5 is about commands for debugging addresses. There is already a warning about disabling these commands for security reasons.

"In many cases, RCPT commands can be used to obtain the same information about address validity."

Regards,
-sm