exim_mainlog mystery message

[epanagio]

Every minute I see a message like the following and I just don;'t understand what it means. I changed the ID with the word PERSON to protect the person. Am I sending these messages or am I receiving them? Help!

2013-10-23 22:57:10 SMTP connection from [50.193.144.49]:55091 (TCP/IP connection count = 1)
2013-10-23 22:57:11 H=50-193-144-49-static.hfc.comcastbusiness.net (webmail.example1.com) [50.193.144.49]:55091 F=<[email protected]> temporarily rejected RCPT <[email protected]>: require_files: error for /home/osr/etc/example2.com: Permission denied
2013-10-23 22:57:11 SMTP connection from 50-193-144-49-static.hfc.comcastbusiness.net (webmail.example1.com) [50.193.144.49]:55091 closed by QUIT

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello

It shows the message is rejected due to permission issues on the directory referenced in the log:

require_files: error for /home/osr/etc/example2.com: Permission denied

Does this directory exist on your system? If so, check it's permissions/ownership values to make sure there are no non-standard values configured. You can also run:

/scripts/mailperm user

Thank you.

 

[epanagio]

Is the email coming in or going out?

The file in the path it is looking is "/home/osr/etc/example2.com" but I am wondering is it normal for an email coming in or going out to look for this path? Directory "osr" is an account I have set up.

My knowledge of cpanel and system issues is limited and I get very nervous when I see messages generated every minute in the exim log.

I am wondering if the email is coming in or going out. How would I check to see if it is coming or going out?

Thanks,
Evan

Hello
It shows the message is rejected due to permission issues on the directory referenced in the log:
Does this directory exist on your system? If so, check it's permissions/ownership values to make sure there are no non-standard values configured. You can also run:

/scripts/mailperm user

Thank you.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, what should permission be?

Also, why cpanel has not assigned the proper permissions?

 

[cPanelMichael]

cPanel would have assigned the correct permissions and ownership values by default. The error would have occurred if it was manually modified at a later date. Default ownership on this directory would be "User:Mail" and default permissions would be 0750. Here is a third-party document on how to read the entries in /var/log/exim_mainlog:

How to read Exim maillog

Thank you.

 

[epanagio]

Sorry for being thick but I assigned:

chmod -R 0750 etc

and I still get these permission error messages.

I also don't understand "User:Mail"

The files are owned by "osr". Is "Mail" a group name? I checked with "safe_finger" and no such user exists.

 

[cPanelMichael]

It's never recommended to use the recursive flag with "chmod". The command you provided changed permissions on all files/directives within the account's "etc" directory to 0750. This will further complicate the issue. Do you have root access to this system? If so, check another account's "etc" directory and utilize the "stat" command to review what the default permission/ownership values should be configured as. "User:Mail" is essentially the username of the account, with group ownership set to "mail". EX:

[email protected] [/home/cptest01/etc]# stat cptest01.com
  File: `cptest01.com'
  Size: 4096      	Blocks: 8          IO Block: 4096   directory
Access: (0750/drwxr-x---)  Uid: (  708/cptest01)   Gid: (   12/    mail)

Thank you.

 

[epanagio]

Thank you for taking the time to educate me. I have a little work to do to better understand what I am doing without hurting the system. I did check this forum and I saw several of your posts and I learned a lot by reading your attempts to help others.

Thanks again for all you do and I will come back to update this post for others to learn and benefit from.

Evan

 

[epanagio]

I compared the permissions of the problem account against a different account and made the appropriate corrections. Those erroneous messages went away, thanks to cPanelMichael.

Now I have to educate myself with exim package.

I have complete control of my hosted server and I want to make sure that I don't get in trouble and get tagged as a spammer because of my ignorance. Shiver me timbers.

 

[cPanelMichael]

I am happy to hear you were able to resolve the issue. The following document is useful for preventing email abuse:

cPanel - Prevent Email Abuse

Thank you.