SOLVED Mailer-Daemon and Mail Queue Manager Show Subject and To Encoded in Base64

I'm using WHM 60 build 17. I got a delay message from the Mailer-Daemon that has both the subject of the message and the "to" encoded in Base64. I checked the message in Mail Queue Manager, and both display the subject of the message like this:

There aren't any special characters in the original subject. Decoded from Base64, it simply says, "New private message has arrived".

At first, I thought there was a problem with the bulletin board that attempted to send the message, but I tested it and the emails it sends for a new private message, when received in my email client, display the subject in UTF-8 as they should.

Is this a bug in WHM, by design, or do I have something configured incorrectly? It seems like encoding the subject and "to" of a message makes it more difficult to troubleshoot email issues.

 

Thanks for the info. That does sound like the source of the problem.

I searched exim_mainlog with the message ID I had, but it showed the subject of the failure message and not the original message's subject. I couldn't find the message ID for the original message, though I searched /var/log/exim_mainlog using the recipient's email address too. The original message has been removed from the queue, so I can't get the message ID there, either. I'll check the next time I get one of these.

 

Yes, check_rfc2047_length is set to "false". I'll post when I get another one of these messages. Thanks for the help.

 

Here's the output from /var/log/exim_mainlog for one of these messages that just came through:

Code:

2016-11-23 22:19:32 cwd=/var/spool/exim 3 args: /usr/sbin/exim -Mc 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ

2016-11-25 02:32:57 cwd=/var/spool/exim 7 args: /usr/sbin/exim -t -oem -oi -f <> -E1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ

2016-11-25 02:32:57 1cABwH-0003lN-Rr <= <> R=1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ U=mailnull P=local S=2634 T="Warning: message 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ delayed 24 hours" for forums@thedomain.com
2016-11-25 02:32:58 1cABwH-0003lN-Rr => firstuser (forums@thedomain.com) <forums@thedomain.com> R=virtual_user T=dovecot_virtual_delivery C="250 2.0.0 <firstuser@thedomain.com> yN9VATr3N1iPOAAA1I9b2Q Saved"
2016-11-25 02:32:58 1cABwH-0003lN-Rr -> seconduser (forums@thedomain.com) <forums@thedomain.com> R=virtual_user T=dovecot_virtual_delivery C="250 2.0.0 <seconduser@thedomain.com> yN9VATr3N1iPOAAA1I9b2Q:2 Saved"
2016-11-25 02:32:58 1cABwH-0003lN-Rr Completed

2016-11-25 10:36:02 cwd=/usr/local/cpanel/whostmgr/docroot 3 args: /usr/sbin/exim -Mvh 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ

2016-11-25 10:36:02 cwd=/usr/local/cpanel/whostmgr/docroot 3 args: /usr/sbin/exim -Mvb 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ

+++ 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ has not completed +++
2016-11-23 22:19:32 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ <= forums@thedomain.com H=host.hostdomain.com [XX.XX.XX.XXX]:60659 P=esmtpsa X=TLSv1.2:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:128 CV=no A=dovecot_login:system@thedomain.com S=1422 id=d3d5d680655c22f37781b7824bddd158@thedomain.com T="New private message has arrived" for recipient@anotherdomain.com
2016-11-23 22:19:32 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ SMTP connection outbound 1479961172 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ thedomain.com recipient@anotherdomain.com
2016-11-23 22:19:32 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ == recipient@anotherdomain.com R=dkim_lookuphost defer (-1): host lookup did not complete
2016-11-23 23:33:46 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ == recipient@anotherdomain.com R=dkim_lookuphost defer (-1): host lookup did not complete
2016-11-24 00:33:44 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ == recipient@anotherdomain.com R=dkim_lookuphost defer (-1): host lookup did not complete
2016-11-24 02:33:41 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ == recipient@anotherdomain.com R=dkim_lookuphost defer (-1): host lookup did not complete
2016-11-24 04:33:37 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ == recipient@anotherdomain.com R=dkim_lookuphost defer (-1): host lookup did not complete
2016-11-24 07:33:32 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ == recipient@anotherdomain.com R=dkim_lookuphost defer (-1): host lookup did not complete
2016-11-24 11:33:25 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ == recipient@anotherdomain.com R=dkim_lookuphost defer (-1): host lookup did not complete
2016-11-24 17:33:14 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ == recipient@anotherdomain.com R=dkim_lookuphost defer (-1): host lookup did not complete
2016-11-25 02:32:57 1c9lVU-0003Gp-AQ == recipient@anotherdomain.com R=dkim_lookuphost defer (-1): host lookup did not complete

 

I would if I could, but I don't believe I can. My web host is the licensee for cPanel, so I don't think I have the ability to create support tickets. I will get in touch with them and see if they'll open a support ticket for me and post back.

 

My web host opened a support ticket for me. The ticket number is 8040999.

 

I don't have access to the full explanation in the support ticket, and this seems like it might be over my pay grade, but I have to ask. Is the sending client the web app that sent the original email, or the server that bounced that message? In either case, at what point does it get encoded in Base64?

 

Thanks for the explanation. As far as I'm concerned, you can mark this one resolved.