I think I understand what's happening now, you're saying if the spam email matches some regex in the rule it's automatically sent to
[email protected] rather than (in the case of the default email) discarded.
This is due to the way that exim processes these rules. The processing for this takes place prior to the processing for the discard of email sent to the default address so the forward to happens then I'd assume that the match on the default address is hit and the message to the default address is discarded (meaning it doesn't reach the default address, just the address you're forwarding to) this behavior is expected.
I'm trying to set up something I've seen others asking: specifically, if a message is sent to "user<any_number>@mydomain.com" (eg
[email protected]) it will be forwarded to a single email address (eg
[email protected]). If mail is received at any other email address, it is replied to with "user not found".
I have a Default address set up to reply with a "user not found" message. I also have a Global filter set up. I've tested the filter using the test process within cPanel and it works as expected. However, when sending messages from an external source, my filter isn't working. All messages are returned with "user not found" despite being sent to a valid email address like "
[email protected]" that should result in forwarding. So my messages are being processed by my Default action, even though they should have been processed by my global filter.
My understanding from the response in this thread, it that messages are processed by the global filters first, and if that doesn't result in any action, the default address action is taken. Is my understanding correct, and if so, why aren't my global filters working?
Filter is as follows:
To begins with user
Action redirect to email
[email protected]
Stop processing rules.
I'm an end user of cPanel.
Thanks for your help.