SOLVED [CPANEL-22217]Track Delivery and :blackhole: entry

[swbrains]

Hi,

I'm confused by Track Delivery in cPanel. When I view an email forwarder in this tool, it seems to always show both the forwarding address but also an entry for blackhole (see screenshot).

Can someone clarify why that entry is there or what it means?

Thanks!

 

[cPanelLauren]

Hi @swbrains

Do you have any further information on the forwarder you have in place? I have one for [email protected] -> [email protected] and this is not the output I have for Email Address Trace:

 

[swbrains]

Hi, What type of additional info can I provide that would help you? I checked a few forwarders on different accounts and they all show the blackhole entry like the one I supplied. I do set up some default forwarders like "webmaster" on each account when I created it (via API calls), so maybe that's the difference. I also set the default/catchall email address to :blackhole via the API when setting up new accounts. The forwarders seem to work properly but I'm confused by it after noticing it while troubleshooting a different email delivery issue.

 

[cPanelLauren]

HI @swbrains


Do you have any exim customizations? Are they being forwarded to a remote location? Does the email address being forwarded exist? Basically in order to test I want to be able to recreate my setup like yours.

I did set unrouted email to :blackhole: and the result I got was the one I showed.

Thanks!

 

[swbrains]

I'm not aware of any customizations to Exim that I'm aware of other than perhaps changing settings in WHM, like the time between exim runs or something similar.

The forwarders are set up to send to an off-site, off-server address in most cases.

The recipient of the forwarder is definitely a valid email account and exists.

Thanks!

 

[cPanelLauren]

Hi @swbrains

The recipient of the forwarder is definitely a valid email account and exists.

I actually meant does the address you're forwarding exist not the address you're forwarding to

 

[swbrains]

Sorry. There are no email accounts set up for the address being forwarded; just the forwarder sending to an external email account.

 

[cPanelLauren]

Hi @swbrains

I just tested with a forwarder which the corresponding account didn't exist forwarding to a remote domain (gmail) and the same results. The forward takes place and the copy that would remain on the server/routed to the account (if it existed) is blackholed.

What I don't get is the "untraceable route to local delivery" message. That seems to indicate that the MX record for the recipient domain isn't present or is unable to be queried.

 

[swbrains]

OK, thanks. With regard to the "untraceable route..." message, that forwarder points to an email address at a different domain that I own, and that domain is actually hosted on the same server. Here is the MX record entry as shown in its cPanel account:

 

[cPanelLauren]

Hi @swbrains

I'm able to replicate that behavior for local delivery with the destination domain existing on another account. I opened an inquiry for this to our development CPANEL-22217 to find out if this behavior is intended or not. I'll update you with the answer when I get more information.

Thanks!

 

[swbrains]

Ok, great -- thanks!

 

[cPanelLauren]

Hi @swbrains

I received a response to the inquiry I filed in this instance as follows:

This restriction is for security reasons and was implemented in SEC-22. The idea is that private routing details, such as other users' forwarding addresses or mailbox hierarchy, should not be disclosed.

So based on this I'd conclude that the unrouteable message is by design when a forwarder is pointing to another email address local to the server but not within the same account.

Thanks!

 

[swbrains]

Understood -- Thanks!

 

[cPanelLauren]

Hi @swbrains

You're welcome, thanks for your patience while we waited for an answer!