Please whitelist cPanel in your adblocker so that you’re able to see our version release promotions, thanks!

The Community Forums

Interact with an entire community of cPanel & WHM users!

Large number of small files filling out /var/spool/exim/input directory

Discussion in 'E-mail Discussion' started by kavos1332, Apr 29, 2014.

  1. kavos1332

    kavos1332 Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    6
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    Hello experts,

    I have newly detected that on my server, a large number of small files are excessively filling out the /var/spool/exim/input directory which had caused my disk to run out of inodes while had planty of disk space. The number of files constantly growing EVEN when exim service is stopped. I know this directory belongs to mail queue but its so strange that creating new files does not stop when exim is stopped.

    Please help me to fix this strange issue.
    TIA
     
    #1 kavos1332, Apr 29, 2014
  2. vanessa

    vanessa Well-Known Member
    PartnerNOC

    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2006
    Messages:
    834
    Likes Received:
    29
    Trophy Points:
    178
    Location:
    Virginia Beach, VA
    cPanel Access Level:
    DataCenter Provider
    Those are exim queue files. Would help for you to review their contents to see what exactly is dumping them in there.

    exim -bp (lists contents of the queue)

    exim -Mvh $message_id (shows header contents of the message in question)
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
    #2 vanessa, Apr 29, 2014
  3. cPanelMichael

    cPanelMichael Technical Support Community Manager
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2011
    Messages:
    45,214
    Likes Received:
    1,936
    Trophy Points:
    363
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    Twitter:
    Hello :)

    How many messages are in your mail queue? You can review the messages in your queue via WHM if you are not comfortable with the command line:

    "WHM Home » Email » Mail Queue Manager"

    Thank you.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
    #3 cPanelMichael, Apr 30, 2014
  4. kavos1332

    kavos1332 Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    6
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    Hi

    Exim is continuously trying to receive mails which are intended to be sent to non-existent mail accounts on existing domains. So queue is constantly filled out by message sent to accounts not exist on the server and they are left in the queue. Currently there are more than 500,000+ messages in the queue which is growing every minute. Obviously server is under a huge spam.

    How do I stop this?
    Please help me ASAP!
     
    #4 kavos1332, Apr 30, 2014
  5. cPanelMichael

    cPanelMichael Technical Support Community Manager
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2011
    Messages:
    45,214
    Likes Received:
    1,936
    Trophy Points:
    363
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    Twitter:
    You should ensure the "Default Address" for your domain names is configured to "Discard with error to sender" so that the emails bounce to the senders. This is configured using the "Default Address" option in cPanel. You can search for and delete the existing messages in the mail queue with "Mail Queue Manager" in WHM.

    Thank you.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
    #5 cPanelMichael, Apr 30, 2014
  6. kavos1332

    kavos1332 Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    6
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    How can I set this option for all domains massively at once?
     
    #6 kavos1332, Apr 30, 2014
  7. kavos1332

    kavos1332 Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    6
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    Default Address in all accounts is already set to the option you mentioned. Stopping exim does not stop creating new files in this dir!
     
    #7 kavos1332, Apr 30, 2014
  8. kavos1332

    kavos1332 Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    6
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    The issue is I cannot keep exim service stopped It starts by itself. I have disabled exim and eximstats in WHM->Service Manager.
     
    #8 kavos1332, Apr 30, 2014
  9. cPanelPeter

    cPanelPeter Technical Analyst III
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2013
    Messages:
    575
    Likes Received:
    20
    Trophy Points:
    143
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    Twitter:
    Hello,

    Feel free to open a support ticket using the link in my signature. Then please paste the ticket number here so we can update this thread accordingly.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
    #9 cPanelPeter, May 1, 2014
  10. kavos1332

    kavos1332 Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    6
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    Hi

    I have configured my firewall (CSF) to allow only 100 incoming connections per 60 seconds on port 25. But when I check the count of files in /var/spool/exim/input using "ls -la | wc -l" command, I see hundreds of new files are constantly added within a very few seconds. Its more malicious than to be a large spam attack!

    Please help me to investigate this issue.
    TIA
     
    #10 kavos1332, May 4, 2014
  11. vanessa

    vanessa Well-Known Member
    PartnerNOC

    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2006
    Messages:
    834
    Likes Received:
    29
    Trophy Points:
    178
    Location:
    Virginia Beach, VA
    cPanel Access Level:
    DataCenter Provider
    Mail logs, bro.

    /var/log/exim_mainlog

    You should see what's dumping all that email into the queue.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
    #11 vanessa, May 4, 2014
  12. kavos1332

    kavos1332 Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    6
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    The problem is that Exim does not discard email coming to users that does not exist. Instead, it freezes the message in the mail queue. So al large number of messages are frozen and stored in the queue. The bellow is what is logged for each incoming message:

    Code:
    2014-05-06 22:39:00 1WhjnX-0008RS-VB ** juana_spears@karmano.co R=virtual_aliases: No Such User Here
2014-05-06 22:39:00 1WhjnX-0008RS-VB Frozen (delivery error message)
    How do I configure Exim to discard theses messages? How do I stop this attack?
     
    #12 kavos1332, May 6, 2014
  13. cPanelMichael

    cPanelMichael Technical Support Community Manager
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2011
    Messages:
    45,214
    Likes Received:
    1,936
    Trophy Points:
    363
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    Twitter:
    Is this happening even after the queue was cleared, or is the queue filled with messages when this happens?

    Thank you.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
    #13 cPanelMichael, May 6, 2014
  14. kavos1332

    kavos1332 Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    6
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    Hi

    While server is online messages are coming and become frozen and are stored there. When I clear the queue manually by rm command, it fills again within a few seconds. When I stop exim, it starts again and same happens. The only when I could find was to manually make a typo in exim.conf so it cannot start automatically. In that case queue stays free.
     
    #14 kavos1332, May 6, 2014
  15. cPanelMichael

    cPanelMichael Technical Support Community Manager
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2011
    Messages:
    45,214
    Likes Received:
    1,936
    Trophy Points:
    363
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    Twitter:
    At this point, the best course of action in my opinion would be to investigate the source of the abusive emails. Have you tried blocking the IP addresses of the mail servers that are sending these messages with a firewall?

    Thank you.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
    #15 cPanelMichael, May 7, 2014
  16. kavos1332

    kavos1332 Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2012
    Messages:
    40
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    6
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    How do I see the source IP? Should I do it by viewing each file located in /var/spool/exim/input/ ?
     
    #16 kavos1332, May 7, 2014
  17. cPanelMichael

    cPanelMichael Technical Support Community Manager
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2011
    Messages:
    45,214
    Likes Received:
    1,936
    Trophy Points:
    363
    cPanel Access Level:
    Root Administrator
    Twitter:
    Check the recent Exim activity with a command such as:

    Code:
    tail -500 /var/log/exim_mainlog
    Also, yes, you could review the actual message headers with a command such as:

    Code:
    exim -Mvh messageID
    Thank you.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
    #17 cPanelMichael, May 7, 2014
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)
Loading...
Similar Threads - Large number small
  1. Nakshathra

    Remove large number of files?

    Nakshathra, Oct 6, 2018, in forum: General Discussion
    Replies:
    3
    Views:
    91
    Infopro
    Oct 10, 2018
  2. Hedloff

    Horde generating large number of cache files

    Hedloff, Apr 23, 2018, in forum: E-mail Discussion
    Replies:
    2
    Views:
    515
    Hedloff
    Apr 23, 2018
  3. Alrissa

    SOLVED A large number of "Out of memory warnings" System messages

    Alrissa, Dec 17, 2016, in forum: General Discussion
    Replies:
    3
    Views:
    676
    Alrissa
    Dec 22, 2016
  4. PCZero

    Delete Large Log Files - Operation Not Permitted

    PCZero, Nov 8, 2018, in forum: General Discussion
    Replies:
    5
    Views:
    106
    PCZero
    Nov 9, 2018
  5. chris0147

    OpenSSL error: data too large for modulus

    chris0147, Nov 1, 2018, in forum: Security
    Replies:
    7
    Views:
    104
    cPanelLauren
    Nov 5, 2018

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Accept Learn More...
    Dismiss Notice