[Techtalk] Am I Running an Open Relay? Help!
Kagan MacTane
kagan at mactane.org
Mon Dec 1 03:07:35 UTC 2014
I'm running an Ubuntu 14.04.1 server with Postfix using SASL and TLS.
The Postfix was originally installed many years ago, and has been
upgraded and switched around so many times I can't keep anything
straight in my config. Things used to be fine, but recently I've been
getting back messages from Gmail saying my messages are rejected because
there's too much spam coming from my IP address. Uh-oh!
I tried the open relay checker at http://www.mailradar.com/openrelay/
and it comes up clean. However, the one at
http://www.spamhelp.org/shopenrelay/ says "*Testing 162.245.20.11 on
port 25... **Error* - could not connect to server" (which is weird as
hell, because the world can send me email just fine), and the one at
http://checkor.com/ just comes up blank, apparently doing nothing.
But my mail queue is full of messages that are from and/or to other
domains, with nothing to do with any of my users or people they
communicate with. (I have a very small userbase, of people who I know
personally, so I can see that none of this stuff has anything to do with
them.) Seriously, it looks like I've got roughly 30,000 spam messages
cluttering up my mail queue, trying and failing to be delivered to
addresses at Gmail, Hotmail, and suchlike.
Also, my mail log is full of lines like these:
Nov 30 18:49:55 finrod postfix/smtpd[23941]: 0457921C727E:
client=unknown[109.251.106.76], sasl_method=PLAIN,
sasl_username=digitalsidhe at silmemar.org
Nov 30 18:49:55 finrod postfix/smtpd[23984]: 86C5021C7320:
client=unknown[203.81.71.54], sasl_method=PLAIN,
sasl_username=digitalsidhe at silmemar.org
Nov 30 18:50:06 finrod postfix/smtpd[23941]: AD50621C76EA:
client=unknown[109.251.106.76], sasl_method=PLAIN,
sasl_username=digitalsidhe at silmemar.org
Nov 30 18:50:07 finrod postfix/smtpd[24190]: 3754921C7776:
client=unknown[123.22.39.19], sasl_method=PLAIN,
sasl_username=digitalsidhe at silmemar.org
Nov 30 18:50:13 finrod postfix/smtpd[24217]: A9A0421C7A89:
client=unknown[37.151.88.33], sasl_method=PLAIN,
sasl_username=digitalsidhe at silmemar.org
Nov 30 18:50:31 finrod postfix/smtpd[23941]: 8367221C81E2:
client=unknown[37.214.118.38], sasl_method=PLAIN,
sasl_username=digitalsidhe at silmemar.org
Nov 30 18:50:35 finrod postfix/smtpd[23984]: 64BFC21C82B6:
client=unknown[203.81.71.54], sasl_method=PLAIN,
sasl_username=digitalsidhe at silmemar.org
Nov 30 18:50:47 finrod postfix/smtpd[24174]: C6ED621C85BE:
client=unknown[178.172.155.61], sasl_method=PLAIN,
sasl_username=digitalsidhe at silmemar.org
Nov 30 18:51:01 finrod postfix/smtpd[24174]: BCACC21C874C:
client=unknown[178.172.155.61], sasl_method=PLAIN,
sasl_username=digitalsidhe at silmemar.org
...where digitalsidhe at silmemar.org is a valid address on one of my
domains. Has someone gotten this user's password and is using it to
authenticate via SASL, and then send spam through my machine?
I've gone over my main.cf looking at my SASL and general restrictions
areas, but I've been out of the mail-admin game so long, I can't make
heads or tails of it. I *think* it's okay, but am not sure. I can post
it if folks want, or I can just wrap up this cry for help before it
becomes too long.
My profoundest thanks for any assistance anyone can provide.
--
Kagan MacTane
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