DEAR_SOMETHING marked as SPAM

[jmginer]

Hello,

we checked that all emails we receive that start with "Dear ..." are catalogued as SPAM because spamassasin puts 4 points of antispam.

  pts rule name              description
 ---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
  2.0 DEAR_SOMETHING         BODY: Contains 'Dear (something)'
  2.0 KAM_DEAR_SOMEBODY      BODY: Message that does not know who to address

Is it possible to remove or cutomize the pts of these rules?

Thank you

 

[keat63]

I use configserver Mail Scanner, and it's possible to change the scores, so I'm sure its possible with SpamAssasin.
Although where, I'm not entirely sure, have a look in /etc/mail/spamassassin/local.cf maybe

 

[cPanelLauren]

The .cf files in /etc/mail/spamassassin are symlinks to /usr/local/cpanel/etc/mail/spamassassin/

Do you have any custom rules enabled? When I search for the specific rules getting hit on your email I'm not coming up with exact matches:

[[email protected] spamassassin]# egrep -ir 'DEAR_SOMETHING|KAM_DEAR_SOMEBODY' /usr/local/cpanel/etc/mail/spamassassin
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/mail/spamassassin/KAM2.cf:meta     KAM_NIGERIAN2 (__KAM_NIGERIAN2_1 + DEAR_SOMETHING + LOTS_OF_MONEY >= 3)
/usr/local/cpanel/etc/mail/spamassassin/KAM.cf:meta     KAM_NIGERIAN2 (__KAM_NIGERIAN2_1 + DEAR_SOMETHING + LOTS_OF_MONEY >= 3)
[[email protected] spamassassin]#

I get the KAM_NIGERIAN2 rule but it needs to include DEAR_SOMETHING + LOTS_OF_MONEY and the hit is worth 3 points.

 

[nixuser]

Can't the point value be changed in Calculated Spam Score Settings under Spam Filters in cPanel?

 

[cPanelLauren]

Can't the point value be changed in Calculated Spam Score Settings under Spam Filters in cPanel?

The point value can be changed, but first you'll need to identify the rule that is responsible and change the point value in that configuration file. Reassigning a point value through the spam filters UI won't override the default in the .cf file as far as I know and the documentation for SpamAssassin seems to confirm this in the allow_user_rules section Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf - SpamAssassin configuration file

 

[nixuser]

The point value can be changed, but first you'll need to identify the rule that is responsible and change the point value in that configuration file. Reassigning a point value through the spam filters UI won't override the default in the .cf file as far as I know and the documentation for SpamAssassin seems to confirm this in the allow_user_rules section Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf - SpamAssassin configuration file

Thanks for explaining.

 

[cPanelLauren]

@nixuser

Thinking about this further, you bring up a good point actually, if the rule shows up in that dropdown it's templated into the user_prefs for that account which takes precedence and you should actually be able to modify the score there. I was thinking about this in a global aspect.

@jmginer That'd be a point you want to check for that account, if you go to cPanel>>Email>>Spam Filters -> Additional Configurations (for advanced users) ->
Calculated Spam Score Settings -> Use the dropdown to look for the specific rules, you should be able to modify their specific scores there.

 

[nixuser]

Thanks, it does show up for me in the drop down menu. So that would be helpful in changing the value.