spf-discuss
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Using headers instead of SRS

2004-01-20 19:48:49
On Sat, Jan 17, 2004 at 11:19:07AM -0600, wayne wrote:
| In <4008F6F4(_dot_)30978(_dot_)9F7CA2A8(_at_)localhost> "John Warren" 
<John(_at_)wenet(_dot_)tustin(_dot_)ca(_dot_)us> writes:
| 
| > I think the "MAIL FROM:" transaction field should contain the 
| > authenticated sender address not the field supplied by the user in the 
| > "From" header field. The "MAIL FROM:" would then be the same as the 
| > "Sender" header field. 
| 
| It is my understanding that the Sender: header is, unfortunately,
| ambiguous.  It's exact defininition changed between RFC822 and RFC2822
| and RFC822 used it in two different ways.  I forget where I saw this
| discussed, but I remember being pretty well convinced that Sender: is
| not very reliable.
| 
| > Who is the true sender of the message? It has to the the authenticated 
| > sender not the "From" sender which could be forged even if it is a 
| > legal forgery.
| 
| A more likely candidate for what you describe would be Resent-From:
| however I think this is not always reliable either.

OK, so where are we with this thread?

I think we agree that a forwarder will have to do some kind of twiddling.

The question is whether you want to twiddle the envelope or the headers.

This is a decision we can still make, but the window of opportunity is
closing fast.  So let's go over the pros and cons.


                         Twiddling the Envelope


Pros: 1) can reject before DATA, saving bandwidth.

      2) MTAs already capable of filtering on envelope commands,
         can call out to plugins, etc.

      3) rejection can occur on a per-user basis

Cons: 1) have to do stupid cookie tricks

      2) violate the 64 char localpart limit



                         Twiddling the Headers


Pros: 1) don't have to do stupid cookie tricks

Cons: 1) MTAs have to parse headers

      2) rejection has to occur after ".", at higher bandwidth cost



When using the envelope, we consider only the MAIL FROM return-path.

When using the headers, we would use one of Resent-Sender, Resent-From,
Sender, and From, in that order.

A forwarder would add Resent-Sender.

The envelope sender address would remain unchanged from end to end.

Thoughts?

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