Why emails to forwarded mailboxes reaches the default/catch-all mailbox?

[eitanc]

Hello,
I crated a forward definition for a mailbox, say if an email is sent to [email protected] (and it does not have a mailbox) - it will be send to [email protected].
I also set a default - catch-all to send all deliveries meant for an "unknow" addresses in the domain - to be sent to [email protected].

Why when an email is sent to [email protected], besides reaching OK to [email protected] - it also reaches [email protected]?
Shouldn't the catch-all feature be applied only if cpanel doesn't have any "rule" to treat it?

 

[cPRex]

Hey there! That sounds logical, but let me do some testing and I'll get back with you soon!

 

[cPRex]

I've been reading up on this a bit and apparently there are Exim requirements due to some RFCs that indicate this is the standard behavior. If the address doesn't exist it should send to both the forwarder and the default address, so this is working as intended.

There's to options to change this behavior:

1 - change the default address handling
or
2 - perform your "forwarding" with a filter instead. This way the filter performs the operation and then stops, keeping Exim from further handling the message.

 

[eitanc]

Thanks cPRex!

1. I read Default Address | cPanel & WHM Documentation and didn't understand your comment of "change the default address handling" - can you elaborate what did you mean for me to change and how should it solve this issue?

2. AFAIK email filters are attached to an existing mailbox but we are dealing here with an incoming email that its destination is a non-existing mailbox, so how can I create an email filter for a non-existing mailbox?

 

[cPRex]

For question 1, I was saying you could just change the default address handling to not forward those messages.

For number 2, you could use a Global Filter

I did see your feature request come in, so I'll make sure that gets added to this week's review!

 

[eitanc]

Thanks.
1. I need to have a default address to catch all the "strange" incoming emails, so I cannot change it
2. I will look into these global filters

Great, thanks for taking care in my feature request. I hope it will be accepted, no reason for this redundant delivery.

 

[eitanc]

Cannot use a global filter - I get an error of "To prevent recursive email delivery issues, you cannot use a recipient from a controlling domain in a global delivery filter"...

 

[cPRex]

Ah, I'm sorry the filter option didn't work out in this case.

If we take action on that feature request you'll get an update when the status changes!