[Mailman-Users] where is mailman-bounces address defined?

[Mark Sapiro]

douglas repetto wrote:
>
>We've been getting many many strange mailman-bounces. It seems that
>somewhere the mailman-bounces address is mis-configured. It should be
>mailman-bounces at music.columbia.edu, but mail seems to be sent as
>mailman-bounces at music.columbia.ed (note missing "u"). That's causing
>bounces to bounce all over the place...in our mail log we get messages like:
>
>
>
>Jul 19 12:02:50 roar postfix/smtp[18535]: 9F86883BE24:
>to=<mailman-bounces at music.columbia.ed>, relay=none, delay=0,
>status=bounced (Host or domain name not found. Name service error for
>name=music.columbia.ed type=A: Host not found)
>
>but also:
>
>Jul 19 12:02:54 roar postfix/qmgr[10647]: E969F83BE2C:
>from=<mailman-bounces at music.columbia.edu>, size=4419, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
>
>
>
>
>So both the correct address and the incorrect address are being
>used...I've poked around in all of our configs and I can't find the
>incorrect address anywhere.


The domain comes from the host_name attribute of the mailman list
(visible on the mailman list's admin->General Options page).


>My suspicion at this point is that there's a
>virus somewhere on a users computer that is propagating the incorrect
>address and that many of the messages are the result of spoofed mail.


I think this is likely. Presumably the mail that causes this

>Jul 19 12:02:50 roar postfix/smtp[18535]: 9F86883BE24:
>to=<mailman-bounces at music.columbia.ed>, relay=none, delay=0,
>status=bounced (Host or domain name not found. Name service error for
>name=music.columbia.ed type=A: Host not found)

originates from within your network from someone or some thing
connecting to postfix on your server to send this mail. If it came
from outside, it would never get to your domain in the first place.
What are the other log entries with the same 9F86883BE24 id. They may
give you a clue as to the source of this message.

It is not at all unusual for 'harvested' email addresses to be
truncated.

-- 
Mark Sapiro <msapiro at value.net>       The highway is for gamblers,
San Francisco Bay Area, California    better use your sense - B. Dylan