Mail Filtering

Ubuntu Documentation > Ubuntu 8.10 > > >

Mail Filtering

One of the largest issues with email today is the problem of Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE). Also known as SPAM, such messages may also carry viruses and other forms of malware. According to some reports these messages make up the bulk of all email traffic on the Internet.

This section will cover integrating Amavisd-new, Spamassassin, and ClamAV with the Postfix Mail Transport Agent (MTA). Postfix can also check email validity by passing it through external content filters. These filters can sometimes determine if a message is spam without needing to process it with more resource intensive applications. Two common filters are dkim-filter and python-policyd-spf.

Amavisd-new is a wrapper program that can call any number of content filtering programs for spam detection, antivirus, etc.
Spamassassin uses a variety of mechanisms to filter email based on the message content.
ClamAV is an open source antivirus application.
dkim-filter implements a Sendmail Mail Filter (Milter) for the DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) standard.
python-policyd-spf enables Sender Policy Framework (SPF) checking with Postfix.

This is how the pieces fit together:

An email message is accepted by Postfix.
The message is passed through any external filters dkim-filter and python-policyd-spf in this case.
Amavisd-new then processes the message.
ClamAV is used to scan the message. If the message contains a virus Postfix will reject the message.
Clean messages will then be analyzed by Spamassassin to find out if the message is spam. Spamassassin will then add X-Header lines allowing Amavisd-new to further manipulate the message.

For example, if a message has a Spam score of over fifty the message could be automatically dropped from the queue without the recipient ever having to be bothered. Another, way to handle flagged messages is to deliver them to the Mail User Agent (MUA) allowing the user to deal with the message as they see fit.

Installation

See the section called “Postfix” for instructions on installing and configuring Postfix.

To install the rest of the applications enter the following from a terminal prompt:


sudo apt-get install amavisd-new spamassassin clamav-daemon
sudo apt-get install dkim-filter python-policyd-spf

There are some optional packages that integrate with Spamassassin for better spam detection:


sudo apt-get install pyzor razor

Along with the main filtering applications compression utilities are needed to process some email attachments:


sudo apt-get install arj cabextract cpio lha nomarch pax rar unrar unzip unzoo zip zoo

Configuration

Now configure everything to work together and filter email.

ClamAV

The default behaviour of ClamAV will fit our needs. For more ClamAV configuration options, check the configuration files in /etc/clamav.

Add the clamav user to the amavis group in order for Amavisd-new to have the appropriate access to scan files:


sudo adduser clamav amavis

Spamassassin

Spamassassin automatically detects optional components and will use them if they are present. This means that there is no need to configure pyzor and razor.

Edit /etc/default/spamassassin to activate the Spamassassin daemon. Change ENABLED=0 to:


ENABLED=1

Now start the daemon:


sudo /etc/init.d/spamassassin start

Amavisd-new

First activate spam and antivirus detection in Amavisd-new by editing /etc/amavis/conf.d/15-content_filter_mode:


use strict;

# You can modify this file to re-enable SPAM checking through spamassassin
# and to re-enable antivirus checking.

#
# Default antivirus checking mode
# Uncomment the two lines below to enable it
#

@bypass_virus_checks_maps = (
   \%bypass_virus_checks, \@bypass_virus_checks_acl, \$bypass_virus_checks_re);


#
# Default SPAM checking mode
# Uncomment the two lines below to enable it
#

@bypass_spam_checks_maps = (
   \%bypass_spam_checks, \@bypass_spam_checks_acl, \$bypass_spam_checks_re);

1;  # insure a defined return

Bouncing spam can be a bad idea as the return address is often faked. Consider editing /etc/amavis/conf.d/20-debian_defaults to set $final_spam_destiny to D_DISCARD rather than D_BOUNCE, as follows:


$final_spam_destiny       = D_DISCARD;

If the server's hostname is different from the domain's MX record you may need to manually set the $myhostname option. Also, if the server receives mail for multiple domains the @local_domains_acl option will need to be customized. Edit the /etc/amavis/conf.d/50-user file:


$myhostname = 'mail.example.com';
@local_domains_acl = ( "example.com", "example.org" );

After configuration Amavisd-new needs to be restarted:


sudo /etc/init.d/amavis restart

DKIM Whitelist

Amavisd-new can be configured to automatically Whitelist addresses from domains with valid Domain Keys. There are some pre-configured domains in the /etc/amavis/conf.d/40-policy_banks.

There are multiple ways to configure the Whitelist for a domain:

'example.com' => 'WHITELIST',: will whitelist any address from the "example.com" domain.
'.example.com' => 'WHITELIST',: will whitelist any address from any subdomains of "example.com" that have a valid signature.
'.example.com/@example.com' => 'WHITELIST',: will whitelist subdomains of "example.com" that use the signature of example.com the parent domain.
'./@example.com' => 'WHITELIST',: adds addresses that have a valid signature from "example.com". This is usually used for discussion groups that sign thier messages.

A domain can also have multiple Whitelist configurations. After, editing the file restart amaisd-new:


sudo /etc/init.d/amavis restart


	In this context, once a domain has been added to the Whitelist the message will not receive any anti-virus or spam filtering. This may or may not be the intended behavior you wish for a domain.

Postfix

For Postfix integration, enter the following from a terminal prompt:


sudo postconf -e 'content_filter = smtp-amavis:[127.0.0.1]:10024'

Next edit /etc/postfix/master.cf and add the following to the end of the file:


smtp-amavis     unix    -       -       -       -       2       smtp
        -o smtp_data_done_timeout=1200
        -o smtp_send_xforward_command=yes
        -o disable_dns_lookups=yes
        -o max_use=20

127.0.0.1:10025 inet    n       -       -       -       -       smtpd
        -o content_filter=
        -o local_recipient_maps=
        -o relay_recipient_maps=
        -o smtpd_restriction_classes=
        -o smtpd_delay_reject=no
        -o smtpd_client_restrictions=permit_mynetworks,reject
        -o smtpd_helo_restrictions=
        -o smtpd_sender_restrictions=
        -o smtpd_recipient_restrictions=permit_mynetworks,reject
        -o smtpd_data_restrictions=reject_unauth_pipelining
        -o smtpd_end_of_data_restrictions=
        -o mynetworks=127.0.0.0/8
        -o smtpd_error_sleep_time=0
        -o smtpd_soft_error_limit=1001
        -o smtpd_hard_error_limit=1000
        -o smtpd_client_connection_count_limit=0
        -o smtpd_client_connection_rate_limit=0
        -o receive_override_options=no_header_body_checks,no_unknown_recipient_checks

Also add the following two lines immediately below the "pickup" transport service:


         -o content_filter=
         -o receive_override_options=no_header_body_checks

This will prevent messages that are generated to report on spam from being classified as spam.

Now restart Postfix:


sudo /etc/init.d/postfix restart

Content filtering with spam and virus detection is now enabled.

Testing

First, test that the Amavisd-new SMTP is listening:


telnet localhost 10024
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 [127.0.0.1] ESMTP amavisd-new service ready
^]

In the Header of messages that go through the content filter you should see:


X-Spam-Level: 
X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at example.com
X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-2.3 tagged_above=-1000.0 required=5.0 tests=AWL, BAYES_00
X-Spam-Level:


	Your output will vary, but the important thing is that there are X-Virus-Scanned and X-Spam-Status entries.

Troubleshooting

The best way to figure out why something is going wrong is to check the log files.

For instructions on Postfix logging see the the section called “Troubleshooting” section.

Amavisd-new uses Syslog to send messages to /var/log/mail.log. The amount of detail can be increased by adding the $log_level option to /etc/amavis/conf.d/50-user, and setting the value from 1 to 5.


$log_level = 2;


	When the Amavisd-new log output is increased Spamassassin log output is also increased.

The ClamAV log level can be increased by editing /etc/clamav/clamd.conf and setting the following option:
LogVerbose true
By default ClamAV will send log messages to /var/log/clamav/clamav.log.


	After changing an applications log settings remember to restart the service for the new settings to take affect. Also, once the issue you are troubleshooting is resolved it is a good idea to change the log settings back to normal.

References

For more information on filtering mail see the following links:

Also, feel free to ask questions in the #ubuntu-server IRC channel on freenode.


Mailman		Chapter 14. Version Control System