"554 Message contains NUL characters"

[Rob Siemborski]

1. old rfc822(not 2822) does not forbid to use NUL chars. Many MTAs
and MDAs can deal with NUL chars without complaining. I don't want
to explain the details why I can't receive mails which others can
receive.

Since IMAP is forbidden from ever transmitting a NUL, the IMAP server
would have to translate the message into a usable format before forwarding
it on to the client anyway. It is much easier to just reject the badly
formed (according to RFC2822) message outright (especially given the work
that would have to be done to make NULs acceptable in a C program).

2. they are almost SPAM which have forged sender. So bouncing them
will be ill-mannered behavior.

Then configure your MTA to reject them before forwarding them onto cyrus.
Or, as others have suggested, have your MTA strip them.

-Rob

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Rob Siemborski * Andrew Systems Group * Cyert Hall 207 * 412-268-7456
Research Systems Programmer * /usr/contributed Gatekeeper

---
Cyrus Home Page: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus
Cyrus Wiki/FAQ: http://cyruswiki.andrew.cmu.edu
List Archives/Info: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/mailing-list.html

[Henrique de Moraes Holschuh]

[...]

And I know NUL chars are nightmare for applications which use ANSI-C
string functions. I suggest a feature getting rid of NUL chars with
warning log when the server receives mails.

Tell the MTA to strip the NULs. With postfix, that means a content filter
that does such stripping (you can easily build one using the pipe transport
and tr -d '\000', I think).

[Michael Sims]

And I know NUL chars are nightmare for applications which use ANSI-C
string functions. I suggest a feature getting rid of NUL chars with
warning log when the server receives mails.

If you are running Sendmail or Exim as your MTA you can configure it to
strip the NUL characters before it hands the message off to LMTP. More
information here:

http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=info-cyrus&m=105731659217856&w=2

HTH

---
Cyrus Home Page: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus
Cyrus Wiki/FAQ: http://cyruswiki.andrew.cmu.edu
List Archives/Info: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/mailing-list.html

[Akihiro KAYAMA]

In article <Pine.LNX.4.60-***@sourcefour.andrew.cmu.edu>,
Rob Siemborski <***@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:

rjs3> On Mon, 28 Jun 2004, Olaf Lautenschlaeger wrote:
rjs3>
rjs3> > after seeing that this problem has been discussed
rjs3> > (a few weeks ago) but not solved, I'd like to ask
rjs3> > if there is something available to get rid of these
rjs3> >
rjs3> > 554 Message contains NUL characters (in
rjs3> > reply to end of DATA command)
rjs3> >
rjs3> > bounces, meanwhile?
rjs3>
rjs3> These messages are badly formed and cannot be received successfully.
rjs3>
rjs3> If the sender wants you to receive them, they should look at the bounce
rjs3> and realize they are sending you broken messages, and stop doing that.
rjs3>
rjs3> -Rob

I want to receive them, because:

1. old rfc822(not 2822) does not forbid to use NUL chars. Many MTAs
and MDAs can deal with NUL chars without complaining. I don't want
to explain the details why I can't receive mails which others can
receive.

2. they are almost SPAM which have forged sender. So bouncing them
will be ill-mannered behavior.

And I know NUL chars are nightmare for applications which use ANSI-C
string functions. I suggest a feature getting rid of NUL chars with
warning log when the server receives mails.

-- kayama
---
Cyrus Home Page: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus
Cyrus Wiki/FAQ: http://cyruswiki.andrew.cmu.edu
List Archives/Info: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/mailing-list.html

[Rob Siemborski]

Post by Akihiro KAYAMA
after seeing that this problem has been discussed
(a few weeks ago) but not solved, I'd like to ask
if there is something available to get rid of these
554 Message contains NUL characters (in
reply to end of DATA command)
bounces, meanwhile?

These messages are badly formed and cannot be received successfully.

If the sender wants you to receive them, they should look at the bounce
and realize they are sending you broken messages, and stop doing that.

-Rob

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Rob Siemborski * Andrew Systems Group * Cyert Hall 207 * 412-268-7456
Research Systems Programmer * /usr/contributed Gatekeeper

---
Cyrus Home Page: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus
Cyrus Wiki/FAQ: http://cyruswiki.andrew.cmu.edu
List Archives/Info: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/mailing-list.html

[Olaf Lautenschlaeger]

Hi there,

after seeing that this problem has been discussed
(a few weeks ago) but not solved, I'd like to ask
if there is something available to get rid of these

554 Message contains NUL characters (in
reply to end of DATA command)

bounces, meanwhile?

Though this appears to be caused by some mal-
formed spam in almost all cases, I would rather
be able to receive such messages.

(postfix 2.0.6 - Cyrus-IMAP 2.1.12)

regards

Olaf Lautenschlaeger

---
Cyrus Home Page: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus
Cyrus Wiki/FAQ: http://cyruswiki.andrew.cmu.edu
List Archives/Info: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/mailing-list.html