# bouncing emal in ciphermail - Syntax error in sender address (in reply to MAIL FROM command))

**URL:** <https://community.ciphermail.com/t/bouncing-emal-in-ciphermail-syntax-error-in-sender-address-in-reply-to-mail-from-command/659>\
**Category:** Gateway\
**Created:** [January 14, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://community.ciphermail.com/t/bouncing-emal-in-ciphermail-syntax-error-in-sender-address-in-reply-to-mail-from-command/659 "2019-01-14T23:39:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![de\_Longpre\_Dale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@de\_Longpre\_Dale](https://community.ciphermail.com/u/de_Longpre_Dale)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://community.ciphermail.com/t/bouncing-emal-in-ciphermail-syntax-error-in-sender-address-in-reply-to-mail-from-command/659/1 "2019-01-14T23:39:05Z")

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A message from in from the dol.gov servers through our external sendmail servers and is accepted fine and forwarded to our ciphermail box. It appears postfix doesn't like how the From is done so it then bounces the message.

Jan 11 16:00:32 ciphermail postfix/smtp[16067]: A197BE0: to=\<yadayada(a)yada.com\>, relay=127.0.0.1[127.0.0.1]:10025, delay=0.34, delays=0.26/0/0.04/0.04, dsn=5.1.7, status=bounced (host 127.0.0.1[127.0.0.1] said: 501 5.1.7 Syntax error in sender address (in reply to MAIL FROM command))

Does anyone know of a way to tell postfix (I think that is the culpruit) to not be so strict? Or maybe to trust 127.0.0.1? I can't change what the government is sending and heck they are shutdown anyway1 ;-}

I'm clueless about postfix, is it the same thing as "James"?

Thanks all,

Dale

---

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**Author:** ![martijn](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/community.ciphermail.com/martijn/32/127_2.png) [@martijn](https://community.ciphermail.com/u/martijn)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 8:23am UTC](https://community.ciphermail.com/t/bouncing-emal-in-ciphermail-syntax-error-in-sender-address-in-reply-to-mail-from-command/659/2 "2019-01-15T08:23:19Z")

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> A message from in from the dol.gov servers through our external  
> sendmail servers and is accepted fine and forwarded to our ciphermail  
> box. It appears postfix doesn't like how the From is done so it then  
> bounces the message.
> 
> Jan 11 16:00:32 ciphermail postfix/smtp[16067]: A197BE0:  
> to=\<yadayada(a)yada.com\>, relay=127.0.0.1[127.0.0.1]:10025, delay=0.34,  
> delays=0.26/0/0.04/0.04, dsn=5.1.7, status=bounced (host  
> 127.0.0.1[127.0.0.1] said: 501 5.1.7 Syntax error in sender address  
> (in reply to MAIL FROM command))
> 
> Does anyone know of a way to tell postfix (I think that is the  
> culpruit) to not be so strict? Or maybe to trust 127.0.0.1? I can't  
> change what the government is sending and heck they are shutdown  
> anyway1 ;-}

The problem seems to be that the back-end (i.e., the internal mail  
server) is more strict, i.e., it follows the standards more closely,  
than postfix and therefore refuses the message. There are lots of  
reasons why it's best to not accept invalid email. That said, the  
"easiest" fix is to configure postfix to rewrite the invalid sender  
address into a valid sender address. For example, an email address  
cannot end with a . (dot). So the following sender address is invalid

end-with-dot.(a)example.com \<-- not valid

But if you double quote the local part, the email address is valid

"end-with-dot."@example.com \<-- valid

You might be able to use postfix sender\_canonical\_maps to rewrite an  
invalid sender to some other (valid) form.

> I'm clueless about postfix, is it the same thing as "James"?

Postfix is the Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) used by CipherMail. The MTA is  
responsible for sending and receiving email. James is a mail server  
which is internally used (the back-end) to encrypt/decrypt etc. received  
email (Internet -\> Postfix -\> internal MTA -\> Postfix -\> Internet)

Kind regards,

Martijn Brinkers

> **···**
>
> On 15-01-19 00:39, de Longpre, Dale via Users wrote:
> 
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