- dovecot - dovecot.org

Sieve regex behavior
by Luca Weiss 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

Hi, I'm having troubles lately with a Sieve script of mine: require "fileinto"; require "mailbox"; require "regex"; if header :regex "Subject" "\\[.*PATCH.*\\]" { fileinto :create "Inbox.Patches"; } This should move all patches with "[PATCH]" or "[RFC PATCH v3]" into this Inbox subfolder, I'm pretty sure this version worked flawlessly in the past but since a couple of weeks ago it's not working with some emails. Debugging this, with manually editing mail files, I came to this discovery. That one mail matches and it's getting moved to the correct folder: Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 3/6] arm64: dts: qcom: qcm6490-shift-otter: A Adding one more character leads to it not getting moved: Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 3/6] arm64: dts: qcom: qcm6490-shift-otter: Ad Does anybody have an explanation for this why this broke, and how to fix either Dovecot/Pigeonhole or my Sieve script? I've already lost hours trying to figure this out and I'm not getting any wiser... Regards Luca

4 3

mail-crypt transition from Dovecot 2.3 to 2.4
by m＠maltris.org 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

In Dovecot 2.3 I had used the following query: password_query = \ SELECT USER.user, USER.host, \ SECRET.password, SECRET.public_key AS mail_crypt_global_public_key, SECRET.private_key AS mail_crypt_global_private_key \ FROM USER \ WHERE USER.user = '%Lu' This worked fine, enabling encryption and decryption properly. For Dovecot 2.4 this does not work anymore. Example from LMTP: Dec 11 15:02:59 lmtp(975838): Info: lmtp-server: conn unix:pid=975905,uid=113 [1]: rcpt user(a)test.de: <Ti6aNxPPOmne4w4APAc66w>: Failed to send message to <user(a)test.de> at server:24: 451 4.2.0 <user(a)test.de> get_public_key(INBOX) failed: mailbox_attribute_get(INBOX, /shared/vendor/vendor.dovecot/pvt/crypt/active) failed: Mailbox attributes not enabled (1/1 at 12 ms) I tried to adapt it to Dovecot 2.4 per the documentation, ending up with this: query = \ SELECT \ USER.user, USER.host, \ SECRET.password, \ concat('inline:', SECRET.public_key) AS crypt_global_public_key_file, \ 'main' AS crypt_global_private_key, \ concat('inline:', SECRET.private_key) AS 'crypt_global_private_key/main/crypt_private_key_file' \ FROM USER \ WHERE USER.user = '%{user | lower}' Still the error message: get_public_key(INBOX) failed: mailbox_attribute_get(INBOX, /shared/vendor/vendor.dovecot/pvt/crypt/active) failed: Mailbox attributes not enabled Additionally I tried without the "inline:" prefix, because without, doveadm mailbox cryptokey list would return a "no such file or directory error" trying to treat the key as a filename. With the "inline:" prefix it returns nothing except a warning: Warning: mailbox cryptokey list: Nothing was matched. Use -U or specify mask? What is the right way to proceed here?

2 1

Error after power failure
by Doug Hardie 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

My mail server lost power and now I am having issues with dsync for one user. Here is the command and output: mail# doveadm backup -u doug remote:sermons dsync-local(doug)<EauXLsjZRWkgLgAAZU03Dg>: Error: /var/mail/home_mail/doug/Maildir/dovecot.index: Couldn't set transaction log view (seq 295..297): Missing middle file seq=296 (between 295..297, we have seqs 295,297): Not found from .log.2: File is already open dsync-local(doug)<EauXLsjZRWkgLgAAZU03Dg>: Error: Failed to read transaction log for mailbox INBOX dsync-local(doug)<EauXLsjZRWkgLgAAZU03Dg>: Error: Remote command returned error 75: ssh sermons doveadm dsync-server -udoug -U How do I fix this issue? Thanks, -- Doug

2 1

Pigeonhole managesieve-login panic
by revsuine 19 Dec '25

19 Dec '25

Hi folks, I'm getting a ``` Dec 19 16:18:07 managesieve-login: Panic: file client.c: line 350 (managesieve_client_input_next_cmd): assertion failed: (args != NULL) Dec 19 16:18:07 auth: Debug: conn unix:login (pid=7390,uid=91) [2]: Disconnected: Connection closed (fd=20) Dec 19 16:18:07 managesieve-login: Fatal: master: service(managesieve-login): child 7390 killed with signal 6 (core dumps disabled - https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html#coredumps) ``` When trying to connect to MANAGESIEVE using [sieve-connect][1]. The command I'm using is ``` sieve-connect -s revsuine.xyz -u pid1 --passwordfd=5 5<<<"$(command to get pass here)" ``` This command was working previously (within the past year), though I don't remember which versions of Dovecot/Pigeonhole I tried it on. sieve-connect has not been updated recently, so there aren't any changes in sieve-connect that would've caused this. I'm attaching the files generated by `dovecot-sysreport` which includes my `dovecot -n`. Server OS is Alpine Linux 3.23.2. ~revsuine [1]: https://github.com/philpennock/sieve-connect

1 0

Attachments corrupted by sieve "redirect" action
by Michael Orlitzky 18 Dec '25

18 Dec '25

We got a report today from one of our customers that they are unable to "redirect" mail with attachments off-site. At first I was skeptical, because sieve does not mess with the message body... but sure enough, it's easy to reproduce: 1. Create a new address (mailbox) 2. Create a single sieve "redirect" filter for that address, pointing to my own mailbox 3. Send it a message with an attachment 4. An attachment is visible on the message that arrives, but it is corrupt For example: $ cat hello.original.txt Hello, world! but $ cat hello.attached.txt (it's empty). Sending a JPEG image is a bit more enlightening: $ /bin/ls -l *jpg -rw------- 1 mjo mjo 337119 Dec 18 11:15 image.attached.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 mjo mjo 337173 Dec 18 11:13 image.original.jpg So something _is_ sent, but the start of the file is corrupt. Looking at it in a hex editor, it's only the first few lines that are messed up. This is with dovecot 2.4.2, but notably, we are using zlib compression: mail_plugins = mail_compress mail_compress_write_method = gz I'm curious if anyone else can reproduce this? Redirecting via sieve is not common, so this isn't an emergency, but obviously it is preferable to have it working.

2 1

Imap-login bind errors after upgrading dovecot from 2.3 to 2.4
by onyeibo 18 Dec '25

18 Dec '25

Greetings I updated the OS in a VPS blindly and broke the mail service. I had set up this service over four years ago and never had issues with upgrades until recently. I realized the gravity of my mistake after dovecot refused to start. Version 2.4.1 had arrived and I am in so much trouble. So far, I have adapted the configuraton files to 2.4 standards. "doveadm auth test user" tells me that the authentication is working fine. I am able to view old mails via doveadm. However, I get nothing new from mail clients. The maillog tells me that mails are getting queued (why?). I see status=sent (250.2.0.0) in some transactions, but that is the extent of success. However, I still get a nagging error message (see the end of this mail). dovecot -n # Pigeonhole version 2.4.1-4 (0a86619f) # OS: Linux 6.17.11-300.fc43.x86_64 x86_64 Fedora release 43 (Forty Three) dovecot_config_version = 2.4.1 auth_debug = yes auth_mechanisms = plain login dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.1 first_valid_uid = xxxx mail_driver = maildir mail_home = /home/mails/%{user | domain}/%{user | username} mail_path = %{home}/Maildir mail_privileged_group = mail passdb_default_password_scheme = BLF-CRYPT protocols { imap = yes lmtp = yes sieve = yes } sql_driver = pgsql ssl = required ssl_cipher_list = PROFILE=SYSTEM pgsql localhost { parameters { dbname = postfix password = xxxxxxx user = postfix } } passdb sql {n query = SELECT username AS user, password FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%{user}' AND active='1' } userdb sql { query = SELECT '/home/mails/' || maildir AS home, xxxx as uid, xxxx as gid FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%{user}' AND active = '1' } namespace inbox { inbox = yes mailbox Drafts { auto = create special_use = "\\Drafts" } mailbox Junk { auto = create special_use = "\\Junk" } mailbox Trash { auto = create special_use = "\\Trash" } mailbox Sent { auto = create special_use = "\\Sent" } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = "\\Sent" } } service lmtp { executable = lmtp -L process_min_avail = 5 user = vmail unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/dovecot-lmtp { group = postfix mode = 0600 user = postfix } } service auth { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0600 user = postfix } } service stats { unix_listener stats-reader { group = vmail mode = 0660 user = vmail } unix_listener stats-writer { group = vmail mode = 0660 user = vmail } } ssl_server { cert_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/xxxxxxx.com/fullchain.pem dh_file = /etc/dovecot/dh.pem key_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/xxxxxxx.com/privkey.pem prefer_ciphers = server } protocol lmtp { info_log_path = /var/log/lmtp/dovecot-lmtp.log mail_plugins { sieve = yes } } service managesieve-login { inet_listener sieve { port = 4190 } } service managesieve { } protocol sieve { managesieve_implementation_string = Dovecot Pigeonhole } sieve_script personal { active_path = ~/.dovecot.sieve path = ~/sieve} I did adjust an entry in postfix (master.cf). I switched from dovecot-lda to dovecot-lmtp. LDA was throwing permission errors when accessing the cert file. Most reference materials recommended LMTP because its processes already have the required privileges. So ... master.cf (postfix)dovecot unix - n n - - pipe flags=DRhu user=vmail:vmail argv=/usr/libexec/dovecot/deliver -f ${sender} -a ${original_recipient} -d ${user}@${nexthop}# maillog errors Dec 16 22:16:29 xxxxxxx.com dovecot[139456]: master: Error: bind(/run/dovecot/srv.imap-login/139456) failed: No such file or directory Dec 16 22:16:29 xxxxxxx.com dovecot[139456]: master: Fatal: Failed to create per-PID unix_listener %{pid}: net_listen_unix(/run/dovecot/srv.imap-login/139456) failed: No such file or directory Dec 16 22:16:29 xxxxxxx.com dovecot[809]: master: Error: service(imap-login): command startup failed, throttling for 2.000 secsDec 16 22:16:29 xxxxxxx.com dovecot[139216]: imap-login: Fatal: master: service(imap-login): child 139456 returned error 89 (Fatal failure) What am I missing? Regards Onyeibo Greetings I updated the OS in a VPS blindly and broke the mail service. I had set up this service over four years ago and never had issues with upgrades until recently. I realized the gravity of my mistake after dovecot refused to start. Version 2.4.1 had arrived and I am in so much trouble. So far, I have adapted the configuraton files to 2.4 standards. "doveadm auth test user" tells me that the authentication is working fine. I am able to view old mails via doveadm. However, I get nothing new from mail clients. The maillog tells me that mails are getting queued (why?). I see status=sent (250.2.0.0) in some transactions, but that is the extent of success. However, I still get a nagging error message (see the end of this mail). dovecot -n # Pigeonhole version 2.4.1-4 (0a86619f) # OS: Linux 6.17.11-300.fc43.x86_64 x86_64 Fedora release 43 (Forty Three) dovecot_config_version = 2.4.1 auth_debug = yes auth_mechanisms = plain login dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.1 first_valid_uid = xxxx mail_driver = maildir mail_home = /home/mails/%{user | domain}/%{user | username} mail_path = %{home}/Maildir mail_privileged_group = mail passdb_default_password_scheme = BLF-CRYPT protocols { imap = yes lmtp = yes sieve = yes } sql_driver = pgsql ssl = required ssl_cipher_list = PROFILE=SYSTEM pgsql localhost { parameters { dbname = postfix password = xxxxxxx user = postfix } } passdb sql {n query = SELECT username AS user, password FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%{user}' AND active='1' } userdb sql { query = SELECT '/home/mails/' || maildir AS home, xxxx as uid, xxxx as gid FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%{user}' AND active = '1' } namespace inbox { inbox = yes mailbox Drafts { auto = create special_use = "\\Drafts" } mailbox Junk { auto = create special_use = "\\Junk" } mailbox Trash { auto = create special_use = "\\Trash" } mailbox Sent { auto = create special_use = "\\Sent" } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = "\\Sent" } } service lmtp { executable = lmtp -L process_min_avail = 5 user = vmail unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/dovecot-lmtp { group = postfix mode = 0600 user = postfix } } service auth { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0600 user = postfix } } service stats { unix_listener stats-reader { group = vmail mode = 0660 user = vmail } unix_listener stats-writer { group = vmail mode = 0660 user = vmail } } ssl_server { cert_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/xxxxxxx.com/fullchain.pem dh_file = /etc/dovecot/dh.pem key_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/xxxxxxx.com/privkey.pem prefer_ciphers = server } protocol lmtp { info_log_path = /var/log/lmtp/dovecot-lmtp.log mail_plugins { sieve = yes } } service managesieve-login { inet_listener sieve { port = 4190 } } service managesieve { } protocol sieve { managesieve_implementation_string = Dovecot Pigeonhole } sieve_script personal { active_path = ~/.dovecot.sieve path = ~/sieve } I did adjust an entry in postfix (master.cf). I switched from dovecot-lda to dovecot-lmtp. LDA was throwing permission errors when accessing the cert file. Most reference materials recommended LMTP because its processes already have the required privileges. So ... master.cf (postfix) dovecot unix - n n - - pipe flags=DRhu user=vmail:vmail argv=/usr/libexec/dovecot/deliver -f ${sender} -a ${original_recipient} -d ${user}@${nexthop}# maillog errors Dec 16 22:16:29 [1]xxxxxxx.com dovecot[139456]: master: Error: bind(/run/dovecot/srv.imap-login/139456) failed: No such file or directory Dec 16 22:16:29 [2]xxxxxxx.com dovecot[139456]: master: Fatal: Failed to create per-PID unix_listener %{pid}: net_listen_unix(/run/dovecot/srv.imap-login/139456) failed: No such file or directory Dec 16 22:16:29 [3]xxxxxxx.com dovecot[809]: master: Error: service(imap-login): command startup failed, throttling for 2.000 secs Dec 16 22:16:29 [4]xxxxxxx.com dovecot[139216]: imap-login: Fatal: master: service(imap-login): child 139456 returned error 89 (Fatal failure) What am I missing? Regards Onyeibo References Visible links 1. http://xxxxxxx.com/ 2. http://xxxxxxx.com/ 3. http://xxxxxxx.com/ 4. http://xxxxxxx.com/

4 9

Bug Report: authCacheFlush HTTP API crashes with assertion failure
by Yurii Krainiuk 17 Dec '25

17 Dec '25

*## Title* authCacheFlush HTTP API crashes with assertion failure - type mismatch between API schema and implementation *## Dovecot Version* 2.4.2 *## Component* doveadm HTTP API *## Description* The authCacheFlush command via doveadm HTTP API causes a server crash with an assertion failure. The HTTP API schema declares the user parameter as array type, but the internal implementation (doveadm_cmd_param_str) expects string type, causing a type mismatch assertion failure. *## Steps to Reproduce* 1. Send any authCacheFlush request to doveadm HTTP API: bash curl -X POST \ -H "Authorization: X-Dovecot-API <api_key>" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '[["authCacheFlush",{"user":"username(a)domain.com"},"tag1"]]' \ http://localhost:8080/doveadm/v1 2. Or with user as array (matching the declared schema): bash curl -X POST \ -H "Authorization: X-Dovecot-API <api_key>" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '[["authCacheFlush",{"user":["username(a)domain.com"]},"tag1"]]' \ http://localhost:8080/doveadm/v1 3. Or without any parameters: bash curl -X POST \ -H "Authorization: X-Dovecot-API <api_key>" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '[["authCacheFlush",{},"tag1"]]' \ http://localhost:8080/doveadm/v1 *## Expected Result* Auth cache should be flushed and API returns success response like: json [["doveadmResponse",[{"entries":1}],"tag1"]] *## Actual Result* Server crashes with empty reply (HTTP connection closed). The doveadm process is killed with signal 6 (SIGABRT). *## Error Log* Panic: file doveadm-cmd-parse.c: line 120 (doveadm_cmd_param_str): assertion failed: (param->type == CMD_PARAM_STR) Error: Raw backtrace: #0 test_subprocess_fork[0x7362eb54a570] -> #1 backtrace_append[0x7362eb54a820] -> #2 backtrace_get[0x7362eb54a9c0] -> #3 e_info[0x7362eb556370] -> #4 i_syslog_fatal_handler[0x7362eb5564b0] -> #5 i_panic[0x7362eb474f28] -> #6 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #7 http_server_connection_shut_down[0x7362eb4e6a00] -> #8 io_loop_call_io[0x7362eb572510] -> #9 io_loop_handler_run_internal[0x7362eb5743a0] -> #10 io_loop_handler_run[0x7362eb574540] -> #11 io_loop_run[0x7362eb574740] -> #12 master_service_run[0x7362eb4bc640] -> #13 main[0x64c4233d74f0] -> #14 __libc_init_first[0x7362eb02a150] -> #15 __libc_start_main[0x7362eb02a200] -> #16 _start[0x64c4233d76e0] Fatal: master: service(doveadm): child 2302469 killed with signal 6 (core dumped) *## API Schema (from GET /doveadm/v1)* The API endpoint reports the following schema for authCacheFlush: json { "command": "authCacheFlush", "parameters": [ {"name": "socketPath", "type": "string"}, {"name": "user", "type": "array"} ] } *## Analysis* The API schema declares user as array, but line 120 in doveadm-cmd-parse.c calls doveadm_cmd_param_str() which asserts param->type == CMD_PARAM_STR. This type mismatch causes the crash. The relevant assertion in source code: c // doveadm-cmd-parse.c:120 assertion failed: (param->type == CMD_PARAM_STR) *## Note* - The CLI command doveadm auth cache flush <user> works correctly - Only the HTTP API is affected - All authentication methods (X-Dovecot-API header, Basic Auth) produce the same crash - The crash occurs regardless of whether parameters are provided or not *## Workaround* Currently no workaround via HTTP API. Must use CLI directly or via SSH. *## Environment* - OS: Linux (Ubuntu/Debian) - Dovecot: 2.4.2 - doveadm HTTP API enabled on port 8080 ## Title authCacheFlush HTTP API crashes with assertion failure - type mismatch between API schema and implementation ## Dovecot Version 2.4.2 ## Component doveadm HTTP API ## Description The authCacheFlush command via doveadm HTTP API causes a server crash with an assertion failure. The HTTP API schema declares the user parameter as array type, but the internal implementation (doveadm_cmd_param_str) expects string type, causing a type mismatch assertion failure. ## Steps to Reproduce 1. Send any authCacheFlush request to doveadm HTTP API: bash curl -X POST \ -H "Authorization: X-Dovecot-API <api_key>" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '[["authCacheFlush",{"user":"[1]username(a)domain.com"},"tag1"]]' \ [2]http://localhost:8080/doveadm/v1 2. Or with user as array (matching the declared schema): bash curl -X POST \ -H "Authorization: X-Dovecot-API <api_key>" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '[["authCacheFlush",{"user":["[3]username(a)domain.com"]},"tag1"]]' \ [4]http://localhost:8080/doveadm/v1 3. Or without any parameters: bash curl -X POST \ -H "Authorization: X-Dovecot-API <api_key>" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '[["authCacheFlush",{},"tag1"]]' \ [5]http://localhost:8080/doveadm/v1 ## Expected Result Auth cache should be flushed and API returns success response like: json [["doveadmResponse",[{"entries":1}],"tag1"]] ## Actual Result Server crashes with empty reply (HTTP connection closed). The doveadm process is killed with signal 6 (SIGABRT). ## Error Log Panic: file doveadm-cmd-parse.c: line 120 (doveadm_cmd_param_str): assertion failed: (param->type == CMD_PARAM_STR) Error: Raw backtrace: #0 test_subprocess_fork[0x7362eb54a570] -> #1 backtrace_append[0x7362eb54a820] -> #2 backtrace_get[0x7362eb54a9c0] -> #3 e_info[0x7362eb556370] -> #4 i_syslog_fatal_handler[0x7362eb5564b0] -> #5 i_panic[0x7362eb474f28] -> #6 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #7 http_server_connection_shut_down[0x7362eb4e6a00] -> #8 io_loop_call_io[0x7362eb572510] -> #9 io_loop_handler_run_internal[0x7362eb5743a0] -> #10 io_loop_handler_run[0x7362eb574540] -> #11 io_loop_run[0x7362eb574740] -> #12 master_service_run[0x7362eb4bc640] -> #13 main[0x64c4233d74f0] -> #14 __libc_init_first[0x7362eb02a150] -> #15 __libc_start_main[0x7362eb02a200] -> #16 _start[0x64c4233d76e0] Fatal: master: service(doveadm): child 2302469 killed with signal 6 (core dumped) ## API Schema (from GET /doveadm/v1) The API endpoint reports the following schema for authCacheFlush: json { "command": "authCacheFlush", "parameters": [ {"name": "socketPath", "type": "string"}, {"name": "user", "type": "array"} ] } ## Analysis The API schema declares user as array, but line 120 in doveadm-cmd-parse.c calls doveadm_cmd_param_str() which asserts param->type == CMD_PARAM_STR. This type mismatch causes the crash. The relevant assertion in source code: c // doveadm-cmd-parse.c:120 assertion failed: (param->type == CMD_PARAM_STR) ## Note - The CLI command doveadm auth cache flush <user> works correctly - Only the HTTP API is affected - All authentication methods (X-Dovecot-API header, Basic Auth) produce the same crash - The crash occurs regardless of whether parameters are provided or not ## Workaround Currently no workaround via HTTP API. Must use CLI directly or via SSH. ## Environment - OS: Linux (Ubuntu/Debian) - Dovecot: 2.4.2 - doveadm HTTP API enabled on port 8080 References Visible links 1. mailto:username@domain.com 2. http://localhost:8080/doveadm/v1 3. mailto:username@domain.com 4. http://localhost:8080/doveadm/v1 5. http://localhost:8080/doveadm/v1

2 1

mTLS ldap auth failure against openldap + TLSVerifyClient: demand
by Patrick Laimbock 16 Dec '25

16 Dec '25

Hi, I'm trying to setup up a Dovecot/Postfix/OpenLDAP combo on a Fedora 43 aarch64 box with the following versions: dovecot-2.4.2 from https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/dovecot/tree/rawhide and rebuilt for F43 at https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/patrickl/dovecot/ postfix-3.10.3 openldap-2.6.10 openssl-3.5.4 Problem: I can't seem to make Dovecot (lmtp) establish a mTLS connection with the slapd server. Postfix works fine when using /etc/postfix/ldap-aliases.cf etc to get info from the slapd server which demands that the client sends a certificate due to olcTLSVerifyClient: demand. This is with a self-signed CA, intermediate CA and client & server certificates. Dovecot journalctl error: lmtp(92847): Error: lmtp-server: conn unix:pid=92846,uid=89 [1]: rcpt patrick@<domain>: Failed to lookup user patrick@<domain>: Internal error occurred. Refer to server log for more information. # doveadm log errors Dec 15 22:35:41.655525 Error: auth: ldap(ldaps://<FQDN>:636): Connection lost to LDAP server, reconnecting <snipped many more of the same message> Slapd error: TLS trace: SSL_accept:before SSL initialization <snip> TLS trace: SSL_accept:TLSv1.3 early data TLS trace: SSL_accept:error in TLSv1.3 early data TLS trace: SSL_accept:TLSv1.3 early data TLS trace: SSL3 alert write:fatal:unknown TLS trace: SSL_accept:error in error TLS: can't accept: error:0A0000C7:SSL routines::peer did not return a certificate. TLS accept failure error=-1 id=1178, closing conn=1178 fd=15 closed (TLS negotiation failure) It seems that Dovecot does not send its client certificate to the slapd server when asked? Perhaps due to a config error? Example with postfix where the client cert is sent and mTLS succeeds: # postmap -q info@<domain> ldap:/etc/postfix/ldap-aliases.cf TLS trace: SSL_accept:before SSL initialization TLS trace: SSL_accept:before SSL initialization SSL_accept:SSLv3/TLS read SSL_accept:TLSv1.3 early data TLS trace: SSL_accept:error in TLSv1.3 early data TLS trace: SSL_accept:TLSv1.3 early data TLS certificate verification: depth: 2, err: 0, subject: /C=ZZ/ST=FooBar/O=Example/OU=IT/CN=ExampleCA issuer: /C=ZZ/ST=FooBar/O=Example/OU=IT/CN=ExampleCA TLS certificate verification: depth: 1, err: 0, subject: /C=ZZ/ST=FooBar/O=Example/OU=IT/CN=ExampleSubCA, issuer: /C=ZZ/ST=FooBar/O=Example/OU=IT/CN=ExampleCA TLS certificate verification: depth: 0, err: 0, subject: /CN=postfix-ldap, issuer: /C=ZZ/ST=FooBar/O=Example/OU=IT/CN=ExampleSubCA TLS trace: SSL_accept:TLSv1.3 read client compressed certificate TLS trace: SSL_accept:SSLv3/TLS read certificate verify TLS trace: SSL_accept:SSLv3/TLS read finished TLS trace: SSL_accept:SSLv3/TLS write session ticket TLS trace: SSL_accept:SSLv3/TLS write session ticket conn=1000 fd=13 TLS established tls_ssf=256 ssf=256 tls_proto=TLSv1.3 tls_cipher=TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 Dovecot config # dovecot -n: # 2.4.2 (0962ed2104): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 2.4.2 (767418c3) # OS: Linux 6.17.11-300.fc43.aarch64 aarch64 Fedora release 43 (Forty Three) # Hostname: <FQDN> # 5 default setting changes since version 2.4.1 dovecot_config_version = 2.4.1 auth_mechanisms = plain dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.1 first_valid_uid = 1000 ldap_auth_dn = cn=dovecot,dc=hosted,dc=ldap ldap_auth_dn_password = # hidden, use -P to show it ldap_uris = ldaps://<FQDN> log_debug = category=ssl mail_driver = sdbox mail_gid = vmail mail_home = /var/mail/virtual/%{user | domain}/%{user | username} mail_path = ~/mail mail_uid = vmail protocols { imap = yes lmtp = yes } ssl = required ssl_cipher_list = PROFILE=SYSTEM ssl_cipher_suites = TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256 ssl_min_protocol = TLSv1.3 namespace inbox { inbox = yes separator = / } ssl_server { ca_file = /etc/pki/dovecot/certs/dovecot_ca_bundle.pem cert_file = /etc/pki/dovecot/certs/kronos.laimbock.nl.crt key_file = /etc/pki/dovecot/private/kronos.laimbock.nl_nopass.key.crt prefer_ciphers = server request_client_cert = yes require_crl = no } ssl_client { ca_file = /etc/pki/dovecot/certs/dovecot_ca_bundle.pem cert_file = /etc/pki/dovecot/certs/dovecot-ldap.crt key_file = /etc/pki/dovecot/private/dovecot-ldap_nopass.key.crt require_valid_cert = yes } protocol !smtp { auth_ssl_require_client_cert = yes } passdb ldap { ldap_base = ou=People,ou=%{ user | domain },dc=hosted,dc=ldap default_password_scheme = CRYPT fields { user = %{ldap:mail} } bind = yes filter = (&(objectClass=person)(mail=%{user})) } userdb ldap { ldap_base = ou=People,ou=%{ user | domain },dc=hosted,dc=ldap fields { user = %{ldap:mail} } filter = (&(objectClass=person)(uid=%{user})) } service auth { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0660 user = postfix } } The dovecot_ca_bundle.pem is created with # cat subca.crt ca.crt > dovecot_ca_bundle.pem The RootCA is imported into the trust store via: # cp ca.crt /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/ # update-ca-trust extract The public certificates live in /etc/pki/dovecot/certs: lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 16 Dec 15 15:49 1c2dd8a4.0 -> dovecot-ldap.crt lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 22 Dec 15 15:49 8dafd16f.0 -> <FQDN>.crt lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 9 Dec 15 20:15 d18284cf.0 -> subca.crt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 773 Dec 12 21:21 dhparam -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 3456 Dec 15 21:34 dovecot_ca_bundle.pem -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1586 Dec 15 20:15 dovecot-ldap.crt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1655 Dec 15 20:15 <FQDN>.crt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1850 Dec 15 20:15 subca.crt The private keys live in /etc/pki/dovecot/private: -rw-------. 1 root root 1704 Dec 15 20:15 dovecot-ldap_nopass.key.crt -rw-------. 1 root root 1704 Dec 15 20:15 <FQDN>_nopass.key.crt SELinux: there are no AVCs in /var/log/audit/audit.log but to make sure I ran: # restorecon -v -F -R /etc/dovecot # restorecon -v -F -R /etc/pki/doveecot With setenforce 0 no change in results. The slapd config: dn: cn=config objectClass: olcGlobal cn: config olcArgsFile: /run/openldap/slapd.args olcPidFile: /run/openldap/slapd.pid olcPasswordCryptSaltFormat: $6$%s olcLogLevel: 1023 # cat subca.crt ca.crt > slapd_ca_bundle.pem olcTLSCACertificateFile: /etc/openldap/certs/slapd_ca_bundle.pem olcTLSCertificateFile: /etc/openldap/certs/<FQDN>.crt olcTLSCertificateKeyFile: /etc/openldap/certs/<FQDN>_nopass.key.crt olcTLSCipherSuite: TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256 olcTLSVerifyClient: demand olcTLSCRLCheck: none I would appreciate any hints what I missed, what to read, where to look, etc If you need more info I'll be happy to provide. Thanks! Cheers, Patrick

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mTLS ldap auth failure against openldap + TLSVerifyClient: demand
by Patrick Laimbock 16 Dec '25

16 Dec '25

Hi, I'm trying to setup up a Dovecot/Postfix/OpenLDAP combo on a Fedora 43 aarch64 box with the following versions: dovecot-2.4.2 from https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/dovecot/tree/rawhide and rebuilt for F43 at https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/patrickl/dovecot/ postfix-3.10.3 openldap-2.6.10 openssl-3.5.4 Problem: I can't seem to make Dovecot (lmtp) establish a mTLS connection with the slapd server. Postfix works fine when using /etc/postfix/ldap-aliases.cf etc to get info from the slapd server which demands that the client sends a certificate due to olcTLSVerifyClient: demand. This is with a self-signed CA, intermediate CA and client & server certificates. Dovecot journalctl error: lmtp(92847): Error: lmtp-server: conn unix:pid=92846,uid=89 [1]: rcpt patrick@<domain>: Failed to lookup user patrick@<domain>: Internal error occurred. Refer to server log for more information. # doveadm log errors Dec 15 22:35:41.655525 Error: auth: ldap(ldaps://<FQDN>:636): Connection lost to LDAP server, reconnecting <snipped many more of the same message> Slapd error: TLS trace: SSL_accept:before SSL initialization <snip> TLS trace: SSL_accept:TLSv1.3 early data TLS trace: SSL_accept:error in TLSv1.3 early data TLS trace: SSL_accept:TLSv1.3 early data TLS trace: SSL3 alert write:fatal:unknown TLS trace: SSL_accept:error in error TLS: can't accept: error:0A0000C7:SSL routines::peer did not return a certificate. TLS accept failure error=-1 id=1178, closing conn=1178 fd=15 closed (TLS negotiation failure) It seems that Dovecot does not send its client certificate to the slapd server when asked? Config error? Example with postfix where this succeeds: # postmap -q info@<domain> ldap:/etc/postfix/ldap-aliases.cf TLS trace: SSL_accept:before SSL initialization TLS trace: SSL_accept:before SSL initialization SSL_accept:SSLv3/TLS read SSL_accept:TLSv1.3 early data TLS trace: SSL_accept:error in TLSv1.3 early data TLS trace: SSL_accept:TLSv1.3 early data TLS certificate verification: depth: 2, err: 0, subject: /C=ZZ/ST=FooBar/O=Example/OU=IT/CN=ExampleCA issuer: /C=ZZ/ST=FooBar/O=Example/OU=IT/CN=ExampleCA TLS certificate verification: depth: 1, err: 0, subject: /C=ZZ/ST=FooBar/O=Example/OU=IT/CN=ExampleSubCA, issuer: /C=ZZ/ST=FooBar/O=Example/OU=IT/CN=ExampleCA TLS certificate verification: depth: 0, err: 0, subject: /CN=postfix-ldap, issuer: /C=ZZ/ST=FooBar/O=Example/OU=IT/CN=ExampleSubCA TLS trace: SSL_accept:TLSv1.3 read client compressed certificate TLS trace: SSL_accept:SSLv3/TLS read certificate verify TLS trace: SSL_accept:SSLv3/TLS read finished TLS trace: SSL_accept:SSLv3/TLS write session ticket TLS trace: SSL_accept:SSLv3/TLS write session ticket conn=1000 fd=13 TLS established tls_ssf=256 ssf=256 tls_proto=TLSv1.3 tls_cipher=TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 Dovecot config # dovecot -n: # 2.4.2 (0962ed2104): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 2.4.2 (767418c3) # OS: Linux 6.17.11-300.fc43.aarch64 aarch64 Fedora release 43 (Forty Three) # Hostname: <FQDN> # 5 default setting changes since version 2.4.1 dovecot_config_version = 2.4.1 auth_mechanisms = plain dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.1 first_valid_uid = 1000 ldap_auth_dn = cn=dovecot,dc=hosted,dc=ldap ldap_auth_dn_password = # hidden, use -P to show it ldap_uris = ldaps://<FQDN> log_debug = category=ssl mail_driver = sdbox mail_gid = vmail mail_home = /var/mail/virtual/%{user | domain}/%{user | username} mail_path = ~/mail mail_uid = vmail protocols { imap = yes lmtp = yes } ssl = required ssl_cipher_list = PROFILE=SYSTEM ssl_cipher_suites = TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256 ssl_min_protocol = TLSv1.3 namespace inbox { inbox = yes separator = / } ssl_server { ca_file = /etc/pki/dovecot/certs/dovecot_ca_bundle.pem cert_file = /etc/pki/dovecot/certs/kronos.laimbock.nl.crt key_file = /etc/pki/dovecot/private/kronos.laimbock.nl_nopass.key.crt prefer_ciphers = server request_client_cert = yes require_crl = no } ssl_client { ca_file = /etc/pki/dovecot/certs/dovecot_ca_bundle.pem cert_file = /etc/pki/dovecot/certs/dovecot-ldap.crt key_file = /etc/pki/dovecot/private/dovecot-ldap_nopass.key.crt require_valid_cert = yes } protocol !smtp { auth_ssl_require_client_cert = yes } passdb ldap { ldap_base = ou=People,ou=%{ user | domain },dc=hosted,dc=ldap default_password_scheme = CRYPT fields { user = %{ldap:mail} } bind = yes filter = (&(objectClass=person)(mail=%{user})) } userdb ldap { ldap_base = ou=People,ou=%{ user | domain },dc=hosted,dc=ldap fields { user = %{ldap:mail} } filter = (&(objectClass=person)(uid=%{user})) } service auth { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0660 user = postfix } } The dovecot_ca_bundle.pem is created with # cat subca.crt ca.crt > dovecot_ca_bundle.pem The RootCA is imported into the trust store via: # cp ca.crt /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/ # update-ca-trust extract The public certificates live in /etc/pki/dovecot/certs: lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 16 Dec 15 15:49 1c2dd8a4.0 -> dovecot-ldap.crt lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 22 Dec 15 15:49 8dafd16f.0 -> <FQDN>.crt lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 9 Dec 15 20:15 d18284cf.0 -> subca.crt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 773 Dec 12 21:21 dhparam -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 3456 Dec 15 21:34 dovecot_ca_bundle.pem -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1586 Dec 15 20:15 dovecot-ldap.crt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1655 Dec 15 20:15 <FQDN>.crt -rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1850 Dec 15 20:15 subca.crt The private keys live in /etc/pki/dovecot/private: -rw-------. 1 root root 1704 Dec 15 20:15 dovecot-ldap_nopass.key.crt -rw-------. 1 root root 1704 Dec 15 20:15 <FQDN>_nopass.key.crt SELinux: there are no AVCs in /var/log/audit/audit.log but to make sure I ran: # restorecon -v -F -R /etc/dovecot # restorecon -v -F -R /etc/pki/doveecot With setenforce 0 no change in results. The slapd config: dn: cn=config objectClass: olcGlobal cn: config olcArgsFile: /run/openldap/slapd.args olcPidFile: /run/openldap/slapd.pid olcPasswordCryptSaltFormat: $6$%s olcLogLevel: 1023 # cat subca.crt ca.crt > slapd_ca_bundle.pem olcTLSCACertificateFile: /etc/openldap/certs/slapd_ca_bundle.pem olcTLSCertificateFile: /etc/openldap/certs/<FQDN>.crt olcTLSCertificateKeyFile: /etc/openldap/certs/<FQDN>_nopass.key.crt olcTLSCipherSuite: TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256 olcTLSVerifyClient: demand olcTLSCRLCheck: none I would appreciate any hints what I missed, what to read, where to look, etc If you need more info I'll be happy to provide. Thanks! Cheers, Patrick

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Why doesn't Dovecot documentation specify which files to edit?
by n4ch0 13 Dec '25

13 Dec '25

I've noticed that the official Dovecot documentation frequently omits crucial information about which specific files should be modified when configuring different functionalities. Concrete examples: In the LMTP integration guide with Postfix (https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.2/howto/lmtp/postfix.html#postfix-and-dovecot-l…) It indicates to modify the socket configuration, but doesn't specify in which file this modification should be made In the quota plugin documentation (https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.2/core/plugins/quota.html#quota-plugin-quota) It requests enabling the quota module, but doesn't mention the corresponding configuration file I managed to achieve the configuration I wanted but it took more time than it should have. My question: I understand that Dovecot uses a modular configuration system and that technically I can place directives in any file. However, wouldn't it be clearer and more efficient if the documentation followed an established order and specified recommended locations? For example: "Edit /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-master.conf to configure the LMTP socket" "Enable the quota plugin in /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf" Is there a technical reason why the documentation deliberately avoids recommending specific files, or does it simply assume that users already know these conventions? Is there a general guide about Dovecot's configuration file structure and best practices for organizing them? Thanks!

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