The following sequence of events appears to have caused a loop which generated
3 megabytes worth of messages, filled up all subscriber mailboxes,
and generally caused havoc.
It appears that the MAILER-DAEMON at the site listed in the error
message improperly directed the message to the mailing list address.
If you have any comments on how this situation could have been avoided, or
why Majordomo did not recognize what was going on, and how I can prevent
this in the future, please drop me a note at "leavitt@webcom.com".
Sequence of events:
Friday:
I installed a patch to HP-UX Sendmail which included mime error
handling.
I set the OE option to
OEr (reject, i.e. bounce back to sender)
in the sendmail.cf file. (Did this have anything to do with the loop?)
Sunday:
The user uploaded a list of addresses and added this to his subscriber
list.
One of the addresses was "bad".
The user set the "reply-to" address in the config file to "listname".
The user sent a message to his list.
The following error message was returned to the mailing list by
"From: Mail Delivery Subsystem <MAILER-DAEMON@postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us>"
and the loop started.
extract from archive follows:
>From proforch-l@webcom.com Sun Jan 29 17:14:01 1995
Received: by webcom.com
(1.37.109.14/16.2) id AA010908440; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 17:14:01 -0800
Return-Path: <proforch-l@webcom.com>
Received: from postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us by webcom.com with ESMTP
(1.37.109.14/16.2) id AA010738429; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 17:13:50 -0800
Received: from localhost (localhost) by postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us (8.6.9/8.6.9) with internal id UAA08186; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 20:17:48 -0500
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 1995 20:17:48 -0500
From: Mail Delivery Subsystem <MAILER-DAEMON@postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us>
Subject: Returned mail: unknown mailer error 1
Message-Id: <199501300117.UAA08186@postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us>
To: <proforch-l@webcom.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="UAA08186.791428668/postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us"
Sender: proforch-l@webcom.com
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: proforch-l@webcom.com
This is a MIME-encapsulated message
--UAA08186.791428668/postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us
The original message was received at Sun, 29 Jan 1995 20:17:45 -0500
from mail-relay.oar.net [131.187.1.130]
----- The following addresses had delivery problems -----
<tom.fetherston@express.ble.cleveland.oh.us> (unrecoverable error)
----- Transcript of session follows -----
uux: express: System not found
554 <tom.fetherston@express.ble.cleveland.oh.us>... unknown mailer error 1
----- Message header follows -----
--UAA08186.791428668/postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us
Content-Type: message/rfc822
Return-Path: proforch-l@webcom.com
Received: from dialup.oar.net (mail-relay.oar.net [131.187.1.130]) by postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us (8.6.9/8.6.9) with ESMTP id UAA08185 for <tom.fetherston@express.ble.cleveland.oh.us>; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 20:17:45 -0500
Received: from webcom.com for proforch-l@webcom.com
by dialup.oar.net (PIPE/8.6.8.1/931123.1402) id NAA01287; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 13:54:12 -0500
Received: by webcom.com
(1.37.109.14/16.2) id AA168875107; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 10:45:07 -0800
Received: from mail02.mail.aol.com by webcom.com with SMTP
(1.37.109.14/16.2) id AA168474993; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 10:43:13 -0800
Received: by mail02.mail.aol.com
(1.38.193.5/16.2) id AA23469; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 13:50:43 -0500
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 1995 13:50:43 -0500
From: MCPLibrary@aol.com
Message-Id: <950129135042_3756353@aol.com>
To: proforch-l@webcom.com
Subject: Re: Welcome to proforch-l
Sender: proforch-l@webcom.com
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: proforch-l@webcom.com
----- Message body suppressed -----
--UAA08186.791428668/postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us--
>From proforch-l@webcom.com Sun Jan 29 17:13:53 1995
Received: by webcom.com
(1.37.109.14/16.2) id AA010808432; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 17:13:53 -0800
Return-Path: <proforch-l@webcom.com>
Received: from postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us by webcom.com with ESMTP
(1.37.109.14/16.2) id AA010688424; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 17:13:44 -0800
Received: from localhost (localhost) by postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us (8.6.9/8.6.9) with internal id UAA08182; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 20:17:44 -0500
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 1995 20:17:44 -0500
From: Mail Delivery Subsystem <MAILER-DAEMON@postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us>
Subject: Returned mail: unknown mailer error 1
Message-Id: <199501300117.UAA08182@postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us>
To: <proforch-l@webcom.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="UAA08182.791428664/postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us"
Sender: proforch-l@webcom.com
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: proforch-l@webcom.com
This is a MIME-encapsulated message
--UAA08182.791428664/postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us
The original message was received at Sun, 29 Jan 1995 20:17:41 -0500
from mail-relay.oar.net [131.187.1.130]
----- The following addresses had delivery problems -----
<tom.fetherston@express.ble.cleveland.oh.us> (unrecoverable error)
----- Transcript of session follows -----
uux: express: System not found
554 <tom.fetherston@express.ble.cleveland.oh.us>... unknown mailer error 1
----- Message header follows -----
--UAA08182.791428664/postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us
Content-Type: message/rfc822
Return-Path: proforch-l@webcom.com
Received: from dialup.oar.net (mail-relay.oar.net [131.187.1.130]) by postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us (8.6.9/8.6.9) with ESMTP id UAA08180 for <tom.fetherston@express.ble.cleveland.oh.us>; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 20:17:41 -0500
Received: from webcom.com for proforch-l@webcom.com
by dialup.oar.net (PIPE/8.6.8.1/931123.1402) id NAA26132; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 13:48:10 -0500
Received: by webcom.com
(1.37.109.14/16.2) id AA167404749; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 10:39:09 -0800
Received: from mail02.mail.aol.com by webcom.com with SMTP
(1.37.109.14/16.2) id AA166984636; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 10:37:16 -0800
Received: by mail02.mail.aol.com
(1.38.193.5/16.2) id AA21726; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 13:44:46 -0500
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 1995 13:44:46 -0500
From: Douglas463@aol.com
Message-Id: <950129134445_3749234@aol.com>
To: proforch-l@webcom.com
Subject: Re: Welcome to proforch-l
Sender: proforch-l@webcom.com
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: proforch-l@webcom.com
----- Message body suppressed -----
--UAA08182.791428664/postofc.ble.cleveland.oh.us--
--
Web Communications (sm) Thomas Leavitt--leavitt@webcom.com
Voice: (408) 457-9671 x101 Lead Systems & Network Admin./Tech Suppt.
<a href="http://www.webcom.com/";>Web Communications Home Page</a>
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