What about keeping the DKIM2 exclusion of X- header fields, and
standardizing a new prefix for proprietary headers that can be optionally
protected?  The X- headers, as specified in the DKIM2 spec draft, are
ignored by DKIM2 because they are for ephemeral fields generated and used
in the ADMD.  An optional header field prefix X-lhf- could also be used to
protect proprietary header fields across the SMTP boundary.  Domains that
care can hash those header fields, store them in the DKIM2 header field
tag-value upon outbound, and implement a validation method upon inbound.
Such a feature would be completely optional in DKIM2 and can be safely
ignored if another domain doesn't care.
-Wei

On Tue, Jun 9, 2026 at 3:48 PM Vittorio <[email protected]> wrote:

> Ross, to clarify: X-MS-, X-GM- and equivalent vendor diagnostic prefixes
> were explicitly excluded in the proposal from the start. The suggestion
> was to stop excluding all X-* headers indiscriminately.
>
> Regards
> Vittorio Moccia
>
> Il 2026-06-09 20:00 Ross Adams ha scritto:
> > Lots of threads on this and I think I agree with the team that the
> > x-* headers are generally specific to the services and in some cases,
> > we rename them, replace them etc. which will create a wave of problems
> > with the unwinding. I would much rather stick with the general logic
> > of not sign the x- headers or have some list somewhere that we have to
> > maintain and read to make sure we are handling these headers
> > differently.
> >
> >  Keeping this simple seems like the right approach.
> >
> >  Regards,
> >
> >  Ross.
>
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