[Case 53038] Problem with Case Sensitivity on Email Forwarders

[sneader]

I've found a problem with E-mail Forwarders and Case-Sensitivity. Easier to explain with an example:

1) Create three email forwarders:

TEST@example.com -> caps@fabrikam.com
Test@example.com -> mixed@cohowinery.com
test@example.com -> lower@contoso.com

2) Try sending mail to all of these: TEST@example.com, Test@example.com and test@example.com.

You will note that in all instances, ONLY caps@fabrikam.com gets the message. lower@contoso.com or mixed@cohowinery.com never, ever get a message!

If we are respecting case sensitivity, then each address should work individually, but they don't. And if we are NOT respecting case sensitivity, then all 3 should get the message any time any address is used, but they don't either. So, this is a bug.

It appears that when searching for a matching forwarder, it finds the uppercase one first, and ignores any other matches.

In the old days, cPanel would throw up an error if you tried to enter in capital letters in an email forwarder. But by request, cPanel changed it so that it allows mixed case entries for email forwarders. BUT... it turns out that Exim is not set up, by default, to handle case-sensitive forwarders (and frankly, who wants this??)

You can read more about it here: 44. Message processing (see section 19 - Cases of local parts)

I've filed a bug report with cPanel and a case has been created this is being looked into. I think the general consensus is that cPanel should allow mixed-case entries when a customer creates an email forwarder... but cPanel should always write them to the forwarders list as lower case. This will solve the mail routing problem, while still giving customers flexibility in their copy/paste or import routines, when creating forwarders.

- Scott

[cPanelTristan]

Hello Scott,

What is the case number for the report that you've opened? Also, this should probably be moved to the feature request area, since that is where any notes of bug are being discussed nowadays.

Thanks!

[sneader]

Hi Tristan. I wasn't given the case number, but the Ticket which mentions that there is a case, is 1861409, if you want to poke around.

I disagree that this is a feature request. The control panel is set up to respect case, but either cPanel or Exim isn't respecting case, so it doesn't work as advertised. Seems "buggy" to me. :-)

- Scott

[cPanelTristan]

I agree it isn't a feature request, but as I mentioned, all bugs are being moved into the feature requests area. Since you decided to open up a forum post simply to discuss an already existing bug with a case opened, we would want this moved into that area. I'll move it and flag the case ID once I find it. Thanks!

[sneader]

Oops, I see that now (bugs are in the feature requests area) -- sorry about that. Thanks for the move/fix.

- Scott

[sneader]

P.S. to clarify why I created this forum posting.. it was not to discuss it. It was to document it, because most folks come to the forums FIRST to look for help with problems. I came here looking for help on this problem, and didn't see anything. I am just trying to help others that may run into this in the future. I'm trying to help, not stir the pot.

- Scott

[cPanelTristan]

Hi Scott,

No worries. We understand you wanted to provide information on something you'd discovered so others would be aware. That's certainly appreciated.

Thanks again.

[mtindor]

Excellent find, Scott. Not an easy one to track down. Thanks for posting this useful info for the rest of us.

Not only should created aliases be written in all lowercase to the respective valias file, but I think cPanel should consider a "fix" script that gets run to go through all existing aliases in the valias files and write the email addresses to all lowercase. It's easy enough for an admin to do this on his/her own, and to be honest I doubt this happens too often where somebody creates multiple aliases of the same name but with different case. But, that's probably all the more reason for some maintenance script to automatically do the job of making sure that all email addresses in the valias files are all lowercase.

Mike