Please forgive my typo.  I meant to say that I am currently testing
RFC5321.MailFrom (only).

(I am not doing evaluating any non-standard SPF algorithms.)

On Mon, Apr 5, 2021, 5:46 PM Todd Herr <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Mon, Apr 5, 2021 at 5:02 PM Douglas Foster <
> [email protected]> wrote:
>
>> As a result of earlier discussions, I have been investigating NXDOMAIN as
>> an email filtering criteria.
>>
>> One question from those discussions was the best way to detect NXDOMAIN.
>> I realized that I needed a query which specifically returns NXDOMAIN as a
>> result, not simply the absence of a particular result.   Additionally, a
>> lookup on A/AAAA with results could represent either a domain name with no
>> host segment, or a host segment and a parent domain..   Consequently, the
>> best test seems to query for type=TXT, match=domainname.
>>
>> I have applied this rule to incoming RFC5322.MailFrom addresses and found
>> the test to be useful.  For my mail stream, 20% of the messages with
>> SPF=NONE have this result because of NXDOMAIN.  The percentages were
>> roughly equal whether evaluating unique domain names or unique messages.
>>
>> While both SPF=NONE and SPF=NXDOMAIN are indicators that the message is
>> probably unwanted, NXDOMAIN has a higher probability of being unwanted.
>>
>> I have not yet begun evaluating NXDOMAIN on the RFC5322.From address, but
>> hope to get that done in the weeks ahead.
>>
>> Is anyone else collecting data on NXDOMAIN, and able to share experience?
>>
>
> I can share experience...
>
> Several jobs ago, when I was in position to set anti-spam policy for a
> mid-sized US-based cable ISP, if the RFC5321.From or RFC5322.From domain
> lacked both an MX record and an A/AAAA record, that was enough for me to
> reject the mail on the grounds that I was unwilling to accept anything to
> which the recipient could not reply. I don't recall any complaints from my
> side of the transaction.
>
> I'm not sure I'd make the same decision based on the lack of an SPF
> record, especially for the RFC5322.From domain, since SPF is keyed to the
> RFC5321.From domain (or the EHLO name), and so I have no expectations that
> an SPF record will exist for the RFC5322.From domain. Even a lack of SPF
> for the RFC5321.From domain doesn't, for me, automatically rule out a
> message. I'd be more inclined to reject mail where the SPF record ended in
> "+all" than I would where there was no SPF record, because "+all" lands
> differently for me than does "no SPF record published". Both say that the
> domain owner doesn't care about SPF, but "+all" strikes me as overt
> disregard for SPF, while a lack of a record might just signal less
> hostility.
>
> Lack of an SPF record eliminates one possible path to a DMARC pass
> verdict, and a DMARC pass verdict allows me to treat the mail as authentic,
> and therefore worthy of treatment earned by previous authentic messages for
> the DMARC domain, which could be good or bad, depending on the history.
> Authenticated mail is not necessarily wanted mail; it's just mail for which
> I can be reasonably sure of the identity of the responsible party, and if
> that responsible party has a history of sending unwanted mail, then I can
> treat its authenticated mail as unwanted. If I can't determine if the mail
> is authentic, then I will treat it no better than, and perhaps worse than,
> the treatment earned by previous authentic messages for the DMARC domain,
> assuming any previous authentic messages exist.
>
> --
>
> *Todd Herr* | Sr. Technical Program Manager
> *e:* [email protected]
> *m:* 703.220.4153
>
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