Add ARC signing caveats

[exim.git] / doc / doc-txt / experimental-spec.txt

diff --git a/doc/doc-txt/experimental-spec.txt b/doc/doc-txt/experimental-spec.txt
index aa85847d88af043404c89d7199fcd36d8759109c..4be142e6675e9fb3100f111f4c9bfa85e56bd57f 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/doc-txt/experimental-spec.txt
+++ b/doc/doc-txt/experimental-spec.txt
@@ -292,173 +292,6 @@ These four steps are explained in more details below.
 
 
 
 
 
 

-Sender Policy Framework (SPF) support
---------------------------------------------------------------
-
-To learn  more  about  SPF, visit   http://www.openspf.org. This
-document does   not explain  the SPF  fundamentals, you should
-read and understand the implications of deploying SPF on  your
-system before doing so.
-
-SPF support is added via the libspf2 library. Visit
-
-  http://www.libspf2.org/
-
-to obtain  a copy,  then compile  and install  it. By default,
-this will  put headers  in /usr/local/include  and the  static
-library in /usr/local/lib.
-
-To compile Exim with SPF support, set these additional flags in
-Local/Makefile:
-
-EXPERIMENTAL_SPF=yes
-CFLAGS=-DSPF -I/usr/local/include
-EXTRALIBS_EXIM=-L/usr/local/lib -lspf2
-
-This assumes   that the   libspf2 files   are installed  in
-their default locations.
-
-You can now run SPF checks in incoming SMTP by using the "spf"
-ACL condition  in either  the MAIL,  RCPT or  DATA ACLs.  When
-using it in the RCPT ACL, you can make the checks dependent on
-the RCPT  address (or  domain), so  you can  check SPF records
-only  for   certain  target   domains.  This   gives  you  the
-possibility  to opt-out  certain customers  that do  not want
-their mail to be subject to SPF checking.
-
-The spf condition  takes a list  of strings on  its right-hand
-side. These strings describe the outcome of the SPF check  for
-which the spf condition should succeed. Valid strings are:
-
-  o pass      The SPF check passed, the sending host
-              is positively verified by SPF.
-  o fail      The SPF check failed, the sending host
-              is NOT allowed to send mail for the domain
-              in the envelope-from address.
-  o softfail  The SPF check failed, but the queried
-              domain can't absolutely confirm that this
-              is a forgery.
-  o none      The queried domain does not publish SPF
-              records.
-  o neutral   The SPF check returned a "neutral" state.
-              This means the queried domain has published
-              a SPF record, but wants to allow outside
-              servers to send mail under its domain as well.
-              This should be treated like "none".
-  o permerror This indicates a syntax error in the SPF
-              record of the queried domain. You may deny
-              messages when this occurs. (Changed in 4.83)
-  o temperror This indicates a temporary error during all
-              processing, including Exim's SPF processing.
-              You may defer messages when this occurs.
-              (Changed in 4.83)
-  o err_temp  Same as permerror, deprecated in 4.83, will be
-              removed in a future release.
-  o err_perm  Same as temperror, deprecated in 4.83, will be
-              removed in a future release.
-
-You can prefix each string with an exclamation mark to  invert
-its meaning,  for example  "!fail" will  match all  results but
-"fail".  The  string  list is  evaluated  left-to-right,  in a
-short-circuit fashion.  When a  string matches  the outcome of
-the SPF check, the condition  succeeds. If none of the  listed
-strings matches the  outcome of the  SPF check, the  condition
-fails.
-
-Here is an example to fail forgery attempts from domains that
-publish SPF records:
-
-/* -----------------
-deny message = $sender_host_address is not allowed to send mail from ${if def:sender_address_domain {$sender_address_domain}{$sender_helo_name}}.  \
-              Please see http://www.openspf.org/Why?scope=${if def:sender_address_domain {mfrom}{helo}};identity=${if def:sender_address_domain {$sender_address}{$sender_helo_name}};ip=$sender_host_address
-     spf = fail
---------------------- */
-
-You can also give special treatment to specific domains:
-
-/* -----------------
-deny message = AOL sender, but not from AOL-approved relay.
-     sender_domains = aol.com
-     spf = fail:neutral
---------------------- */
-
-Explanation: AOL  publishes SPF  records, but  is liberal  and
-still allows  non-approved relays  to send  mail from aol.com.
-This will result in a "neutral" state, while mail from genuine
-AOL servers  will result  in "pass".  The example  above takes
-this into account and  treats "neutral" like "fail",  but only
-for aol.com. Please note that this violates the SPF draft.
-
-When the spf condition has run, it sets up several expansion
-variables.
-
-  $spf_header_comment
-  This contains a human-readable string describing the outcome
-  of the SPF check. You can add it to a custom header or use
-  it for logging purposes.
-
-  $spf_received
-  This contains a complete Received-SPF: header that can be
-  added to the message. Please note that according to the SPF
-  draft, this header must be added at the top of the header
-  list. Please see section 10 on how you can do this.
-
-  Note: in case of "Best-guess" (see below), the convention is
-  to put this string in a header called X-SPF-Guess: instead.
-
-  $spf_result
-  This contains the outcome of the SPF check in string form,
-  one of pass, fail, softfail, none, neutral, permerror or
-  temperror.
-
-  $spf_smtp_comment
-  This contains a string that can be used in a SMTP response
-  to the calling party. Useful for "fail".
-
-In addition to SPF, you can also perform checks for so-called
-"Best-guess".  Strictly speaking, "Best-guess" is not standard
-SPF, but it is supported by the same framework that enables SPF
-capability.  Refer to http://www.openspf.org/FAQ/Best_guess_record
-for a description of what it means.
-
-To access this feature, simply use the spf_guess condition in place
-of the spf one.  For example:
-
-/* -----------------
-deny message = $sender_host_address doesn't look trustworthy to me
-     spf_guess = fail
---------------------- */
-
-In case you decide to reject messages based on this check, you
-should note that although it uses the same framework, "Best-guess"
-is NOT SPF, and therefore you should not mention SPF at all in your
-reject message.
-
-When the spf_guess condition has run, it sets up the same expansion
-variables as when spf condition is run, described above.
-
-Additionally, since Best-guess is not standardized, you may redefine
-what "Best-guess" means to you by redefining spf_guess variable in
-global config.  For example, the following:
-
-/* -----------------
-spf_guess = v=spf1 a/16 mx/16 ptr ?all
---------------------- */
-
-would relax host matching rules to a broader network range.
-
-
-A lookup expansion is also available. It takes an email
-address as the key and an IP address as the database:
-
-  $lookup (username@domain} spf {ip.ip.ip.ip}}
-
-The lookup will return the same result strings as they can appear in
-$spf_result (pass,fail,softfail,neutral,none,err_perm,err_temp).
-Currently, only IPv4 addresses are supported.
-
-
-

 SRS (Sender Rewriting Scheme) Support
 --------------------------------------------------------------
 
 SRS (Sender Rewriting Scheme) Support
 --------------------------------------------------------------
 


@@ -555,6 +388,8 @@ mout.gmx.net                    212.227.15.16
 
 Use a reasonable IP. eg. one the sending cluster actually uses.
 
 
 Use a reasonable IP. eg. one the sending cluster actually uses.
 

+
+

 DMARC Support
 --------------------------------------------------------------
 
 DMARC Support
 --------------------------------------------------------------
 


@@ -574,7 +409,7 @@ that headers will be in /usr/local/include, and that the libraries
 are in /usr/local/lib.
 
 1. To compile Exim with DMARC support, you must first enable SPF.
 are in /usr/local/lib.
 
 1. To compile Exim with DMARC support, you must first enable SPF.

-Please read the above section on enabling the EXPERIMENTAL_SPF
+Please read the Local/Makefile comments on enabling the SUPPORT_SPF

 feature.  You must also have DKIM support, so you cannot set the
 DISABLE_DKIM feature.  Once both of those conditions have been met
 you can enable DMARC in Local/Makefile:
 feature.  You must also have DKIM support, so you cannot set the
 DISABLE_DKIM feature.  Once both of those conditions have been met
 you can enable DMARC in Local/Makefile:


@@ -688,6 +523,9 @@ Of course, you can also use any other lookup method that Exim
 supports, including LDAP, Postgres, MySQL, etc, as long as the
 result is a list of colon-separated strings.
 
 supports, including LDAP, Postgres, MySQL, etc, as long as the
 result is a list of colon-separated strings.
 

+Performing the check sets up information used by the
+${authresults } expansion item.
+

 Several expansion variables are set before the DATA ACL is
 processed, and you can use them in this ACL.  The following
 expansion variables are available:
 Several expansion variables are set before the DATA ACL is
 processed, and you can use them in this ACL.  The following
 expansion variables are available:


@@ -711,9 +549,8 @@ expansion variables are available:
     are "none", "reject" and "quarantine".  It is blank when there
     is any error, including no DMARC record.
 
     are "none", "reject" and "quarantine".  It is blank when there
     is any error, including no DMARC record.
 

-  o $dmarc_ar_header
-    This is the entire Authentication-Results header which you can
-    add using an add_header modifier.
+A now-redundant variable $dmarc_ar_header has now been withdrawn.
+Use the ${authresults } expansion instead.

 
 
 5. How to enable DMARC advanced operation:
 
 
 5. How to enable DMARC advanced operation:


@@ -753,7 +590,6 @@ b. Configure, somewhere before the DATA ACL, the control option to
   warn    dmarc_status   = accept : none : off
           !authenticated = *
           log_message    = DMARC DEBUG: $dmarc_status $dmarc_used_domain
   warn    dmarc_status   = accept : none : off
           !authenticated = *
           log_message    = DMARC DEBUG: $dmarc_status $dmarc_used_domain

-          add_header     = $dmarc_ar_header

 
   warn    dmarc_status   = !accept
           !authenticated = *
 
   warn    dmarc_status   = !accept
           !authenticated = *


@@ -772,159 +608,7 @@ b. Configure, somewhere before the DATA ACL, the control option to
           !authenticated = *
           message        = Message from $dmarc_used_domain failed sender's DMARC policy, REJECT
 
           !authenticated = *
           message        = Message from $dmarc_used_domain failed sender's DMARC policy, REJECT
 

-
-
-DANE
-------------------------------------------------------------
-DNS-based Authentication of Named Entities, as applied
-to SMTP over TLS, provides assurance to a client that
-it is actually talking to the server it wants to rather
-than some attacker operating a Man In The Middle (MITM)
-operation.  The latter can terminate the TLS connection
-you make, and make another one to the server (so both
-you and the server still think you have an encrypted
-connection) and, if one of the "well known" set of
-Certificate Authorities has been suborned - something
-which *has* been seen already (2014), a verifiable
-certificate (if you're using normal root CAs, eg. the
-Mozilla set, as your trust anchors).
-
-What DANE does is replace the CAs with the DNS as the
-trust anchor.  The assurance is limited to a) the possibility
-that the DNS has been suborned, b) mistakes made by the
-admins of the target server.   The attack surface presented
-by (a) is thought to be smaller than that of the set
-of root CAs.
-
-It also allows the server to declare (implicitly) that
-connections to it should use TLS.  An MITM could simply
-fail to pass on a server's STARTTLS.
-
-DANE scales better than having to maintain (and
-side-channel communicate) copies of server certificates
-for every possible target server.  It also scales
-(slightly) better than having to maintain on an SMTP
-client a copy of the standard CAs bundle.  It also
-means not having to pay a CA for certificates.
-
-DANE requires a server operator to do three things:
-1) run DNSSEC.  This provides assurance to clients
-that DNS lookups they do for the server have not
-been tampered with.  The domain MX record applying
-to this server, its A record, its TLSA record and
-any associated CNAME records must all be covered by
-DNSSEC.
-2) add TLSA DNS records.  These say what the server
-certificate for a TLS connection should be.
-3) offer a server certificate, or certificate chain,
-in TLS connections which is traceable to the one
-defined by (one of?) the TSLA records
-
-There are no changes to Exim specific to server-side
-operation of DANE.
-
-The TLSA record for the server may have "certificate
-usage" of DANE-TA(2) or DANE-EE(3).  The latter specifies
-the End Entity directly, i.e. the certificate involved
-is that of the server (and should be the sole one transmitted
-during the TLS handshake); this is appropriate for a
-single system, using a self-signed certificate.
-  DANE-TA usage is effectively declaring a specific CA
-to be used; this might be a private CA or a public,
-well-known one.  A private CA at simplest is just
-a self-signed certificate which is used to sign
-cerver certificates, but running one securely does
-require careful arrangement.  If a private CA is used
-then either all clients must be primed with it, or
-(probably simpler) the server TLS handshake must transmit
-the entire certificate chain from CA to server-certificate.
-If a public CA is used then all clients must be primed with it
-(losing one advantage of DANE) - but the attack surface is
-reduced from all public CAs to that single CA.
-DANE-TA is commonly used for several services and/or
-servers, each having a TLSA query-domain CNAME record,
-all of which point to a single TLSA record.
-
-The TLSA record should have a Selector field of SPKI(1)
-and a Matching Type field of SHA2-512(2).
-
-At the time of writing, https://www.huque.com/bin/gen_tlsa
-is useful for quickly generating TLSA records; and commands like
-
-  openssl x509 -in -pubkey -noout <certificate.pem \
-  | openssl rsa -outform der -pubin 2>/dev/null \
-  | openssl sha512 \
-  | awk '{print $2}'
-
-are workable for 4th-field hashes.
-
-For use with the DANE-TA model, server certificates
-must have a correct name (SubjectName or SubjectAltName).
-
-The use of OCSP-stapling should be considered, allowing
-for fast revocation of certificates (which would otherwise
-be limited by the DNS TTL on the TLSA records).  However,
-this is likely to only be usable with DANE-TA.  NOTE: the
-default of requesting OCSP for all hosts is modified iff
-DANE is in use, to:
-
-  hosts_request_ocsp = ${if or { {= {0}{$tls_out_tlsa_usage}} \
-                                {= {4}{$tls_out_tlsa_usage}} } \
-                         {*}{}}
-
-The (new) variable $tls_out_tlsa_usage is a bitfield with
-numbered bits set for TLSA record usage codes.
-The zero above means DANE was not in use,
-the four means that only DANE-TA usage TLSA records were
-found. If the definition of hosts_request_ocsp includes the
-string "tls_out_tlsa_usage", they are re-expanded in time to
-control the OCSP request.
-
-This modification of hosts_request_ocsp is only done if
-it has the default value of "*".  Admins who change it, and
-those who use hosts_require_ocsp, should consider the interaction
-with DANE in their OCSP settings.
-
-
-For client-side DANE there are two new smtp transport options,
-hosts_try_dane and hosts_require_dane.
-[ should they be domain-based rather than host-based? ]
-
-Hosts_require_dane will result in failure if the target host
-is not DNSSEC-secured.
-
-DANE will only be usable if the target host has DNSSEC-secured
-MX, A and TLSA records.
-
-A TLSA lookup will be done if either of the above options match
-and the host-lookup succeeded using dnssec.
-If a TLSA lookup is done and succeeds, a DANE-verified TLS connection
-will be required for the host.  If it does not, the host will not
-be used; there is no fallback to non-DANE or non-TLS.
-
-If DANE is requested and useable (see above) the following transport
-options are ignored:
-  hosts_require_tls
-  tls_verify_hosts
-  tls_try_verify_hosts
-  tls_verify_certificates
-  tls_crl
-  tls_verify_cert_hostnames
-
-If DANE is not usable, whether requested or not, and CA-anchored
-verification evaluation is wanted, the above variables should be set
-appropriately.
-
-Currently dnssec_request_domains must be active (need to think about that)
-and dnssec_require_domains is ignored.
-
-If verification was successful using DANE then the "CV" item
-in the delivery log line will show as "CV=dane".
-
-There is a new variable $tls_out_dane which will have "yes" if
-verification succeeded using DANE and "no" otherwise (only useful
-in combination with EXPERIMENTAL_EVENT), and a new variable
-$tls_out_tlsa_usage (detailed above).
+  warn    add_header     = :at_start:${authresults {$primary_hostname}}

 
 
 
 
 
 


@@ -1040,7 +724,7 @@ the queuefile driver.
 The transport only takes one option:
 
 * directory - This is used to specify the directory messages should be
 The transport only takes one option:
 
 * directory - This is used to specify the directory messages should be

-copied to
+copied to.  Expanded.

 
 The generic transport options (body_only, current_directory, disable_logging,
 debug_print, delivery_date_add, envelope_to_add, event_action, group,
 
 The generic transport options (body_only, current_directory, disable_logging,
 debug_print, delivery_date_add, envelope_to_add, event_action, group,


@@ -1073,6 +757,71 @@ to your Local/Makefile. (Re-)build/install exim. exim -d should show
 Experimental_QUEUEFILE in the line "Support for:".
 
 
 Experimental_QUEUEFILE in the line "Support for:".
 
 

+ARC support
+-----------
+Specification: https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-dmarc-arc-protocol-11
+Note that this is not an RFC yet, so may change.
+
+ARC is intended to support the utility of SPF and DKIM in the presence of
+intermediaries in the transmission path - forwarders and mailinglists -
+by establishing a cryptographically-signed chain in headers.
+
+Normally one would only bother doing ARC-signing when functioning as
+an intermediary.  One might do verify for local destinations.
+
+ARC uses the notion of a "ADministrative Management Domain" (ADMD).
+Described in RFC 5598 (section 2.3), this is essentially the set of
+mail-handling systems that the mail transits.  A label should be chosen to
+identify the ADMD.  Messages should be ARC-verified on entry to the ADMD,
+and ARC-signed on exit from it.
+
+
+Verification
+--
+An ACL condition is provided to perform the "verifier actions" detailed
+in section 6 of the above specification.  It may be called from the DATA ACL
+and succeeds if the result matches any of a given list.
+It also records the highest ARC instance number (the chain size)
+and verification result for later use in creating an Authentication-Results:
+standard header.
+
+  verify = arc/<acceptable_list>   none:fail:pass
+
+  add_header = :at_start:${authresults {<admd-identifier>}}
+
+       Note that it would be wise to strip incoming messages of A-R headers
+       that claim to be from our own <admd-identifier>.
+
+There are two new variables: $arc_state and $arc_state_reason.
+
+Receive log lines for an ARC pass will be tagged "ARC".
+
+
+Signing
+--
+arc_sign = <admd-identifier> : <selector> : <privkey>
+An option on the smtp transport, which constructs and prepends to the message
+an ARC set of headers.  The textually-first Authentication-Results: header
+is used as a basis (you must have added one on entry to the ADMD).
+Expanded as a whole; if unset, empty or forced-failure then no signing is done.
+If it is set, all three elements must be non-empty.
+
+Caveats:
+ * There must be an Authentication-Results header, presumably added by an ACL
+   while receiving the message, for the same ADMD, for arc_sign to succeed.
+   This requires careful coordination between inbound and outbound logic.
+ * If passing a message to another system, such as a mailing-list manager
+   (MLM), between receipt and sending, be wary of manipulations to headers made
+   by the MLM.
+   + For instance, Mailman with REMOVE_DKIM_HEADERS==3 might improve
+     deliverability in a pre-ARC world, but that option also renames the
+     Authentication-Results header, which breaks signing.
+ * Even if you use multiple DKIM keys for different domains, the ARC concept
+   should try to stick to one ADMD, so pick a primary domain and use that for
+   AR headers and outbound signing.
+
+
+

 --------------------------------------------------------------
 End of file
 --------------------------------------------------------------
 --------------------------------------------------------------
 End of file
 --------------------------------------------------------------