- dovecot - dovecot.org

Re: [patch] proposed patch for managing timeouts on doveadm iteration with -A
by MK 07 Aug '26

07 Aug '26

>On 26. Jul 2026, at 0.17, John Fawcett via dovecot <dovecot(a)dovecot.org> wrote: >> >> Hi >> >> having further investigated the timeouts mentioned in the previous thread, I am submitting this patch as a potential solution. >> >> Basically with -A doveadm parameter, the 155 second timeout is applied to the whole end to end transaction. With -F parameter the 155 second >timeout is applied to each single user operation. Changing the logic of -A to follow -F looks a bit invasive. So this patch does more or less the >same thing, i.e. giving each user operation 155 seconds timeout, done in a different way. Whenever another username is returned, the timeout is >reset. >> >> PS I got help from Claude on this. > >Some further improvements via Fable - does this still fix your problems? > >commit 9deefd88b37d4e9bfecdf6bd1c9fa8a3f9d6b100 >Author: Timo Sirainen <timo.sirainen(a)open-xchange.com> >Date: Wed Aug 5 21:33:42 2026 +0000 > > lib-auth-client: Extend LIST request timeout whenever a username is returned > > The auth lookup timeout (155 seconds by default) was applied to the whole > LIST request, i.e. the entire user enumeration. With large installations > listing all users can easily take longer than that, causing e.g. > doveadm -A to fail with "Auth server request timed out". > > Reset the request's timeout whenever another username is returned. This > turns the timeout into a "no progress for N seconds" stall detector, > matching how independent short-lived per-user requests (e.g. as used when > iterating -F user files) never accumulate a single deadline across the > whole run. > > The timeout handling assumes that requests expire in creation order, so > extending is only allowed while the request is alone on its connection. > This is always the case for LIST, which is asserted at init already. Timo can you say in which upcoming version this patch will be included? Oliver

1 0

Can't connect to MySQL without SSL
by dovecot＠fagschlunger.at 06 Aug '26

06 Aug '26

Hi! I try to migrate from dovecot 2.3 to dovecot CE 2.4, but within a docker container. But I always get the following error from Dovecot CE: Error: auth: mysql(host.docker.internal): Connect failed to database (foobar): TLS/SSL error: self-signed certificate in certificate chain - waiting for 1 seconds before retry This is how I configured the mysql connection: mysql host.docker.internal { host = host.docker.internal port = 3306 user = ... password = ... dbname = foobar ssl = no } So MySQL runs on the host machine directly, not in a container - therefore I'm using "host.docker.internal" as an host. But I don't need SQL encryption, since both MySQL and Dovecot run on the same machine. So why the heck does it look like, Dovecot is trying to connect using SSL? Best regards, Billie

5 6

[BUG] IMAP hibernation fails on FreeBSD 15.x with "Invalid peer_dev_major value"
by Jordan Ostrev 06 Aug '26

06 Aug '26

Hi, IMAP hibernation compiles and attempts to run on FreeBSD 15.x (tested with Dovecot 2.4.4 and FreeBSD 15.1), but fails at runtime with: plain imap-hibernate: Error: conn unix:imap-hibernate (uid=125): Failed to parse client input: Invalid peer_dev_major value: 18446744073709551615 Jun 24 21:27:08 classic dovecot[36888]: imap-hibernate: Error: conn unix:imap-hibernate (uid=125): Failed to parse client input: Invalid peer_dev_major value: 18446744073709551615 Jun 24 21:27:08 classic dovecot[36888]: imap(jordan(a)ostreff.info)<37120><ExaV/gNVAdt/AAAB>: Error: Couldn't hibernate imap client: /var/run/dovecot/imap-hibernate returned failure: Failed to parse client input: Invalid peer_dev_major value: 18446744073709551615 Root cause: In src/imap/imap-client-hibernate.c, the code serializes peer_dev_major and peer_dev_minor using major() and minor() macros: c str_printfa(cmd, "\tpeer_dev_major=%lu\tpeer_dev_minor=%lu\tpeer_ino=%llu", (unsigned long)major(peer_st.st_dev), (unsigned long)minor(peer_st.st_dev), (unsigned long long)peer_st.st_ino); On FreeBSD, major() and minor() can return UINT64_MAX (18446744073709551615) for file descriptors that are not block/character devices (such as sockets on tmpfs/devfs). This value exceeds UINT_MAX and cannot be parsed by str_to_uint() in imap-master-client.c. Historical context: This was discussed on the Dovecot mailing list in July 2019 (thread: "Hibernation errors") but apparently never resolved upstream. The same failure mode persists in Dovecot 2.4.4. Impact: IMAP hibernation is effectively non-functional on FreeBSD 15.x Processes remain running indefinitely instead of being hibernated Documentation note: The Dovecot 2.4 documentation states that hibernation "is not supported on kqueue based systems currently, such as FreeBSD." However, the code still compiles and attempts to run, producing these errors rather than being disabled at compile time or gracefully skipped at runtime. Would it make sense to either: Disable hibernation at compile time for kqueue systems, or Add validation for major()/minor() return values before serialization? Thanks, Jordan Hi, IMAP hibernation compiles and attempts to run on FreeBSD 15.x (tested with Dovecot 2.4.4 and FreeBSD 15.1), but fails at runtime with: plain imap-hibernate: Error: conn unix:imap-hibernate (uid=125): Failed to parse client input: Invalid peer_dev_major value: 18446744073709551615 Jun 24 21:27:08 classic dovecot[36888]: imap-hibernate: Error: conn unix:imap-hibernate (uid=125): Failed to parse client input: Invalid peer_dev_major value: 18446744073709551615 Jun 24 21:27:08 classic dovecot[36888]: imap(jordan(a)ostreff.info)<37120><ExaV/gNVAdt/AAAB>: Error: Couldn't hibernate imap client: /var/run/dovecot/imap-hibernate returned failure: Failed to parse client input: Invalid peer_dev_major value: 18446744073709551615 Root cause: In src/imap/imap-client-hibernate.c, the code serializes peer_dev_major and peer_dev_minor using major() and minor() macros: c str_printfa(cmd, "\tpeer_dev_major=%lu\tpeer_dev_minor=%lu\tpeer_ino=%llu", (unsigned long)major(peer_st.st_dev), (unsigned long)minor(peer_st.st_dev), (unsigned long long)peer_st.st_ino); On FreeBSD, major() and minor() can return UINT64_MAX (18446744073709551615) for file descriptors that are not block/character devices (such as sockets on tmpfs/devfs). This value exceeds UINT_MAX and cannot be parsed by str_to_uint() in imap-master-client.c. Historical context: This was discussed on the Dovecot mailing list in July 2019 (thread: "Hibernation errors") but apparently never resolved upstream. The same failure mode persists in Dovecot 2.4.4. Impact: o IMAP hibernation is effectively non-functional on FreeBSD 15.x o Processes remain running indefinitely instead of being hibernated Documentation note: The Dovecot 2.4 documentation states that hibernation "is not supported on kqueue based systems currently, such as FreeBSD." However, the code still compiles and attempts to run, producing these errors rather than being disabled at compile time or gracefully skipped at runtime. Would it make sense to either: 1. Disable hibernation at compile time for kqueue systems, or 2. Add validation for major()/minor() return values before serialization? Thanks, Jordan

3 11

[patch] proposed patch for managing timeouts on doveadm iteration with -A
by John Fawcett 06 Aug '26

06 Aug '26

Hi having further investigated the timeouts mentioned in the previous thread, I am submitting this patch as a potential solution. Basically with -A doveadm parameter, the 155 second timeout is applied to the whole end to end transaction. With -F parameter the 155 second timeout is applied to each single user operation. Changing the logic of -A to follow -F looks a bit invasive. So this patch does more or less the same thing, i.e. giving each user operation 155 seconds timeout, done in a different way. Whenever another username is returned, the timeout is reset. PS I got help from Claude on this. best regards John

3 4

Detection of HAVE_MYSQL_SSL_VERIFY_SERVER_CERT is broken
by Tomas Volf 31 Jul '26

31 Jul '26

Hello, detection of HAVE_MYSQL_SSL_VERIFY_SERVER_CERT is currently broken, and the macro is never defined. The test program fails, but for incorrect reason. --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- conftest.c:140:20: error: expected declaration specifiers or '...' before ',' token 140 | _au_m4_changequote(,) | ^ conftest.c:140:21: error: expected declaration specifiers or '...' before ')' token 140 | _au_m4_changequote(,) | ^ In file included from /gnu/store/6lmd3apzkmhwzj3yn0inyj484m9qml6y-mariadb-connector-c-3.4.5/include/mariadb/mysql.h:35, from conftest.c:141: /gnu/store/7iwcvd0gjrfq6bj7zvf3r59baw6vib5a-gcc-14.3.0-lib/lib/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/14.3.0/include/stdarg.h:103:9: error: unknown type name '__gnuc_va_list' 103 | typedef __gnuc_va_list va_list; | ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Fix is to delete the only occurrence of _au_m4_changequote([,]) in the m4/want_mysql.m4 file. However, that will reveal a compilation error here: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- #ifdef HAVE_MYSQL_SSL_VERIFY_SERVER_CERT int ssl_verify_server_cert = ssl_set->ssl_client_require_valid_cert ? 1 : 0; mysql_options(db->mysql, MYSQL_OPT_SSL_VERIFY_SERVER_CERT, (void *)&ssl_verify_server_cert); #endif #else --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Variable `ssl_set' does not exist and should be `db->ssl_set'. Have a nice day, Tomas Volf -- There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation, naming things and off-by-one errors.

1 0

Confusion about mailbox_list_layout=fs
by Roland Hieber 27 Jul '26

27 Jul '26

Hi, I am trying to understand how 'mailbox_list_layout = fs' is working when I have 'mail_driver = Maildir' (on Dovecot 2.4.1-4 from Debian trixie). If I look at 'doveconf -a', I see that 'mailbox_list_layout = fs' is already the default, however, the Maildirs from my freshly created test user are still created on disk in the format .INBOX.subfolder instead of INBOX/subfolder, which is in conflict with what the documentation says at <https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.3/core/config/mailbox_formats/maildir.html#dire…>. However, if I set 'mailbox_list_layout = fs' *explicitely* in the global part of /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf, then delete all files and folders in the mail home of my test user, reload dovecot, send a test mail, and create a new subfolder for my test user in Thunderbird, the new subfolder gets created on disk as INBOX/subfolder, just like I expect. The behaviour is consistently reproducable in both directions: I also get maildirs with dots again after I delete mailbox_list_layout from 10-mail.conf, reload dovecot, and clear the mail home of my test user. What is going on here…? I don't see any change in 'doveconf -a' between these two use cases (the output is literally identical, and it's both showing 'mailbox_list_layout = fs'), and obviously it's missing from 'doveconf -n' because it's the default. I also found out that it is possible to override this setting per user by using the 'userdb_mailbox_list_layout' option in the extra fields of the userdb, but I'm not setting any extra fields there for my test user. Output of 'doveconf -n' (redacted where necessary) is attached. Regards, - Roland -- Roland Hieber, Pengutronix e.K. | rhi(a)pengutronix.de | Steuerwalder Str. 21 | https://www.pengutronix.de/ | 31137 Hildesheim, Germany | Phone: +49-5121-206917-0 | Amtsgericht Hildesheim, HRA 2686 | Fax: +49-5121-206917-5555 |

2 2

Doveadm and iterate query
by Bogusław Juza 25 Jul '26

25 Jul '26

Hi! I have a problem with Dovecot on Debian 13: Dovecot 2.4.1, Debian Trixie > doveadm mailbox path -A INBOX >/dev/null doveadm(email@domain): Error: auth-master: userdb list: User listing returned failure doveadm: Error: cmd mailbox path: Failed to iterate through some users userdb sql { iterate_query = SELECT `email` AS `user` FROM `users` } In syslog file: dovecot: auth: Error: auth-worker: Aborted LIST request for *: Shutting down I have over 30k users in sql DB, doveadm with -A option is dying few second after start with this error, printing about 10% of users. I need much more time (FE command "doveadm expunge -A mailbox Spam savedbefore 3w" could run over 30 minutes). What I'm doing wrong? Bogusław Juza

5 12

Reporting a Patch needed: Fix-anvil-busy-loop-on-EPOLLHUP-when-a-multiplex-cha.patch
by David Lanning 24 Jul '26

24 Jul '26

The attached patch spec is what we had to deploy to cover the matter. The attached patch spec is what we had to deploy to cover the matter.

2 1

Strange characters in log file
by Doug Hardie 21 Jul '26

21 Jul '26

I am occasionally finding some strange characters in the log file. I have captured on entry that vi cannot handle. It simply won't go past this record. I suspect the issue is around 0347 in the record below. Any ideas how to prevent this from happening as it makes it difficult to find specific records in the log. vi is unable to delete the line with this issue. mail# head -1 imaplog.test | od -t x1c 0000000 4a 75 6c 20 31 37 20 30 32 3a 33 34 3a 35 35 20 J u l 1 7 0 2 : 3 4 : 5 5 0000020 6d 61 69 6c 20 64 6f 76 65 63 6f 74 5b 35 32 39 m a i l d o v e c o t [ 5 2 9 0000040 30 5d 3a 20 69 6d 61 70 28 64 6f 75 67 29 5b 31 0 ] : i m a p ( d o u g ) [ 1 0000060 30 2e 30 2e 31 2e 32 33 32 5d 3c 4e 74 79 78 52 0 . 0 . 1 . 2 3 2 ] < N t y x R 0000100 4d 74 57 4e 64 38 4b 41 41 48 6f 3e 3a 20 64 65 M t W N d 8 K A A H o > : d e 0000120 6c 65 74 65 3a 20 62 6f 78 3d 44 65 6c 65 74 65 l e t e : b o x = D e l e t e 0000140 64 20 4d 65 73 73 61 67 65 73 2c 20 75 69 64 3d d M e s s a g e s , u i d = 0000160 35 38 32 32 31 33 2c 20 6d 73 67 69 64 3d 3c 39 5 8 2 2 1 3 , m s g i d = < 9 0000200 31 30 35 30 36 39 31 2e 31 34 37 36 39 34 36 2e 1 0 5 0 6 9 1 . 1 4 7 6 9 4 6 . 0000220 31 37 38 33 35 38 37 39 33 35 37 36 36 40 6d 61 1 7 8 3 5 8 7 9 3 5 7 6 6 @ m a 0000240 72 6b 65 74 6f 2d 70 6c 61 74 66 6f 72 6d 2d 2d r k e t o - p l a t f o r m - - 0000260 65 6d 61 69 6c 2d 73 65 6e 64 65 72 2d 70 72 6f e m a i l - s e n d e r - p r o 0000300 64 2d 62 61 74 63 68 2d 63 6c 75 2e 2e 2e 2c 20 d - b a t c h - c l u . . . , 0000320 73 69 7a 65 3d 35 35 39 39 30 2c 20 66 72 6f 6d s i z e = 5 5 9 9 0 , f r o m 0000340 3d 57 4f 52 4c 44 e2 4d 2d 5e 40 4d 2d 5e 59 73 = W O R L D 342 M - ^ @ M - ^ Y s 0000360 20 54 69 6d 20 4c 61 6d 65 72 20 3c 65 64 69 74 T i m L a m e r < e d i t 0000400 6f 72 40 77 6e 67 2e 6f 72 67 3e 0a o r @ w n g . o r g > \n 0000414 -- Doug I am occasionally finding some strange characters in the log file. I have captured on entry that vi cannot handle. It simply won't go past this record. I suspect the issue is around 0347 in the record below. Any ideas how to prevent this from happening as it makes it difficult to find specific records in the log. vi is unable to delete the line with this issue. mail# head -1 imaplog.test | od -t x1c 0000000 4a 75 6c 20 31 37 20 30 32 3a 33 34 3a 35 35 20 J u l 1 7 0 2 : 3 4 : 5 5 0000020 6d 61 69 6c 20 64 6f 76 65 63 6f 74 5b 35 32 39 m a i l d o v e c o t [ 5 2 9 0000040 30 5d 3a 20 69 6d 61 70 28 64 6f 75 67 29 5b 31 0 ] : i m a p ( d o u g ) [ 1 0000060 30 2e 30 2e 31 2e 32 33 32 5d 3c 4e 74 79 78 52 0 . 0 . 1 . 2 3 2 ] < N t y x R 0000100 4d 74 57 4e 64 38 4b 41 41 48 6f 3e 3a 20 64 65 M t W N d 8 K A A H o > : d e 0000120 6c 65 74 65 3a 20 62 6f 78 3d 44 65 6c 65 74 65 l e t e : b o x = D e l e t e 0000140 64 20 4d 65 73 73 61 67 65 73 2c 20 75 69 64 3d d M e s s a g e s , u i d = 0000160 35 38 32 32 31 33 2c 20 6d 73 67 69 64 3d 3c 39 5 8 2 2 1 3 , m s g i d = < 9 0000200 31 30 35 30 36 39 31 2e 31 34 37 36 39 34 36 2e 1 0 5 0 6 9 1 . 1 4 7 6 9 4 6 . 0000220 31 37 38 33 35 38 37 39 33 35 37 36 36 40 6d 61 1 7 8 3 5 8 7 9 3 5 7 6 6 @ m a 0000240 72 6b 65 74 6f 2d 70 6c 61 74 66 6f 72 6d 2d 2d r k e t o - p l a t f o r m - - 0000260 65 6d 61 69 6c 2d 73 65 6e 64 65 72 2d 70 72 6f e m a i l - s e n d e r - p r o 0000300 64 2d 62 61 74 63 68 2d 63 6c 75 2e 2e 2e 2c 20 d - b a t c h - c l u . . . , 0000320 73 69 7a 65 3d 35 35 39 39 30 2c 20 66 72 6f 6d s i z e = 5 5 9 9 0 , f r o m 0000340 3d 57 4f 52 4c 44 e2 4d 2d 5e 40 4d 2d 5e 59 73 = W O R L D 342 M - ^ @ M - ^ Y s 0000360 20 54 69 6d 20 4c 61 6d 65 72 20 3c 65 64 69 74 T i m L a m e r < e d i t 0000400 6f 72 40 77 6e 67 2e 6f 72 67 3e 0a o r @ w n g . o r g > \n 0000414 -- Doug

2 4

AW: AW: [EXT] Re: doveadm backup / purge problems since migration from 2.3 to 2.4
by MK 21 Jul '26

21 Jul '26

>>> On 09/07/2026 13:30 EEST MK <dovecot-ml(a)mk.de> wrote: >>> >>> >>> >> On 09/07/2026 11:58 EEST MK via dovecot <dovecot(a)dovecot.org>> wrote: >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> Hi everyone, >>> >> >>> >> I have a two-server setup where all user data from the actively used server is periodically transferred to the second server using "doveadm >backup". For this, I currently use a script that caches a list of all users (containing only the usernames) via "doveadm user '*' " and then >executes the command "doveadm backup -u [username] tcp:1.2.3.4" (target host) for each user. I use a similarly structured script for a daily >"doveadm purge", where a purge is performed per user instead of a backup. >>> >> >>> >> Under version 2.3, I always ran both commands using the "-A" flag (doveadm purge -A and doveadm backup -A tcp:1.2.3.4). Since migrating >from Dovecot 2.3 to 2.4, this no longer works. When running the purge, the process always aborts after a certain number of users with the >following error message: >>> >> >>> >> doveadm(john(a)doe.de): Error: auth-master: userdb list: User listing returned failure >>> >> >>> >>> >>> >Try adding >>> > >>> >log_debug=category=auth >>> > >>> >and see if it can shed light one this. >>> >>> I'll add it to the config and get back next time the problem occurs. >>> >>> >> It's not the same User allways but after nearly the same time or amount of users the script has processed. >>> >> Since I couldn't identify the exact cause of the error and suspect it might be related to changes in how the SQL iterate query is >integrated in the 2.4 configuration (I use MySQL as the backend) I switched to the script described above. >>> >> >>> >> Then since is used the new script I have a non-reproducible issue. After the initial data transfer (when the target is still empty) the >amount of data is equal to the source. Then after one of the next transfers the data is twice as high. It is random as to which subsequent >transfer triggers this. When comparing the quotas on the source and target server, the output is identical on both. Even running `quota recalc` >makes no difference. If I check the user directories, I can see that the `storage` folder contains nearly double the number of files and used >disk space per user. >>> >> >>> >> My second problem is that when I run the purge script on the second server (target), it sometimes deletes all emails for all users, also >non-reproducible. Afterwards, all files under "storage" are gone, and the quota shows 0 emails. I did not have this issue with the exactly same >purge script on the first server which is the source for the backup. >>> >> >>> >>> >What does your purge script do? >>> >>> I have attached it so you can take a look. >>> Is it a known issue that the -A option doesn't work as well as it did in 2.3? >>> >>> >> >>And you are sure it's the purge doing it, and not running doveadm sync? > >If you mean delete everything, yes. There is nothing else running there. No other scripts, nothing other is accessing Dovecot. >A few times I have seen it live and the other times I can see in my logging that when the script starts the space is sinking and sinking near to >zero until the script ends. I'm logging the disk space every minute. > >It’s clear that these are two different problems right? (purge deletes everything and backup writes to mutch data) > >What do I have to search for in the logfiles if the problem oncours? What is interesting for you? The debug makes realy mutch log entries. Update to this. Since I activated the debugging on 09/07/2026 the problem did not occur again, really strange. I can't explain it sice I haven't changed anything other than enabling debugging. Oliver

1 0

Sieve vnd.dovecot.config extension does not work when mail is delivered to lmtp inet_listener but works when delivered to lmtp unix_listener
by DK 20 Jul '26

20 Jul '26

Hello. I have a strange problem with sieve scripts vnd.dovecot.config extension processing on newest dovecot 2.3 and 2.4. When I deliver mail via lmtp unix_listener sieve script can get sieve_env_* variable with no problem. However when I deliver mail via lmtp inet_listener sieve script can not get the same sieve_env_* variable. I deliver mails from postfix to lmtp inet_listener directly (not via haproxy). The same postfix is used when testing lmtp unix_listener mail delivery which works. Any clues what could be the cause of such problem? DK

2 3

How to use sieve_env_ variables in 2.4.4?
by inaugurator＠ya.ru 16 Jul '26

16 Jul '26

Hi Dear Devs! In the previous version 2.3.x I used variables with the **sieve_env_** prefix to access them later in Sieve scripts, for example `sieve_env_hello = hello` changed to `"${env.vnd.dovecot.config.hello}"`. But now I am getting an error ``` doveconf: Fatal: Error in configuration file /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf line 11: sieve_env_hello: Unknown setting: sieve_env_hello ``` Thank you in advance!

2 2

dsync does not like sieve
by Stéphane Veyret 14 Jul '26

14 Jul '26

Hi, I’m using Dovecot for many years. My installation is configured to manage spam using sieve. In the same time, I have a backup server, connecting to the main server every night in order to backup emails (note that the main server is not pushing its data, but the backup server is pulling them). Dovecot v2.4 made me re-write the configuration files, so maybe I missed something, but since then, I cannot make both these service work in the same time. With my current configuration, the backup server is terminating in error with the following logs: dsync-remote(example(a)example.com)<HbkSGoKQG2o8+gEAGKlOPA>: Error: brain S: Exporting mailbox INBOX failed: Mailbox attribute iteration failed: Internal error occurred. Refer to server log for more information. [2026-05-31 03:36:03] (and there are no more logs anywhere). Because this message <https://dovecot.org/mailman3/archives/list/dovecot@dovecot.org/thread/MGCGR…> was suggesting there could be a problem with sieve, I tried to modify the configuration. And indeed, when changing sieve configuration, the backup is working again. But then, my spam filter isn’t anymore. Here are the relevant parts of the configuration for managing sieve. Can someone help me saying what could be wrong? protocols { sieve = yes imap = yes lmtp = yes } sieve_extensions { fileinto = yes reject = yes envelope = yes encoded-character = yes vacation = yes subaddress = yes comparator-i;ascii-numeric = yes relational = yes regex = yes imap4flags = yes copy = yes include = yes body = yes variables = yes enotify = yes environment = yes mailbox = yes date = yes index = yes ihave = yes duplicate = yes mime = yes foreverypart = yes extracttext = yes vnd.dovecot.pipe = yes vnd.dovecot.environment = yes } sieve_pipe_bin_dir = /etc/dovecot/sieve sieve_pipe_socket_dir = sieve-pipe sieve_plugins { sieve_imapsieve = yes sieve_extprograms = yes } service managesieve-login { inet_listener sieve { port = 4190 } } sieve_script personal { } sieve_script default { path = /etc/dovecot/sieve/spam.sieve } protocol imap { mail_plugins { acl = yes quota = yes imap_acl = yes imap_quota = yes imap_sieve = yes } } protocol lmtp { mail_plugins { acl = yes quota = yes sieve = yes } } namespace user { inbox = yes prefix = separator = / type = private mailbox * { sieve_script reportspam { cause = flag path = /etc/dovecot/sieve/report-spam.sieve type = before } } } Thank you. Stéphane -- Bien cordialement, / Plej kore, Stéphane Veyret Hi, I'm using Dovecot for many years. My installation is configured to manage spam using sieve. In the same time, I have a backup server, connecting to the main server every night in order to backup emails (note that the main server is not pushing its data, but the backup server is pulling them). Dovecot v2.4 made me re-write the configuration files, so maybe I missed something, but since then, I cannot make both these service work in the same time. With my current configuration, the backup server is terminating in error with the following logs: dsync-remote([1]example(a)example.com)<HbkSGoKQG2o8+gEAGKlOPA>: Error: brain S: Exporting mailbox INBOX failed: Mailbox attribute iteration failed: Internal error occurred. Refer to server log for more information. [2026-05-31 03:36:03] (and there are no more logs anywhere). Because [2]this message was suggesting there could be a problem with sieve, I tried to modify the configuration. And indeed, when changing sieve configuration, the backup is working again. But then, my spam filter isn't anymore. Here are the relevant parts of the configuration for managing sieve. Can someone help me saying what could be wrong? protocols { sieve = yes imap = yes lmtp = yes } sieve_extensions { fileinto = yes reject = yes envelope = yes encoded-character = yes vacation = yes subaddress = yes comparator-i;ascii-numeric = yes relational = yes regex = yes imap4flags = yes copy = yes include = yes body = yes variables = yes enotify = yes environment = yes mailbox = yes date = yes index = yes ihave = yes duplicate = yes mime = yes foreverypart = yes extracttext = yes vnd.dovecot.pipe = yes vnd.dovecot.environment = yes } sieve_pipe_bin_dir = /etc/dovecot/sieve sieve_pipe_socket_dir = sieve-pipe sieve_plugins { sieve_imapsieve = yes sieve_extprograms = yes } service managesieve-login { inet_listener sieve { port = 4190 } } sieve_script personal { } sieve_script default { path = /etc/dovecot/sieve/spam.sieve } protocol imap { mail_plugins { acl = yes quota = yes imap_acl = yes imap_quota = yes imap_sieve = yes } } protocol lmtp { mail_plugins { acl = yes quota = yes sieve = yes } } namespace user { inbox = yes prefix = separator = / type = private mailbox * { sieve_script reportspam { cause = flag path = /etc/dovecot/sieve/report-spam.sieve type = before } } } Thank you. Stephane -- Bien cordialement, / Plej kore, Stephane Veyret References Visible links 1. mailto:example@example.com 2. https://dovecot.org/mailman3/archives/list/dovecot@dovecot.org/thread/MGCGR…

3 8

imap-sieve, question concerning "sieve_user_email" and variables, migration from 2.3 to 2.4
by Claus-Justus Heine 14 Jul '26

14 Jul '26

Hi there, I have a question concerning the configuration setting sieve_user_email In a v2.3 setup I had it set to sieve_user_email = %Ln(a)some.concrete.domain Now I am trying to migrate to v2.4 and thought the direct translation from the old variable expansion scheme to the new scheme deployed in v2.4 would be sieve_user_email = %{user|username|lower}(a)some.concrete.domain However, this does not work. Testing the documentation yields the following error: # dovecot -n -c dovecot.conf > /dev/null doveconf: Error: sieve: sieve settings: Failed to parse configuration: Failed to expand sieve_user_email setting variables: Unknown variable 'user' doveconf: Fatal: Error in configuration file dovecot.conf: Failed to initialize Sieve Setting "sieve_user_email" to something without variable expansion or just commenting it out yields a configuration which is accepted by "dovecot -n". Now I wonder: a) v2.3 did not complain. But perhaps just because it was using "%Ln" literally? b) In case it did work in v2.3, should it work in v2.4 also? And if so: what would be the correct syntax / variable names? c) Under which circumstances is this setting "sieve_user_email" used? The documentation states: https://doc.dovecot.org/main/core/summaries/settings.html#sieve_user_email > The primary e-mail address for the user. > > This is used as a default when no other appropriate address is available for sending messages. > > If this setting is not configured, either the postmaster or null <> address is used as a sender, depending on the action involved. > > This setting is important when there is no message envelope to extract addresses from, such as when the script is executed in IMAP. I thought that then it would make sense to use something which depends on the login-name of the IMAP-user? Or was this "sieve_user_email" intended to hold just one static email like "my_global_catch_all(a)some.concrete.domain"? Kind thanks for clarification, best regards Claus -- Claus-Justus Heine himself(a)claus-justus-heine.de http://www.claus-justus-heine.de/ Schatzmeister der Camerata Academica Freiburg e.V. --- www.cafev.de

2 3

NFC normalization rename errors after 2.3 to 2.4 upgrade (mdbox)
by Jan Münnich 14 Jul '26

14 Jul '26

Hi, We just upgraded from 2.3 to 2.4.3 and are now getting errors like this for any mailbox with German umlauts in the name: "Error: Failed to rename mailbox 'Anträge' for NFC normalization: Mailbox doesn't exist: Anträge" The mailboxes work fine otherwise, doveadm mailbox status shows them with correct message counts. The errors show up on IMAP access but don't seem to break anything. We're using mdbox. On disk the directory is stored as mUTF-7: Antr&AOQ-ge doveadm mailbox list gives back the name with c3 a4 for the ä, which is already NFC. We double-checked with python3 unicodedata and it confirms the name is NFC. So it seems like dovecot is trying to rename something that doesn't need renaming, and then failing. Is there a way to turn off this automatic rename? Or is this a known issue with mdbox and mUTF-7 directory names? Any help would be appreciated to find out if this is a bug or a configuration issue on our side! Thanks, Jan

5 11

crash in sieve-filter with 2.4.4
by Noah Meyerhans 13 Jul '26

13 Jul '26

Forwarded from https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1139275 A certain poison pill message seems to crash sieve-filter. A reproducer script, email message, and sieve script are at https://salsa.debian.org/noahm/dovecot/-/tree/sieve-crash/debian/tests/siev… The problem is not reproducible with 2.4.1, so it seems to be a regression introduced since then. Coredump details follow: root@dovecot-test:/home/noahm/dovecot# coredumpctl info | cat PID: 110911 (sieve-filter) TID: 110911 (sieve-filter) UID: 65534 (nobody) GID: 65534 (nogroup) Signal: 6 (ABRT) Timestamp: Mon 2026-06-08 19:16:37 UTC (29s ago) Command Line: sieve-filter -u dep8 -e -W -D -C -v /srv/dovecot-dep8/test.sieve INBOX Executable: /usr/bin/sieve-filter Control Group: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/session-5.scope Unit: session-5.scope Slice: user-1000.slice Session: 5 Owner UID: 1000 (noahm) Boot ID: 46469969e01043559d913ef8ab625856 Machine ID: a497a098bd094c1c8f7c8ed02aa21853 Hostname: dovecot-test Storage: /var/lib/systemd/coredump/core.sieve-filter.65534.46469969e01043559d913ef8ab625856.110911.1780946197000000.zst (present) Size on Disk: 253.5K Message: Process 110911 (sieve-filter) of user 65534 dumped core. Module libgcc_s.so.1 from deb gcc-16-16.1.0-1.amd64 Module libstdc++.so.6 from deb gcc-16-16.1.0-1.amd64 Stack trace of thread 110911: #0 0x00007fe06b09fcfc n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x97cfc) #1 0x00007fe06b048d02 raise (libc.so.6 + 0x40d02) #2 0x00007fe06b0304b2 abort (libc.so.6 + 0x284b2) #3 0x00007fe06b26ed45 n/a (libdovecot.so.0 + 0x6ed45) #4 0x00007fe06b357597 default_fatal_handler (libdovecot.so.0 + 0x157597) #5 0x00007fe06b26ec72 i_panic (libdovecot.so.0 + 0x6ec72) #6 0x00007fe06b273b90 n/a (libdovecot.so.0 + 0x73b90) #7 0x00007fe06b3498fb n/a (libdovecot.so.0 + 0x1498fb) #8 0x00007fe06b34a784 n/a (libdovecot.so.0 + 0x14a784) #9 0x00007fe06b34a93b buffer_append (libdovecot.so.0 + 0x14a93b) #10 0x00007fe06b344cc6 dregex_code_match_groups (libdovecot.so.0 + 0x144cc6) #11 0x00007fe06b806a27 n/a (libdovecot-sieve.so.0 + 0x6da27) #12 0x00007fe06b806cd0 n/a (libdovecot-sieve.so.0 + 0x6dcd0) #13 0x00007fe06b7ee411 sieve_match_value (libdovecot-sieve.so.0 + 0x55411) #14 0x00007fe06b7ee711 sieve_match (libdovecot-sieve.so.0 + 0x55711) #15 0x00007fe06b7f5862 n/a (libdovecot-sieve.so.0 + 0x5c862) #16 0x00007fe06b7eccde sieve_interpreter_continue (libdovecot-sieve.so.0 + 0x53cde) #17 0x00007fe06b7fbfbe sieve_execute (libdovecot-sieve.so.0 + 0x62fbe) #18 0x00005638c0022fcf main (sieve-filter + 0x3fcf) #19 0x00007fe06b031f77 n/a (libc.so.6 + 0x29f77) #20 0x00007fe06b032027 __libc_start_main (libc.so.6 + 0x2a027) #21 0x00005638c0023791 _start (sieve-filter + 0x4791) ELF object binary architecture: AMD x86-64

2 1

sieve-test (Pigeonhole) on Ubuntu: PCRE support and address test restrictions on Return-Path
by michael.merz＠wtnet.de 11 Jul '26

11 Jul '26

Hello, I've been evaluating sieve-test (Pigeonhole, dovecot-sieve package, version 2.3.21, as shipped with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS) as an offline testing tool for a personal Sieve ruleset that currently runs on a Cyrus IMAPd/CMU Sieve 3.0 backend. I'd like to ask for some clarification on two points, in case I'm missing a configuration option. 1) PCRE support My ruleset makes extensive use of the `(?i)` inline case-insensitivity flag within :regex tests, which is valid under PCRE (as used by Cyrus). When running sieve-test, I get: error: invalid regular expression '(?i)...' for regex match: invalid preceding regular expression. Checking `dovecot --build-options` shows no PCRE entry, which suggests the Ubuntu-packaged binary was compiled without --with-pcre and falls back to POSIX extended regex. Question: Is PCRE support in Pigeonhole's regex extension purely a compile-time decision (i.e. something that would need to be addressed at the distribution packaging level, not via runtime configuration), or is there a runtime way to enable PCRE matching that I might have missed (e.g. via -o, sieve_extensions, or similar)? 2) Return-Path in the `address` test Several of my rules use: address :domain :is "return-path" "..." Cyrus accepts this. Pigeonhole's sieve-test rejects it with: error: specified header 'return-path' is not allowed for the address test. I understand this is likely an RFC 5228 strictness difference (Cyrus being more permissive than the RFC requires). Is there a recommended alternative within Sieve itself to achieve the same effect (testing the address portion of Return-Path) while staying within what Pigeonhole accepts - e.g. via the `header` test combined with some address-parsing approach, or via the envelope test instead? For context: I'm not running a Dovecot mail server myself. I'm using sieve-test purely as an offline syntax/behaviour verification tool before deploying ruleset changes to a separate Cyrus-based production system. I understand this is a bit of an unusual use case, so any guidance on whether Pigeonhole is well suited for this kind of cross-implementation testing at all would also be appreciated. Thank you for your time and for maintaining Pigeonhole. Best regards, Michael Merz Hello, I've been evaluating sieve-test (Pigeonhole, dovecot-sieve package, version 2.3.21, as shipped with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS) as an offline testing tool for a personal Sieve ruleset that currently runs on a Cyrus IMAPd/CMU Sieve 3.0 backend. I'd like to ask for some clarification on two points, in case I'm missing a configuration option. 1) PCRE support My ruleset makes extensive use of the `(?i)` inline case-insensitivity flag within :regex tests, which is valid under PCRE (as used by Cyrus). When running sieve-test, I get: error: invalid regular expression '(?i)...' for regex match: invalid preceding regular expression. Checking `dovecot --build-options` shows no PCRE entry, which suggests the Ubuntu-packaged binary was compiled without --with-pcre and falls back to POSIX extended regex. Question: Is PCRE support in Pigeonhole's regex extension purely a compile-time decision (i.e. something that would need to be addressed at the distribution packaging level, not via runtime configuration), or is there a runtime way to enable PCRE matching that I might have missed (e.g. via -o, sieve_extensions, or similar)? 2) Return-Path in the `address` test Several of my rules use: address :domain :is "return-path" "..." Cyrus accepts this. Pigeonhole's sieve-test rejects it with: error: specified header 'return-path' is not allowed for the address test. I understand this is likely an RFC 5228 strictness difference (Cyrus being more permissive than the RFC requires). Is there a recommended alternative within Sieve itself to achieve the same effect (testing the address portion of Return-Path) while staying within what Pigeonhole accepts -- e.g. via the `header` test combined with some address-parsing approach, or via the envelope test instead? For context: I'm not running a Dovecot mail server myself. I'm using sieve-test purely as an offline syntax/behaviour verification tool before deploying ruleset changes to a separate Cyrus-based production system. I understand this is a bit of an unusual use case, so any guidance on whether Pigeonhole is well suited for this kind of cross-implementation testing at all would also be appreciated. Thank you for your time and for maintaining Pigeonhole. Best regards, Michael Merz

4 13

Client sent invalid input for CATEGORY
by Mail Operations 09 Jul '26

09 Jul '26

Hello list We are running a dovecot 2.4 instance and the following errors start to pop up after a listener is configured to scrape metrics with Prometheus: ... dovecot[2090309]: stats: Error: conn unix:stats (pid=2090333,uid=108): Client sent invalid input for CATEGORY: Category parent 'ssl' changed to 'ssl' (input: CATEGORY ssl-client ssl) Stats listener config: service stats { inet_listener http { port = 9090 ssl = yes } } So far I failed to reliably trigger the error messages and it looks like they appear randomly. Besides the logged errors, everything seems to work correctly. Could this be a possible bug, or configuration error? Kind regards, Patrik

2 2

doveadm backup / purge problems since migration from 2.3 to 2.4
by MK 09 Jul '26

09 Jul '26

Hi everyone, I have a two-server setup where all user data from the actively used server is periodically transferred to the second server using "doveadm backup". For this, I currently use a script that caches a list of all users (containing only the usernames) via "doveadm user '*' " and then executes the command "doveadm backup -u [username] tcp:1.2.3.4" (target host) for each user. I use a similarly structured script for a daily "doveadm purge", where a purge is performed per user instead of a backup. Under version 2.3, I always ran both commands using the "-A" flag (doveadm purge -A and doveadm backup -A tcp:1.2.3.4). Since migrating from Dovecot 2.3 to 2.4, this no longer works. When running the purge, the process always aborts after a certain number of users with the following error message: doveadm(john(a)doe.de): Error: auth-master: userdb list: User listing returned failure It's not the same User allways but after nearly the same time or amount of users the script has processed. Since I couldn't identify the exact cause of the error and suspect it might be related to changes in how the SQL iterate query is integrated in the 2.4 configuration (I use MySQL as the backend) I switched to the script described above. Then since is used the new script I have a non-reproducible issue. After the initial data transfer (when the target is still empty) the amount of data is equal to the source. Then after one of the next transfers the data is twice as high. It is random as to which subsequent transfer triggers this. When comparing the quotas on the source and target server, the output is identical on both. Even running `quota recalc` makes no difference. If I check the user directories, I can see that the `storage` folder contains nearly double the number of files and used disk space per user. My second problem is that when I run the purge script on the second server (target), it sometimes deletes all emails for all users, also non-reproducible. Afterwards, all files under "storage" are gone, and the quota shows 0 emails. I did not have this issue with the exactly same purge script on the first server which is the source for the backup. The version change was during the update from Debian 12 to 13, involving an upgrade of Dovecot from version 2.3.19 to 2.4.1. (both packages from debian repo) We use MySQL as the backend and mdbox as the storage format. I hope some can help me to solve this issue. Greetings, Oliver

2 1

Bug report: doveadm kick does not kick proxy sessions
by Patrick Cernko 06 Jul '26

06 Jul '26

Hi Dovecot Devs, I'm currently setting up Dovecot 2.4 as frontend proxy to our backends. The frontends simply use an LDAP attribute of the user to connect to the assigned IMAP backend server. That works fine so far. According to the documentation <https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.4/core/man/doveadm-kick.1.html>, I should be able to disconnect a user with doveadm kick USERNAME or all sessions to a specific backend with doveadm kick -h BACKEND_IP or simply ALL sessions with doveadm kick '*' However the command reports the expected amount of connections kicked and exitcode 0, but all sessions stay connected. I also tried 'doveadm proxy kick ...' but as the the corresponding documentation states, this is only an alias for 'doveadm kick ...' and thus shows the same behavior. In the previous Dovecot 2.3 setup 'doveadm proxy kick' is not yet an alias for 'doveadm kick' and works as expected by disconnection the specified proxy sessions. 'doveadm kick' behaves similar to Dovecot 2.4 (not kicking proxy sessions) but that is understandable given that the documentation describes the dedicated kick command for proxy sessions. If this is the intended behavior for 'doveadm kick', how can I disconnect specific *proxy* sessions? If this is a bug, could you please fix it in the next releases or at least provide a patch that I can apply on my own build? I verified the bug exists in the latest dovecot packages for Debian Trixie from repo.dovecot.org. Attached is the doveconf -n output for my test setup. Best regards, -- Patrick Cernko <pcernko(a)mpi-klsb.mpg.de> +49 681 9325 5815 Joint Scientific IT and Technical Service Max-Planck-Institute für Informatik & Softwaresysteme

2 3

The SORT extension in 2.4.4 over imapc never returns any UIDs
by inaugurator＠ya.ru 29 Jun '26

29 Jun '26

Hi guys! This is really annoying. On the command to dovecot over imapc from another one: "UID SEARCH ALL" I get my UIDs: "* SEARCH 1 2 3 4" But when sending: "UID SORT (REVERSE ARRIVAL) US-ASCII NOT DELETED" I get literally nothing: "* SORT" Sorry, but this is a bug. Thank you!

3 7

How to use two databases in two passdb sections
by Евгений 26 Jun '26

26 Jun '26

Hello everyone! In version 2.3.21, I used two databases where each passdb queried its own database. After upgrading to 2.4.4, I cannot figure out how to restore this functionality. Is it no longer possible to use two databases in a single configuration after upgrade? Thank you for the best MDA!

3 2

Issues with syncing of shared mailboxes
by fc26wuqa＠studserv.uni-leipzig.de 26 Jun '26

26 Jun '26

Hello, I have a two users, that have a personal mailbox and a shared mailbox. They have access to the same shared mailbox. Today they notified me, that a mail send to the shared mailbox exists for the one user but not the other. The user also notified me, that some mails are not being delivered. I haven't found anything in my log files and the postmaster has also no delivery failures. I relay my mails through another server I don't have access to though. My /etc/aliases only consists of `postmaster: root`. The relay owners said that I should change postfix' main.cf to `double_bounce_sender = postmaster` a while ago. I am also not sure if I am not getting any delivery failure notifications since then, since I don't have a `postmaster` account, but I thought this is not needed since I have the above line in `/etc/aliases`. I also tried forcing a resync of their shared and non-shared inboxes with: `doveadm force-resync -u user(a)emaildomain.com INBOX` as well as `doveadm force-resync -u user(a)emaildomain.com Shared` (as well as with `Shared\*` - I don't know if that makes a difference tbh). Here is the output of `dovecot -n`: https://bin.disroot.org/?4eac9ea90a72ff08#A2dim9VGqHAjjKcggF4ScFWpbGytePZjt… I am kind of lost where to start from here, because any other person I asked told me their mail worked fine ^^. I would highly appreciate some guidance :) Thank you. Best, Lucienne

1 0

Convert sqlite configuration from 2.3 to 2.4
by Horst B Simon 24 Jun '26

24 Jun '26

Hi, I succesful converted all configurations from dovecot 2.3 to 2.4, except for the sqlite configuration. I googled and all configuration are for mysql/mariadb and not for sqlite. The sqlite database is created with postfixadmin and my current configuration for dovecot 2.3 (dovecot-sql.conf.ext) is: driver = sqlite connect = /var/mail/postfixadmin.db default_pass_scheme = DES-CRYPT password_query = \ SELECT username as user, password, '/var/mail/%d/%n' as userdb_home, \ 'maildir:/var/mail/%n' as userdb_mail, 5000 as userdb_uid, 5000 as userdb_gid \ FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%u' AND active = '1' user_query = \ SELECT '/var/mail/%d/%n' as home, 'maildir:/var/mail/%n' as mail, \ 5000 AS uid, 5000 AS gid, printf('dirsize:storage=', quota) AS quota \ FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%u' AND active = '1' I tried the only converter, but it didn’t do any conversion. Any help appreciated. Thanks and Regards, Horst Hi, I succesful converted all configurations from dovecot 2.3 to 2.4, except for the sqlite configuration. I googled and all configuration are for mysql/mariadb and not for sqlite. The sqlite database is created with postfixadmin and my current configuration for dovecot 2.3 (dovecot-sql.conf.ext) is: driver = sqlite connect = /var/mail/postfixadmin.db default_pass_scheme = DES-CRYPT password_query = \ SELECT username as user, password, '/var/mail/%d/%n' as userdb_home, \ 'maildir:/var/mail/%n' as userdb_mail, 5000 as userdb_uid, 5000 as userdb_gid \ FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%u' AND active = '1' user_query = \ SELECT '/var/mail/%d/%n' as home, 'maildir:/var/mail/%n' as mail, \ 5000 AS uid, 5000 AS gid, printf('dirsize:storage=', quota) AS quota \ FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%u' AND active = '1' I tried the only converter, but it didn't do any conversion. Any help appreciated. Thanks and Regards, Horst

2 2

Incomplete Dovecot Log Entries
by Bryan Simmons 19 Jun '26

19 Jun '26

There are hundreds of dovecot “Disconnected: Connection closed” messages in the log file that do not have a corresponding connect record. Is this normal or are there configuration options that need to be modified? Note the user accounts listed, and other similar records, do not exist on this server. 2026-06-14T02:11:48.843517-04:00 mail dovecot: imap-login: Disconnected: Connection closed (auth failed, 3 attempts in 23 secs): user=<rantanplan_admin(a)nanomail.net>, method=PLAIN, rip=190.181.120.152, lip=10.0.1.211, TLS, session=<T8xvlDBUnNC+tXiY> 2026-06-14T02:12:16.614611-04:00 mail dovecot: imap-login: Disconnected: Connection closed (auth failed, 3 attempts in 24 secs): user=<rantanplan_admin>, method=PLAIN, rip=41.139.10.25, lip=10.0.1.211, TLS, session=<cvoGljBUS+YpiwoZ> 2026-06-14T03:23:55.523146-04:00 mail dovecot: imap-login: Disconnected: Connection closed (auth failed, 3 attempts in 23 secs): user=<rantanplan.info(a)nanomail.net>, method=PLAIN, rip=103.69.9.148, lip=10.0.1.211, TLS, session=<SOBYljFUlsdnRQmU> Thanks, Bryan

1 0

Lazy-Expunge plugin documentation incomplete?
by Randolf Richardson 17 Jun '26

17 Jun '26

One of the Dovecot repository maintainers on GitHub recommended sending an eMail to you regarding the issue I encountered: Documentation for lazy-expunge doesn't work https://github.com/dovecot/documentation/issues/1555 -------- I converted from Dovecot 2.3 to Dovecot 2.4.1, which was not a minor upgrade. Anyway, I can't get the lazy-expunge plugin to work in 2.4.1 now. Here's my configuration file from 2.3 -- how can I get this working in 2.4.1? Thanks. namespace inbox { mailbox EXPUNGED { autoexpunge = 32days autoexpunge_max_mails = 100000 #auto = create } } # Namespace for lazy_expunge plugin namespace { prefix = EXPUNGED/ hidden = yes list = no subscriptions = no separator = / location = maildir:~/Maildir.deleted:INDEX= } mail_plugins = $mail_plugins lazy_expunge acl plugin { # Move expunged messages into the .EXPUNGED namespace lazy_expunge = EXPUNGED/ # Only move to expunged storage if this is the last copy of the message in the user´s account lazy_expunge_only_last_instance = yes # Exclude Drafts from lazy expunging lazy_expunge_exclude = \Drafts # Copy of each message is done with hard links whenever possible maildir_copy_with_hardlinks = yes # Define ACL so that user cannot list the .EXPUNGED mailbox # Example entry: .EXPUNGED owner rwstipekxa acl = vfile:/etc/dovecot/dovecot.acl # dovecot.acl contains one line: EXPUNGED owner ip # Expunged messages most likely don't want to be included in quota: quota_rule = EXPUNGED:ignore } #lazy_expunge_mailbox = EXPUNGED Here's an example of someone else who encountered the same problem: https://www.dovecot.org/mailman3/archives/list/dovecot@dovecot.org/thr ead/25BXSHQWGQQ3ACVZSYF3O3LC4WROTUCI/ Randolf Richardson, CNA - randolf(a)inter-corporate.com Inter-Corporate Computer & Network Services, Inc. Beautiful British Columbia, Canada https://www.inter-corporate.com/

2 2

Announcing nauthilus-director: a Nauthilus-backed mail protocol director
by Christian Rößner 17 Jun '26

17 Jun '26

Hi, I would like to announce `nauthilus-director` for the first time on this list. `nauthilus-director` is an open-source mail protocol director and transparent proxy for Nauthilus-backed mail deployments. It sits in front of stateful mail backends, authenticates frontend sessions through Nauthilus, resolves routing and placement inside the director, selects healthy backend services, keeps active user affinity in Redis, and then proxies the established connection to the selected backend. The current focus is on deployments where backend placement, maintenance, drains, user movement and session affinity need to be explicit, observable and controllable. The director is not a mailbox server and not a general-purpose load balancer; it owns the narrow director responsibilities between clients, Nauthilus and backend mail services. Current capabilities include: - IMAP/IMAPS, POP3/POP3S, LMTP/LMTPS and ManageSieve proxying - Nauthilus-backed authentication over HTTP or gRPC - director-owned routing and backend selection - Redis-backed session affinity and runtime coordination - backend health, maintenance, runtime drains and placement overrides - an OpenAPI-based REST control API and `nauthilus-directorctl` - metrics, structured logging and OpenTelemetry tracing The demo stack includes Dovecot backend shards and exercises real IMAP, LMTP, POP3 and ManageSieve paths, so feedback from Dovecot operators would be especially useful. Related to this, Nauthilus itself has recently been released as version 3.0.0. Nauthilus is the central authentication and policy engine in this setup: it provides centralized authentication and identity handling for mail and web workloads, LDAP-backed or Lua-driven policy decisions, OIDC/SAML IdP functionality, MFA support, and Redis-backed state handling. In the director architecture, Nauthilus remains the authentication and policy authority, while `nauthilus-director` owns concrete backend placement and proxy lifecycle decisions. Project links: - nauthilus-director: https://github.com/croessner/nauthilus-director - Nauthilus: https://github.com/croessner/nauthilus - Documentation / website: https://nauthilus.org The director is still young, so I would be interested in feedback from people running Dovecot-backed infrastructures, especially around operational workflows, backend maintenance, migration scenarios and protocol behavior. The director is still in beta. Best regards, Christian Rößner -- Rößner-Network-Solutions Zertifizierter ITSiBe / CISO Marburger Str. 70a, 36304 Alsfeld Mobil: +49 171 9905345 USt-IdNr.: DE225643613, https://roessner.website PGP fingerprint: 658D 1342 B762 F484 2DDF 1E88 38A5 4346 D727 94E5 Hi, I would like to announce `nauthilus-director` for the first time on this list. `nauthilus-director` is an open-source mail protocol director and transparent proxy for Nauthilus-backed mail deployments. It sits in front of stateful mail backends, authenticates frontend sessions through Nauthilus, resolves routing and placement inside the director, selects healthy backend services, keeps active user affinity in Redis, and then proxies the established connection to the selected backend. The current focus is on deployments where backend placement, maintenance, drains, user movement and session affinity need to be explicit, observable and controllable. The director is not a mailbox server and not a general-purpose load balancer; it owns the narrow director responsibilities between clients, Nauthilus and backend mail services. Current capabilities include: - IMAP/IMAPS, POP3/POP3S, LMTP/LMTPS and ManageSieve proxying - Nauthilus-backed authentication over HTTP or gRPC - director-owned routing and backend selection - Redis-backed session affinity and runtime coordination - backend health, maintenance, runtime drains and placement overrides - an OpenAPI-based REST control API and `nauthilus-directorctl` - metrics, structured logging and OpenTelemetry tracing The demo stack includes Dovecot backend shards and exercises real IMAP, LMTP, POP3 and ManageSieve paths, so feedback from Dovecot operators would be especially useful. Related to this, Nauthilus itself has recently been released as version 3.0.0. Nauthilus is the central authentication and policy engine in this setup: it provides centralized authentication and identity handling for mail and web workloads, LDAP-backed or Lua-driven policy decisions, OIDC/SAML IdP functionality, MFA support, and Redis-backed state handling. In the director architecture, Nauthilus remains the authentication and policy authority, while `nauthilus-director` owns concrete backend placement and proxy lifecycle decisions. Project links: - nauthilus-director: https://github.com/croessner/nauthilus-director - Nauthilus: https://github.com/croessner/nauthilus - Documentation / website: https://nauthilus.org The director is still young, so I would be interested in feedback from people running Dovecot-backed infrastructures, especially around operational workflows, backend maintenance, migration scenarios and protocol behavior. The director is still in beta. Best regards, Christian Roessner -- Roessner-Network-Solutions Zertifizierter ITSiBe / CISO Marburger Str. 70a, 36304 Alsfeld Mobil: +49 171 9905345 USt-IdNr.: DE225643613, https://roessner.website PGP fingerprint: 658D 1342 B762 F484 2DDF 1E88 38A5 4346 D727 94E5

3 3

Announcement: wormhole plugin, replication for Dovecot 2.4
by Patrick Cernko 12 Jun '26

12 Jun '26

Hello List, I am proud to announce my project "wormhole". This is an extension for Dovecot 2.4.1. It allows to continue the use of the replication feature of Dovecot that was removed with the 2.4 release. History: I started this project by forking the replication code of Dovecot 2.3.21.1 and porting it to 2.4. The first result was a patch for Dovecot 2.4.1. While working with the code, I realized that it is possible to provide the feature as a plugin / extension. In the first release of the plugin, I tried to integrate it with the existing dsync commands for doveadm. This required an API for access to the dsync commands, which I proposed to the Dovecot developers in https://github.com/dovecot/core/pull/249 . Unfortunately, my pull request was rejected, though I can understand the reasons for that. Without the required API, I had to switch to another approach: I forked the dsync code from doveadm to provide a new set of commands: "repl" and "repl-server". These commands work similar to "sync" and "dsync-server" but use additional functions required by the replication feature. This approach was released as version 0.3 of the plugin. With version 0.4 I renamed the project to wormhole. Before that it was just called dovecot-replication (see https://codeberg.org/errror/dovecot-replication) I thought that the project should have a more unique name. Currently I'm working on designing a test suite for wormhole. Doing unit tests of the components is not sufficient IMHO. The test suite should check the whole replication feature using two running dovecot instances that replicate the users' mailboxes. Having a sophisticated test suite will help in future development and bug tracking. The code can be found on my codeberg site at: https://codeberg.org/errror/wormhole There is also a web page on my personal homepage at: https://people.mpi-klsb.mpg.de/~pcernko/wormhole.shtml The project is still missing documentation. For the moment, configuration is similar to the existing Dovecot 2.3 documentation. Upgrading from 2.3: When using the included patch for Dovecot, the plugin should be 100% compatible with existing Dovecot 2.3 servers. This compatibility should allow uninterrupted upgrades of the service by replacing Dovecot on one server and then the other one. After the upgrade, the plugin can be reconfigured to work without the patch for Dovecot. Upgrading without the patch is also possible. During the upgrade (aka "while one server still runs 2.3") some aspects of the replication will not work or lack performance. Upgrading is not yet tested very well and missing documentation also. I will work on that soon. I hope to get some feedback, pull requests or bug reports via mail or at codeberg (preferred). -- Patrick Cernko <pcernko(a)mpi-klsb.mpg.de> +49 681 9325 5815 Joint Scientific IT and Technical Service Max-Planck-Institute für Informatik & Softwaresysteme

4 4

New Backup Issue
by Doug Hardie 11 Jun '26

11 Jun '26

I have dovecot using maildir storage on the mail machine. I have an external drive directly connected to use a backup for the mailboxes. Doveadm backup works perfectly for this setup. I also have two external backup servers. Backup to those tends to fail with a variety of errors. I deleted the Maildir directory on the backup servers and created the original backups with doveadm backup. No issues were reported. However, the next backup generates errors: dsync-remote(jeanne)<HV6JE+i/KWo0NwAAq6l46g>: Warning: Deleting mailbox 'INBOX': UID=11166 GUID=1712570780.M604032P10319.mail,S=99689,W=101000 is missing locally dsync-remote(jeanne)<HV6JE+i/KWo0NwAAq6l46g>: Error: Couldn't delete mailbox INBOX: INBOX can't be deleted. dsync-local(jeanne)<HqU9Aei/KWoBMAAAZU03Dg>: Error: Remote command returned error 65: ssh sermons doveadm dsync-server -ujeanne -U dsync-remote(beneke)<eARRAem/KWpdNwAAq6l46g>: Warning: Deleting mailbox 'INBOX': UID=232 GUID=1641564460.M859673P8687.mail,S=5917,W=6035 is missing locally dsync-remote(beneke)<eARRAem/KWpdNwAAq6l46g>: Error: Couldn't delete mailbox INBOX: INBOX can't be deleted. dsync-local(beneke)<mw5bM+i/KWoJMAAAZU03Dg>: Error: Remote command returned error 65: ssh sermons doveadm dsync-server -ubeneke -U dsync-remote(doug)<6gmSJ+m/KWp7NwAAq6l46g>: Warning: Deleting mailbox 'INBOX': UID=92440 GUID=1465118975.V4eI7cfa32M232845.mail is missing locally dsync-remote(doug)<6gmSJ+m/KWp7NwAAq6l46g>: Error: Couldn't delete mailbox INBOX: INBOX can't be deleted. dsync-local(doug)<hwsCH+m/KWoNMAAAZU03Dg>: Error: Remote command returned error 65: ssh sermons doveadm dsync-server -udoug -U There is always one error per user, but they are different between the two backup machine. With the first error, I found the message 1712570780.M604032P10319.mail,S=99689,W=101000 in the mail server cur directory and deleted it. That messge did not exist in the backup server. I ran backup again and no issues. However, the next backup produced the following error: dsync-remote(jeanne)<dNWXGZbUKWoaOgAAq6l46g>: Warning: Deleting mailbox 'INBOX': UID=11167 GUID=1712574432.M425061P11306.mail,S=45149,W=45775 is missing locally dsync-remote(jeanne)<dNWXGZbUKWoaOgAAq6l46g>: Error: Couldn't delete mailbox INBOX: INBOX can't be deleted. dsync-local(jeanne)<Jg3tCZbUKWp5NQAAZU03Dg>: Error: Remote command returned error 65: ssh sermons doveadm dsync-server -ujeanne -U That message is in the cur directory on the mail server. It is not in the backup server. I don't understand the message that those files are missing locally (primary mail server I presume) when they are actually there and missing on the remote server. I don't know why they didn't get copied originally. The first email was recieved on Mon, 8 Apr 2024 so it can't be a timming issue. -- Doug

2 1

Replication performance question and environment variables sanitization
by Jesus Cea 10 Jun '26

10 Jun '26

Hi, there. I am using dovecot 2.3.21.1. I am experimenting with replication, currently doing it manually, using this: doveadm -Dv sync -u jcea ssh email doveadm dsync-server -u prueba_backup; echo $? It works fine so far, but I have a few hundreds of mailboxes in my imap4 account and an "empty" (no changes) sync takes 30 seconds, since apparently it compare every mailbox (according to the debug info printed). I am using "mdbox" storage in both sides. I would expect an event replication, where time is proportional to the volume of changes, not to the total data volume or number of mailboxes. Am I doing anything wrong?. It would be faster to use "replicator" + "mail_replica". Can I improve this in some way? Replication must be both ways, because in one server new emails are arriving and in the other imapserver I am doing my mail work. I want new email appearing in my work imapserver (living my own laptop) and my email processing to be replicated back to the server for backup/disaster recovery (lost laptop, broken HD) and access from a different laptop, phone, etc. Thanks. PS: By default dovecot sanitizes the environment and doesn't allow "SSH_AUTH_SOCK" for ssh-agent. Why?. That is very inconvenient. I am using this environment variable to overcome that: DOVECOT_PRESERVE_ENVS="HOME USER SSH_AUTH_SOCK SSH_AGENT_PID LOG_STDERR_TIMESTAMP TZ CORE_OUTOFMEM CORE_ERROR" Is this the right way to do this? -- Jesús Cea Avión _/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ jcea(a)jcea.es - https://www.jcea.es/ _/_/ _/_/ _/_/ _/_/ _/_/ Twitter: @jcea _/_/ _/_/ _/_/_/_/_/ jabber / xmpp:jcea@jabber.org _/_/ _/_/ _/_/ _/_/ _/_/ "Things are not so easy" _/_/ _/_/ _/_/ _/_/ _/_/ _/_/ "My name is Dump, Core Dump" _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/ _/_/ "El amor es poner tu felicidad en la felicidad de otro" - Leibniz

2 3

dovecot 2.4 and Outlook
by Jochen Bern 08 Jun '26

08 Jun '26

Since I don't remember seeing *this* mentioned here so far, but *do* remember people asking about Outlook-dovecot compatibility issues every now and then, here's a potential cause for seeing more of those in the immediate future: https://fedoramagazine.org/fedora-43-upgrade-revealed-20-years-old-outlook-… Kind regards, -- Jochen Bern Systemingenieur Binect GmbH

2 3

Using 2 LDAP sources for passdb
by Tom 03 Jun '26

03 Jun '26

I can't seem to find documentation that shows how to set up 2 LDAP passdb blocks. I can get each of them working properly, but only the second of the two works at any given time. I can't figure out the syntax needed to get both to work, even though I've been all over the Dovecot 2.4x official documentation. The docs seem to suggest settings that the server rejects. Anyone have any experience doing this, or know the correct syntax? Thanks in advance! passdb ldap { # works when standalone; fails when combined with 2nd block below #passdb_name = ldap1 #driver = ldap ldap_version = 3 bind = yes bind_userdn = %{user|username} ldap_auth_dn = cn=dovecot,ou=apps,dc=example,dc=com ldap_auth_dn_password = D0vec0t ldap_base = ou=apps,dc=foscore,dc=com ldap_uris = ldapi://%2Frun%2Fldapi filter = (&(objectClass=applicationProcess)(cn=%{user})) passdb_ldap_bind = yes passdb_ldap_bind_userdn = cn=%{user},ou=apps,dc=example,dc=com result_success = return-ok } passdb ldap { #driver = ldap #name = ldap_users ldap_version = 3 bind = yes bind_userdn = %{user|username} ldap_auth_dn = cn=dovecot,ou=apps,dc=example,dc=com ldap_auth_dn_password = D0vec0t ldap_base = ou=people,dc=example,dc=com ldap_uris = ldapi://%2Frun%2Fldapi filter = (&(objectClass=posixAccount)(uid=%{user|username})(memberOf=cn=mail,ou=%{user|domain},ou=groups,dc=example,dc=com)) passdb_ldap_bind = yes passdb_ldap_bind_userdn = uid=%{user|username},ou=people,dc=example,dc=com result_success = return-ok }

2 7

Building on FreeBSD 14.4
by Frank Volf 03 Jun '26

03 Jun '26

Hi, I'm trying to build dovecot-2.4.4 on FreeBSD 14.4 and I get a strange error message. What I did is download and extract dovecot-2.4.4.tar.gz and then run ./configure without any arguments. After typing make the build started without any problems until this point: .... Making all in auth CC test_auth_cache-auth-cache.o CC test_auth_cache-test-auth-cache.o CC auth-main.o CC auth-auth.o CC auth-auth-cache.o CC auth-auth-client-connection.o CC auth-auth-master-connection.o CC auth-auth-policy.o CC auth-auth-penalty.o CC auth-auth-request.o CC auth-auth-request-fields.o CC auth-auth-request-handler.o CC auth-auth-request-var-expand.o CC auth-auth-sasl-mech-apop.o CC auth-auth-sasl-mech-dovecot-token.o CC auth-auth-sasl-mech-oauth2.o CC auth-auth-sasl.o CC auth-auth-settings.o CC auth-auth-fields.o CC auth-auth-token.o CC auth-auth-worker-connection.o CC auth-auth-worker-server.o CC auth-db-oauth2.o CC auth-db-sql.o CC auth-db-passwd-file.o CC auth-passdb.o CC auth-passdb-blocking.o CC auth-passdb-bsdauth.o CC auth-passdb-cache.o CC auth-passdb-oauth2.o CC auth-passdb-passwd.o CC auth-passdb-passwd-file.o CC auth-passdb-pam.o CC auth-passdb-sql.o CC auth-passdb-static.o CC auth-userdb.o CC auth-userdb-blocking.o CC auth-userdb-passwd.o CC auth-userdb-passwd-file.o CC auth-userdb-prefetch.o CC auth-userdb-static.o CC auth-userdb-sql.o CC auth-db-ldap.o CC auth-db-ldap-sasl.o CC auth-db-ldap-settings.o CC auth-passdb-ldap.o CC auth-userdb-ldap.o CC auth-db-lua.o CC auth-passdb-lua.o CC auth-userdb-lua.o make[3]: don't know how to make -L/usr/local/lib. Stop make[3]: stopped making "all" in /home/volf/dovecot-2.4.4/src/auth *** Error code 1 So, apparently make is confused and thinks that the compiler/linker commandline option is an item to build. I'm at loss how to solve this. I would appreciate it, if somebody could give me a hint how to solve this. Kind regards, Frank Hi, I'm trying to build dovecot-2.4.4 on FreeBSD 14.4 and I get a strange error message. What I did is download and extract dovecot-2.4.4.tar.gz and then run ./configure without any arguments. After typing make the build started without any problems until this point: .... Making all in auth CC test_auth_cache-auth-cache.o CC test_auth_cache-test-auth-cache.o CC auth-main.o CC auth-auth.o CC auth-auth-cache.o CC auth-auth-client-connection.o CC auth-auth-master-connection.o CC auth-auth-policy.o CC auth-auth-penalty.o CC auth-auth-request.o CC auth-auth-request-fields.o CC auth-auth-request-handler.o CC auth-auth-request-var-expand.o CC auth-auth-sasl-mech-apop.o CC auth-auth-sasl-mech-dovecot-token.o CC auth-auth-sasl-mech-oauth2.o CC auth-auth-sasl.o CC auth-auth-settings.o CC auth-auth-fields.o CC auth-auth-token.o CC auth-auth-worker-connection.o CC auth-auth-worker-server.o CC auth-db-oauth2.o CC auth-db-sql.o CC auth-db-passwd-file.o CC auth-passdb.o CC auth-passdb-blocking.o CC auth-passdb-bsdauth.o CC auth-passdb-cache.o CC auth-passdb-oauth2.o CC auth-passdb-passwd.o CC auth-passdb-passwd-file.o CC auth-passdb-pam.o CC auth-passdb-sql.o CC auth-passdb-static.o CC auth-userdb.o CC auth-userdb-blocking.o CC auth-userdb-passwd.o CC auth-userdb-passwd-file.o CC auth-userdb-prefetch.o CC auth-userdb-static.o CC auth-userdb-sql.o CC auth-db-ldap.o CC auth-db-ldap-sasl.o CC auth-db-ldap-settings.o CC auth-passdb-ldap.o CC auth-userdb-ldap.o CC auth-db-lua.o CC auth-passdb-lua.o CC auth-userdb-lua.o make[3]: don't know how to make -L/usr/local/lib. Stop make[3]: stopped making "all" in /home/volf/dovecot-2.4.4/src/auth *** Error code 1 So, apparently make is confused and thinks that the compiler/linker commandline option is an item to build. I'm at loss how to solve this. I would appreciate it, if somebody could give me a hint how to solve this. Kind regards, Frank

6 14

Re: User authentication for shared mailbox
by Stéphane Veyret 31 May '26

31 May '26

I managed to make it work. In case some other people want to do the same, the trick was to use the master user concept, as suggested by Aki Tuomi, with a lua script to check if user can be master. My configuration looks like this: passdb pam_master { driver = pam master = yes result_success = continue } passdb pam { } passdb lua { lua_file = /etc/dovecot/master-auth.lua result_failure = return-fail result_internalfail = return-fail result_success = continue-ok } passdb ldap { ldap_base = ou=Group,dc=example,dc=com fields { password = {SHA1}IQ== user = %{ldap:cn} } filter = (cn=%{user | username}) } and the lua script: function script_init() return 0 end function auth_passdb_lookup(req) if req.master_user then req:log_info("Looking for groups for " .. tostring(req.master_user)) handle = io.popen("/bin/groups " .. tostring(req.master_user)) output = handle:read("*a") req:log_debug("Searching " .. tostring(req.user) .. " in found groups " .. output) for group in output:gmatch("%w+") do if group == req.user then return dovecot.auth.PASSDB_RESULT_OK, { password="!" } end end end return dovecot.auth.PASSDB_RESULT_USER_UNKNOWN, "No such user" end -- Bien cordialement, / Plej kore, Stéphane Veyret I managed to make it work. In case some other people want to do the same, the trick was to use the master user concept, as suggested by Aki Tuomi, with a lua script to check if user can be master. My configuration looks like this: passdb pam_master { driver = pam master = yes result_success = continue } passdb pam { } passdb lua { lua_file = /etc/dovecot/master-auth.lua result_failure = return-fail result_internalfail = return-fail result_success = continue-ok } passdb ldap { ldap_base = ou=Group,dc=example,dc=com fields { password = {SHA1}IQ== user = %{ldap:cn} } filter = (cn=%{user | username}) } and the lua script: function script_init() return 0 end function auth_passdb_lookup(req) if req.master_user then req:log_info("Looking for groups for " .. tostring(req.master_user)) handle = io.popen("/bin/groups " .. tostring(req.master_user)) output = handle:read("*a") req:log_debug("Searching " .. tostring(req.user) .. " in found groups " .. output) for group in output:gmatch("%w+") do if group == req.user then return dovecot.auth.PASSDB_RESULT_OK, { password="!" } end end end return dovecot.auth.PASSDB_RESULT_USER_UNKNOWN, "No such user" end -- Bien cordialement, / Plej kore, Stephane Veyret

1 0

dsync between 2.3.16 and 2.4.2
by Jean-Daniel Beaubien 28 May '26

28 May '26

Hi, I currently have a doveadm backup running my prod and backup server. Both are currently running 2.3.16, and the following command runs fine: sudo doveadm -v backup -u XXXX -P remote:XXXX@192.168.111.XX I am in the process of updating my servers to ubuntu 26.04 which runs dovecot 2.4.2 and I am running into problems trying to run this command. For some reason, it tries to delete the INBOX on the destination and I get the following error: dsync-remote(XXXX)<7hkbKDl6F2rlxQAArPp36Q>: Error: brain S: Mailbox INBOX sync: mailbox_delete failed: The /private/specialuse attribute cannot be changed doveadm(228686): Error: Remote command returned error 65: ssh -lXXXX 192.168.111.XX doveadm dsync-server -uXXXX I am not sure what/why this is happening. I read the docs and man page, but could not find a solution. Anyone knows what is happening, and how to solve this? Thanks, -JD ----- Addendum ----- Another thing that might help someone else: I had to add a line to the config file to avoid the -U problem: dsync_remote_cmd = "ssh -l%{login} %{host} doveadm dsync-server -u%{user}" This seems to already be solved ( https://dovecot.org/mailman3/archives/list/dovecot@dovecot.org/thread/B3TQF…) but not yet in the ubuntu 26.04 release? Hi, I currently have a doveadm backup running my prod and backup server. Both are currently running 2.3.16, and the following command runs fine: sudo doveadm -v backup -u XXXX -P remote:XXXX@192.168.111.XX I am in the process of updating my servers to ubuntu 26.04 which runs dovecot 2.4.2 and I am running into problems trying to run this command. For some reason, it tries to delete the INBOX on the destination and I get the following error: dsync-remote(XXXX)<7hkbKDl6F2rlxQAArPp36Q>: Error: brain S: Mailbox INBOX sync: mailbox_delete failed: The /private/specialuse attribute cannot be changed doveadm(228686): Error: Remote command returned error 65: ssh -lXXXX 192.168.111.XX doveadm dsync-server -uXXXX I am not sure what/why this is happening. I read the docs and man page, but could not find a solution. Anyone knows what is happening, and how to solve this? Thanks, -JD ----- Addendum ----- Another thing that might help someone else: I had to add a line to the config file to avoid the -U problem: dsync_remote_cmd = "ssh -l%{login} %{host} doveadm dsync-server -u%{user}" This seems to already be solved ([1]https://dovecot.org/mailman3/archives/list/dovecot@dovecot.org/thread/B3T…) but not yet in the ubuntu 26.04 release? References Visible links 1. https://dovecot.org/mailman3/archives/list/dovecot@dovecot.org/thread/B3TQF…

2 1

I can't find up to date documentation about dovecot authentication process design
by kristoffermollerhoj＠gmail.com 27 May '26

27 May '26

Hi, I am currently about to port a legacy / custom authentication mechanism from 2.3 to 2.4. Many things have changed in this area, and I have unfortunately not been able to find any valid documentation about this topic. I have looked here: https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.4/developers/design/auth_process.html but as far as I can see all the content is about the code design for dovecot 2.3, not 2.4. Just to mention a few examples: There is not anymore a struct named mech_module, there is no such file as mech.h, and also the API for the central callback functions such as auth_new() and auth_initial() seems to have changed a lot (both arguments and return types). Maybe a somewhat unfinished version of the documentation can be found on a specific branch? Thank you, Kristoffer Møllerhøj.

4 5

Sent, Junk and Drafts are not created
by Thomas Jensen 26 May '26

26 May '26

I have a new dovecot 2.4.2 setup. All seems to work fine, except Sent, Junk and Drafts are not created. In 15-mailboxes.conf I have: namespace inbox { # These mailboxes are widely used and could perhaps be created automatically: mailbox Drafts { auto = create special_use = \Drafts } mailbox Junk { auto = create special_use = \Junk } mailbox Trash { auto = create special_use = \Trash } # For \Sent mailboxes there are two widely used names. We'll mark both of # them as \Sent. User typically deletes one of them if duplicates are created. mailbox Sent { auto = create special_use = \Sent } mailbox "Sent Messages" { auto = create special_use = \Sent } } But nothing is created. And dovecot -n return this: (note the "\\") root@rpix:~# dovecot -n # 2.4.2 (0962ed2104): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 2.4.2 (767418c3) # OS: Linux 7.0.0-15-generic x86_64 Ubuntu 26.04 LTS # Hostname: rpix.dk # 9 default setting changes since version 2.4.0 dovecot_config_version = 2.4.0 auth_default_domain = rpix.dk auth_mechanisms = plain login auth_username_format = %{user|lower} dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.0 fts_autoindex = yes fts_autoindex_max_recent_msgs = 999 fts_search_add_missing = yes mail_driver = maildir mail_home = /var/vmail/%{user | domain}/%{user | username} mail_path = ~/Maildir mail_privileged_group = mail protocols = imap lmtp sql_driver = mysql ssl = required passdb sql { default_password_scheme = ARGON2I query = SELECT username AS user,password FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%{user}' AND active='1' } userdb sql { iterate_query = SELECT username AS user FROM mailbox query = SELECT 2000 AS uid, 2000 AS gid FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%{user}' AND active='1' } mysql localhost { dbname = postfixadmin password = # hidden, use -P to show it user = postfixadmin } 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" { auto = create special_use = "\\Sent" } } service imap-login { inet_listener imap { } inet_listener imaps { } } service pop3-login { inet_listener pop3 { } inet_listener pop3s { } } service submission-login { inet_listener submission { } inet_listener submissions { } } service lmtp { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/dovecot-lmtp { group = postfix mode = 0600 user = postfix } } service imap { } service pop3 { } service submission { } service auth { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0666 user = postfix } } service auth-worker { } service dict { unix_listener dict { } } service stats { unix_listener stats-reader { group = www-data mode = 0660 user = www-data } unix_listener stats-writer { group = www-data mode = 0660 user = www-data } } ssl_server { cert_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/mail/fullchain.pem key_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/mail/privkey.pem prefer_ciphers = server } protocol lmtp { auth_username_format = %{user | lower} } What am I doing wrong? -- /Thomas Jensen, Denmark

3 3

Possible FTS language detection packaging issue in Dovecot 2.4.x Debian packages
by Jens Urban 26 May '26

26 May '26

Hello, Is anyone running Dovecot 2.4.4 with multilingual FTS flatcurve on Debian 12/13, using the packages from Dovecot.org? I suspect a packaging/build issue related to language detection. It looks like libexttextcat is not included in the Debian build. Simple reproduction with doveadm: doveadm fts tokenize -u localpart@domain 'This is the house. Das ist das Haus‘ —> Warning: Can't detect its language - assuming de …… My suspicion: If the "libexttextcat-dev" package was not installed during the "configure" step of the package creation process, then "HAVE_LANG_EXTTEXTCAT" will not be set. And if the define "HAVE_LANG_EXTTEXTCAT" is not set during the compilation of "src/lib-language/language.c", then "language_textcat_init" always returns "LANGUAGE_DETECT_RESULT_UNKNOWN;". Consequently, doveadm invariably translates this return value into the message: "Warning: Can't detect its language - assuming $DEFAULT-LANG". If I download the source code from Dovecot.org and build the dovecot vendor package myself, "language detection" works—provided that "libexttextcat-dev" has been installed beforehand. My simple test to check whether the installed version contains „libexttextcat“: (My build finds references to libexttextcat; the build from Dovecot.org finds none.) nm --print-file-name --dynamic --undefined-only /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dovecot/* | grep textcat —> /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dovecot/libdovecot-language.so.0.0.0: U special_textcat_Init —> /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dovecot/libdovecot-storage.so.0.0.0: U textcat_ReleaseClassifyFullOutput Background: In my self-built package, exttextcat-related symbols appear in both libdovecot-language and libdovecot-storage; I assume this is expected due to the build/link layout. Regards, Jens Hello, Is anyone running Dovecot 2.4.4 with multilingual FTS flatcurve on Debian 12/13, using the packages from Dovecot.org? I suspect a packaging/build issue related to language detection. It looks like libexttextcat is not included in the Debian build. Simple reproduction with doveadm: doveadm fts tokenize -u localpart@domain 'This is the house. Das ist das HausaEUR~ aEUR"> Warning: Can't detect its language - assuming de aEUR|aEUR| My suspicion: If the "libexttextcat-dev" package was not installed during the "configure" step of the package creation process, then "HAVE_LANG_EXTTEXTCAT" will not be set. And if the define "HAVE_LANG_EXTTEXTCAT" is not set during the compilation of "src/lib-language/language.c", then "language_textcat_init" always returns "LANGUAGE_DETECT_RESULT_UNKNOWN;". Consequently, doveadm invariably translates this return value into the message: "Warning: Can't detect its language - assuming $DEFAULT-LANG". If I download the source code from Dovecot.org and build the dovecot vendor package myself, "language detection" worksaEUR"provided that "libexttextcat-dev" has been installed beforehand. My simple test to check whether the installed version contains aEURzlibexttextcataEURoe: (My build finds references to libexttextcat; the build from Dovecot.org finds none.) nm --print-file-name --dynamic --undefined-only /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dovecot/* | grep textcat aEUR"> /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dovecot/libdovecot-language.so.0.0.0: U special_textcat_Init aEUR"> /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dovecot/libdovecot-storage.so.0.0.0: U textcat_ReleaseClassifyFullOutput Background: In my self-built package, exttextcat-related symbols appear in both libdovecot-language and libdovecot-storage; I assume this is expected due to the build/link layout. Regards, Jens

1 0

dovecot 2.4.4 community edition, bug in variables
by Terry Braun 23 May '26

23 May '26

I'm using this passdb sql to a postgres db passdb sql { query = SELECT NULL AS password, 'Y' as nopassword, userid AS user \ FROM users \ WHERE addr = '%{user}' AND password = '%{password}' } This succeed and the addr passed in as user is foo(a)example.com as expected I use this userdb sql userdb sql { query = SELECT home, uid, gid \ FROM users \ WHERE addr = '%{user}' # For using doveadm -A: # iterate_query = SELECT userid AS username, domain FROM users } This fails because postgres receives just "foo" not "foo(a)example.com" as user. maybe there is a bug in my stuff but I cannot see it. I can see the query in the postgres log where it clearly says: WHERE addr = 'foo' It also logs the passdb query: WHERE addr = 'foo(a)example.com' AND password='secret' thanks Terry

2 2

Problem with authentication in dovecot
by Freek de Kruijf 22 May '26

22 May '26

I have the following dovecot.conf, striped from comment: dovecot_config_version = 2.4.2 dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.0 protocols = imap auth_allow_cleartext = yes auth_mechanisms = plain auth_verbose = yes mail_plugin_dir = /usr/lib64/dovecot/modules namespace inbox { inbox = yes mail_driver = maildir mail_path = ~/Maildir prefix = INBOX. mailbox Drafts { special_use = \Drafts } mailbox Junk { special_use = \Junk } mailbox Trash { auto = subscribe special_use = \Trash } mailbox Sent { special_use = \Sent } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = \Sent } } passdb pam { service_name = dovecot } userdb passwd { use_worker = yes } service auth { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0666 user = postfix } } ssl = yes ssl_server { cert_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/<mydomain>/fullchain.pem dh_file = /etc/dovecot/dh.pem key_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/<mydomain>/privkey.pem } sieve_script personal { active_path = ~/.dovecot.sieve driver = file path = ~/sieve } When connecting my email client to dovecot, the connection succeeds, but after awhile it disconnects. In /var/log/dovecot I get: May 18 17:36:15 imap-login: Warning: Auth process not responding, delayed sending initial response (greeting): user=<>, rip=192.168.178.6, lip=192.168.178.15, session=<2IMbUhlS8K3AqLIG> May 18 17:36:45 imap-login: Info: Login aborted: Connection closed (disconnected before auth was ready, waited 40 secs) (auth_process_not_ready): user=<>, rip=192.168.178.6, lip=192.168.178.15, session=<2IMbUhlS8K3AqLIG> May 18 17:36:45 imap-login: Error: auth-client: conn unix:login: connect(login) in directory / failed: Permission denied (euid=473(<getpwuid() error>) egid=473(<getgrgid() error>) missing +x perm: /, we're not in group 474, dir owned by 0:474 mode=0750) May 18 17:36:45 imap-login: Error: auth-client: conn unix:login: connect(login) in directory / failed: Permission denied (euid=473(<getpwuid() error>) egid=473(<getgrgid() error>) missing +x perm: /, we're not in group 474, dir owned by 0:474 mode=0750) 473 is connected with account/group dovenull an 474 is connected with account/group dovecot I can't find a solution when searching the internet. -- fr.gr. member openSUSE Freek de Kruijf I have the following dovecot.conf, striped from comment: dovecot_config_version = 2.4.2 dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.0 protocols = imap auth_allow_cleartext = yes auth_mechanisms = plain auth_verbose = yes mail_plugin_dir = /usr/lib64/dovecot/modules namespace inbox { inbox = yes mail_driver = maildir mail_path = ~/Maildir prefix = INBOX. mailbox Drafts { special_use = \Drafts } mailbox Junk { special_use = \Junk } mailbox Trash { auto = subscribe special_use = \Trash } mailbox Sent { special_use = \Sent } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = \Sent } } passdb pam { service_name = dovecot } userdb passwd { use_worker = yes } service auth { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0666 user = postfix } } ssl = yes ssl_server { cert_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/<mydomain>/fullchain.pem dh_file = /etc/dovecot/dh.pem key_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/<mydomain>/privkey.pem } sieve_script personal { active_path = ~/.dovecot.sieve driver = file path = ~/sieve } When connecting my email client to dovecot, the connection succeeds, but after awhile it disconnects. In /var/log/dovecot I get: May 18 17:36:15 imap-login: Warning: Auth process not responding, delayed sending initial response (greeting): user=<>, rip=192.168.178.6, lip=192.168.178.15, session=<2IMbUhlS8K3AqLIG> May 18 17:36:45 imap-login: Info: Login aborted: Connection closed (disconnected before auth was ready, waited 40 secs) (auth_process_not_ready): user=<>, rip=192.168.178.6, lip=192.168.178.15, session=<2IMbUhlS8K3AqLIG> May 18 17:36:45 imap-login: Error: auth-client: conn unix:login: connect(login) in directory / failed: Permission denied (euid=473(<getpwuid() error>) egid=473(<getgrgid() error>) missing +x perm: /, we're not in group 474, dir owned by 0:474 mode=0750) May 18 17:36:45 imap-login: Error: auth-client: conn unix:login: connect(login) in directory / failed: Permission denied (euid=473(<getpwuid() error>) egid=473(<getgrgid() error>) missing +x perm: /, we're not in group 474, dir owned by 0:474 mode=0750) 473 is connected with account/group dovenull an 474 is connected with account/group dovecot I can't find a solution when searching the internet. -- fr.gr. member openSUSE Freek de Kruijf

3 4

Regression/Bug report: crypt_private_key_file (for crypt_global_private_key) no longer supports inline base64 (from userdb) in dev branch
by Ömer Güven 22 May '26

22 May '26

Hi, I’ve run into what appears to be a regression (or at least a behavioral change) in Dovecot 3.3.0+ / current HEAD regarding crypt_private_key_file handling for the crypt_global_private_key. I don‘t use per-folder user keys but a global encryption key per user. Previously, it was possible to provide the private key via userdb using an inline base64:-encoded PEM directly to the crypt_global_private_key_file and Dovecot would correctly parse and use it. With the latest config scheme change, this no longer works, as you cannot really set named config variables from userdb. I did workaround by setting a custom userdb variable and setting the needed named/filter variables manually in the config file. To make it work, I had to enclose the config in a „protocol imap“ scope. The crypt_global_public_key_file is accessible from userdb (as it is not within a named filter scope), so inline-base64 works as with Dovecot 2.3+. When using the following workaround to reach the scoped variables, Dovecot tries to load the file „inline:BASE64ENCODEDPEM“ as a literal filename (error open(inline:AB….C==) failed): protocol imap { crypt_global_private_key user { crypt_private_key_file = %{userdb:private_key_file} crypt_private_key_password = %{userdb:private_key_password} } } As a workaround, I now have to: • store the private key as a file (e.g. %{home}/privkey.pem) • pass only the password via userdb • inject the path indirectly via static config + userdb variables This works, but is less elegant: protocol imap { crypt_global_private_key user { crypt_private_key_file = %{home}/privkey.pem crypt_private_key_password = %{userdb:private_key_password} } } Again, with the new named filter mechanism, it’s no longer possible to directly inject such config values via userdb, which makes fully dynamic per-user key provisioning harder. I now have to export all encrypted private keys from the database to the users home directory. Ömer Hi, I've run into what appears to be a regression (or at least a behavioral change) in Dovecot 3.3.0+ / current HEAD regarding crypt_private_key_file handling for the crypt_global_private_key. I don`t use per-folder user keys but a global encryption key per user. Previously, it was possible to provide the private key via userdb using an inline base64:-encoded PEM directly to the crypt_global_private_key_file and Dovecot would correctly parse and use it. With the latest config scheme change, this no longer works, as you cannot really set named config variables from userdb. I did workaround by setting a custom userdb variable and setting the needed named/filter variables manually in the config file. To make it work, I had to enclose the config in a "protocol imap" scope. The crypt_global_public_key_file is accessible from userdb (as it is not within a named filter scope), so inline-base64 works as with Dovecot 2.3+. When using the following workaround to reach the scoped variables, Dovecot tries to load the file "inline:BASE64ENCODEDPEM" as a literal filename (error open(inline:AB....C==) failed): protocol imap { crypt_global_private_key user { crypt_private_key_file = %{userdb:private_key_file} crypt_private_key_password = %{userdb:private_key_password} } } As a workaround, I now have to: o store the private key as a file (e.g. %{home}/privkey.pem) o pass only the password via userdb o inject the path indirectly via static config + userdb variables This works, but is less elegant: protocol imap { crypt_global_private_key user { crypt_private_key_file = %{home}/privkey.pem crypt_private_key_password = %{userdb:private_key_password} } } Again, with the new named filter mechanism, it's no longer possible to directly inject such config values via userdb, which makes fully dynamic per-user key provisioning harder. I now have to export all encrypted private keys from the database to the users home directory. Oemer

4 11

warning: /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/virtual: bad command startup -- throttling
by David Koski 22 May '26

22 May '26

Hello, I have set up a new dovecot mail server using MySQL backend. All users, passwords and related data are in SQL. I'm seeing the following warning in the mail.log file: warning: /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/virtual: bad command startup -- throttling It appears to have no impact on mail delivery. Since paths to user directories are yielded by the SQL database, I'm left wondering why this is even a warning. Regards, David Koski dkoski(a)sutinen.com # 2.4.1-4 (7d8c0e5759): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 2.4.1-4 (0a86619f) # OS: Linux 6.12.69+deb13-amd64 x86_64 Debian 13.5 # Hostname: B914839.online-server.cloud # 4 default setting changes since version 2.4.0 dovecot_config_version = 2.4.0 auth_debug = yes auth_debug_passwords = yes auth_mechanisms = plain login gssapi cram-md5 digest-md5 debug_log_path = /var/log/dovecot/debug.log default_vsz_limit = 512M dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.0 fts_autoindex = yes fts_autoindex_max_recent_msgs = 999 fts_search_add_missing = yes info_log_path = /var/log/dovecot/info.log lda_mailbox_autocreate = yes lda_mailbox_autosubscribe = yes log_debug = category=auth log_path = /var/log/dovecot/dovecot.log mail_driver = maildir mail_plugins { quota = yes } mailbox_directory_name_legacy = no protocols { imap = yes lmtp = yes sieve = yes } quota_exceeded_message = User %{user} has exceeded the storage volume. / User %{user} has exhausted allowed storage space. sieve_plugins { sieve_imapsieve = yes sieve_extprograms = yes } sql_driver = mysql ssl = required namespace inbox { inbox = yes prefix = separator = . type = private mailbox Drafts { auto = subscribe special_use = "\\Drafts" } mailbox Outbox { special_use = "\\Drafts" } mailbox Junk { auto = subscribe special_use = "\\Junk" } mailbox "Junk Email" { auto = no special_use = "\\Junk" } mailbox "Junk E-mail" { auto = no special_use = "\\Junk" } mailbox Trash { auto = subscribe special_use = "\\Trash" } mailbox "Deleted Items" { auto = no special_use = "\\Trash" } mailbox Spam { auto = no special_use = "\\Junk" } mailbox Archives { auto = no special_use = "\\Archive" } mailbox Sent { auto = subscribe special_use = "\\Sent" } mailbox "Sent Items" { auto = no special_use = "\\Sent" } mailbox "Sent Messages" { auto = no special_use = "\\Sent" } } service imap-login { inet_listener imap { } inet_listener imaps { } } service pop3-login { inet_listener pop3 { } inet_listener pop3s { } } service submission-login { inet_listener submission { } inet_listener submissions { } } service lmtp { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/dovecot-lmtp { group = postfix mode = 0600 user = postfix } } service imap { } service pop3 { } service submission { } service auth { unix_listener auth-userdb { group = postfix } unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0660 user = postfix } } service auth-worker { } service dict { unix_listener dict { } } ssl_server { cert_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.sutinen.com/fullchain.pem key_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/mail.sutinen.com/privkey.pem } protocol lda { mail_plugins { sieve = yes quota = yes } } protocol imap { mail_plugins { imap_sieve = yes } } protocol lmtp { mail_plugins { quota = yes sieve = yes notify = yes push_notification = yes } postmaster_address = postmaster(a)sutinen.com } service managesieve-login { inet_listener sieve { port = 4190 } inet_listener sieve_deprecated { port = 2000 } } service managesieve { } sieve_script personal { active_path = /var/vmail/sieve/%{user | domain }/%{user | username }/active-script.sieve driver = file path = /var/vmail/sieve/%{user | domain }/%{user | username }/scripts type = personal } sieve_script spam-global { path = /var/vmail/sieve/global/spam-global.sieve type = before } mailbox Spam { sieve_script spam { cause = copy path = /var/vmail/sieve/global/learn-spam.sieve type = before } } imapsieve_from Spam { sieve_script ham { cause = copy path = /var/vmail/sieve/global/learn-ham.sieve type = before } } mysql /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock { dbname = vmail password = # hidden, use -P to show it user = vmail } passdb sql { driver = sql query = CALL password_query('%{user}', '%{password}') } userdb sql { driver = sql query = CALL user_query_dovecot('%{user | username}', '%{user | domain}') }

3 2

Dovecot 2.4 authentication
by David Koski 22 May '26

22 May '26

Hello, I just put a new Postfix with Dovecot 2.4 server on line migrating the email from Dovecot 2.3. I have discovered a number of clients (all copiers so far) that no longer authenticate SMTP. Mechanisms configured: auth_mechanisms = plain login gssapi cram-md5 digest-md5 I found that if I disable all encrypted password methods (some copiers list them separately with a checkbox) and leave only plain/login on the client side, then it succeeds. But sometimes it is not necessary. It's almost as if it only tries once and gives up if it fails. I'm not sure how it is actually supposed to work. But it worked with Dovecot 2.3. I did test one account with an encrypted password like "{CRAM-MD5}6e3..." successfully. But other accounts failed. It almost looks like the encryption method must be specified on the client side to match the server before it will work consistently. I know that password encryption is unnecessary with STARTTLS but I have to live with it now. I have noticed that Thunderbird configured with encryption silently falls back to plain/login so I didn't notice a problem. Regards, David Koski dkoski(a)sutinen.com

2 4

dovecot 2.4 Restricting Access - journal/log differences for failed login?
by David C Rankin 21 May '26

21 May '26

All, I have restricted access for several users using the Restring Access documentation https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.0/howto/restrict_access.html This was to cut down on the brute-force attempts against dovecot for certain users whose usernames/e-mails are routinely used. I have a very simply passdb config: passdb passwd-file { passwd_file_path = /etc/dovecot/deny.%{protocol} deny = yes } passdb pam { driver = pam } userdb pam { driver = passwd } I created the /etc/dovecot/deny.imap file with one username per-line. But what confuses me is the server logs the exact same failure for unsuccessful login after restricting access as it did before restricting access. E.g. 2026-05-20T07:22:43.039585-05:00 valkyrie auth[28618]: pam_unix(dovecot:auth): authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=dovecot ruser=janice(a)mydomain.com rhost=70.186.179.37 2026-05-20T07:22:51.578711-05:00 valkyrie auth[28618]: pam_unix(dovecot:auth): authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=dovecot ruser=janice(a)mydomain.com rhost=70.186.179.37 May 20 07:25:36 valkyrie dovecot[1015]: imap-login: Login aborted: Inactivity (auth failed, 2 attempts in 177 secs) (auth_failed): user=<janice(a)mydomain.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=70.186.179.37, lip=192.168.6.14, TLS, session=<ouXP2T5SJpZGurMl> Is this normal, or should dovecot respond to restricted users in some way that differs from a normal login failure? All could be working fine, I'm just not certain about the log entries. -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.

1 0

"imap" command not usable in dovecot 2.4
by Mark Hills 20 May '26

20 May '26

Since upgrading to 2.4 (from 2.3) the "imap" command no longer works: $ /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap * PREAUTH [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 SASL-IR LOGIN-REFERRALS ID ENABLE IDLE SORT SORT=DISPLAY THREAD=REFERENCES THREAD=REFS THREAD=ORDEREDSUBJECT MULTIAPPEND URL-PARTIAL CATENATE UNSELECT CHILDREN NAMESPACE UIDPLUS LIST-EXTENDED I18NLEVEL=1 CONDSTORE QRESYNC ESEARCH ESORT SEARCHRES WITHIN CONTEXT=SEARCH LIST-STATUS BINARY MOVE REPLACE SNIPPET=FUZZY PREVIEW=FUZZY PREVIEW SPECIAL-USE STATUS=SIZE SAVEDATE COMPRESS=DEFLATE INPROGRESS NOTIFY LITERAL+] Logged in as mark imap(mark)<6109><5GlNEEHaDWrdFwAABxE9Dg>: Fatal: Namespace inbox: mail_storage settings: Failed to parse configuration: Invalid setting mail_path=~/Maildir: mail_path setting used home directory (~/) but there is no mail_home and userdb didn't return it Whereas I would expect an authenticated IMAP session. Removing the offending /etc/dovecot.conf line temporarily: dovecot_config_version = 2.4.1 dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.0 protocols = imap lmtp sieve mail_driver = maildir #mail_path = ~/Maildir passdb passwd-file { passwd_file_path = /etc/dovecot/passwd } userdb passwd { } [...] And re-testing suggests the cause runs deeper: $ /usr/lib/exec/dovecot/imap [...] imap(mark)<6364><tetIC6/aDWrcGAAABxE9Dg>: Fatal: Namespace inbox: mail_storage settings: Failed to parse configuration: Failed to expand mail_path setting variables: Setting used home directory (%h) but there is no mail_home and userdb didn't return it Attempts to hard-wire it seem to suggest that usedb is not involved. I imagine this may be not consulted, because the process is pre-authenticated and running as a local UID: userdb passwd { fields_import_all = no fields { mail_home = /home/mark mail_path = /home/mark/Maildir } } $ /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap [...] imap(mark)<6656><qPqUB17cDWoAGgAABxE9Dg>: Fatal: Namespace inbox: mail_storage settings: Failed to parse configuration: Failed to expand mail_path setting variables: Setting used home directory (%h) but there is no mail_home and userdb didn't return it It seems like 2.3 looked up these fields from the user invoking it, but no longer is this the case? Running "imap" like this is very useful, especially when a client like Pine/Alpine can access over SSH. To get to here I had to workaround the missing "shadow" passdb module, which is also useful as Alpine Linux 3.23 neither uses PAM extensively nor provides dovecot built with PAM. -- Mark

1 0

undocumented changed behavior of 2.4.3 (possible bug report)
by Patrick Cernko 20 May '26

20 May '26

Hello Dovecot-Devs, hello list, while upgrading my Dovecot 2.4.2 setup to 2.4.3 I observed two instances of changed behavior. I could not find notes about those issues in the corresponding documentation (https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.3/installation/upgrade/2.4-to-2.4.x.html) or release notes: 1. I had to change userdb_ldap_iterate_filter = (&(objectClass=posixAccount)%{if(protocol,"eq","pop3","(istIsMemberOf=POP3-users)","")}) to userdb_ldap_iterate_filter = (&(objectClass=posixAccount)%{if(protocol,"eq","pop3","(istIsMemberOf=POP3-users)","")|safe) otherwise the characters '()=' in the "true"-case of the condition got somehow "quoted" with escaped ASCII codes, which led to a broken LDAP filter string. Maybe you could add some documentation (in "Upgrading" as well as "Settings Variables") about that? 2. The behavior of sieve matches using ":matches" has changed: Example email (only the relevant header): List-Id: Dovecot Mailing List <dovecot.dovecot.org> Example Sieve script: if header :matches "List-Id" "*<dovecot*.dovecot.org>" { fileinto "dovecot"; } In 2.4.2 (and earlier) the example email matched the condition and got stored in the dovecot folder, while in 2.4.3 the condition does NOT match. As a workaround I added a '*' at the end of the match ("*<dovecot*.dovecot.org>*") to get my mails stored correctly again. Is this changed behavior for Sieve intentional or a bug? In case of a bug, could you please provide a fix? In case of intentional behavior: * Could you please explain the intention? Why was it necessary? * What would be the correct fix for the sieve example to match a List-Id header that ENDS WITH ".dovecot.org>"? * I assume, that other users on my servers will run into similar problems once I upgrade their servers. Is it possible to detect such problematic matches in Sieve scripts? E.g. "all matches without a trailing '*' are affected", ... This would give me a chance, to inform my users or even fix their scripts in advance. Best regards, -- Patrick Cernko <pcernko(a)mpi-klsb.mpg.de> +49 681 9325 5815 Joint Scientific IT and Technical Service Max-Planck-Institute für Informatik & Softwaresysteme

2 3

flatcurve index size (10x larger than lucene)
by Jean-Daniel Beaubien 19 May '26

19 May '26

Hi everyone, I am currently trying to update from an old dovecot 2.3 setup with fts-lucene to 2.4.2 with fts-flatcurve. However, I am seeing a giant jump in the size of the indexes. For an email account that takes 12GB of storage, I get the following index sizes: - lucene: 270 MB - flatcurve: 2400 MB That is almost a 10x increase in the index size (with flatcurve the indexes represent 20% of the size of the mailbox). Considering I have a mailbox that takes 270GB, I can't imagine the size of the indexes. *Am I doing something wrong with flatcurve? How can the indexes be so much larger than lucene?* I took the default flatcurve configuration from the Ubuntu 26.04 install: mail_plugins { fts = yes fts_flatcurve = yes } fts_autoindex = yes language_filters = normalizer-icu snowball stopwords language_tokenizers = generic email-address language_tokenizer_generic_algorithm = simple language en { default = yes filters = lowercase snowball english-possessive stopwords } fts flatcurve { # All of these are optional, and indicate the default values. # They are listed here for documentation purposes; most people should not # need to define/override in their config. # commit_limit = 500 # max_term_size = 30 # min_term_size = 2 # optimize_limit = 10 # rotate_count = 5000 # rotate_time = 5000 substring_search = yes } *Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated.* Best regards, -J Hi everyone, I am currently trying to update from an old dovecot 2.3 setup with fts-lucene to 2.4.2 with fts-flatcurve. However, I am seeing a giant jump in the size of the indexes. For an email account that takes 12GB of storage, I get the following index sizes: o lucene: 270 MB o flatcurve: 2400 MB That is almost a 10x increase in the index size (with flatcurve the indexes represent 20% of the size of the mailbox). Considering I have a mailbox that takes 270GB, I can't imagine the size of the indexes. Am I doing something wrong with flatcurve? How can the indexes be so much larger than lucene? I took the default flatcurve configuration from the Ubuntu 26.04 install: mail_plugins { fts = yes fts_flatcurve = yes } fts_autoindex = yes language_filters = normalizer-icu snowball stopwords language_tokenizers = generic email-address language_tokenizer_generic_algorithm = simple language en { default = yes filters = lowercase snowball english-possessive stopwords } fts flatcurve { # All of these are optional, and indicate the default values. # They are listed here for documentation purposes; most people should not # need to define/override in their config. # commit_limit = 500 # max_term_size = 30 # min_term_size = 2 # optimize_limit = 10 # rotate_count = 5000 # rotate_time = 5000 substring_search = yes } Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated. Best regards, -J

3 3

[Dovecot] batch convert mbox to maildir
by Netlink Tech 18 May '26

18 May '26

Hello, I have used mb2md for an individual user like this: su ~username cd ~ ./mb2md -m This converted /var/spool/mail/username mbox to /home/users/username/Maildir just as I expected. To convert 100s of users the same way would be a chore (su as each user for permissions, etc.). Is there a way to batch process all /var/spool/mail/$USER to /home/users/$USER/Maildir with the correct permissions/file owners for each user?

4 4

Lua authentication
by John Fawcett 18 May '26

18 May '26

Hi I'm finally getting round to taking up Aki's suggestion here to look into lua. The original requirement was to check the ip reputation giving an OK or KO before proceeding to the login. I'd be interested in any feedback on the dovecot.conf settings and lua script. Also I've encountered a strange caching issue. https://dovecot.org/mailman3/archives/list/dovecot@dovecot.org/thread/E5FLX… To do this I've added a new passdb before the existing sql passdb. I am assuming that I will need to reverse the defaults (in 2.3.21.1) for result_success and result_failure. passdb { driver = lua args = file=/etc/dovecot/passdb.lua blocking=yes result_success = continue result_failure = return-fail } This is my lua test script. function auth_passdb_lookup(req) dovecot.i_info("login request from " .. req.remote_ip .. " user=" .. req.user) if (req.user == "user_to_deny(a)example.com") then dovecot.i_info("deny login") return dovecot.auth.PASSDB_RESULT_USER_UNKNOWN, "" end return dovecot.auth.PASSDB_RESULT_NEXT, "" end I am trying to get this working with this very simple logic before developing the real logic. But basically I am considering two responses from the lua script, one which is OK (returning dovecot.auth.PASSDB_RESULT_NEXT) in which case the next passdb should be consulted for the real password lookup. The other case is a KO (returning dovecot.auth.PASSDB_RESULT_USER_UNKNOWN) where this should be taken as an immediate failure without proceeding to password lookup in the next passd.I have passdb caching disabled. While testing the KO case which seems to be working, if I modify the script changing the user_to_deny(a)example.com so it no longer matches, the script still outputs "deny login". It's not a passdb caching issue since it is going through the "deny login" code despite the user not matching. Could it be that lua scripts are being cached by dovecot? John

1 0

Re: [EXT] Re: postfix/dovecot migration
by bcs＠nanomail.net 16 May '26

16 May '26

Was able to execute the process as root with "doveadm -D backup -Ru tst tcp:10.0.1.212:12354" after updating some destination side configuration options that do not appear to be documented in the link provided, but there are a few errors that I am unable to understand or correct. 1. Debug: open(/proc/self/io) failed: Permission denied - This file is read only for root and permissions cannot be modified. 2. Error: Mailbox INBOX sync: mailbox_delete failed: INBOX can't be deleted. - Not sure why a mailbox would need to be deleted other than the backup is using a delete and recreate to retain only current emails, assuming this is on the destination server. 3. All emails for tst account are deleted from the source server - This is a significant issue when only copies should be made for a backup. Full log is attached. Any additional insights would be greatly appreciated, Bryan May 15, 2026 10:01 AM, "Aki Tuomi" <aki.tuomi(a)open-xchange.com> wrote: > Yeah, you can do migration with dsync or imap between 2.3 and 2.4 > > Aki > >> On 15/05/2026 16:10 EEST Bryan Simmons <bcs(a)nanomail.net> wrote: >> >> Aki, >> >> Thank you for the guidance. Just to confirm, doveadm/imap based >> migration is the section under "Migrating Mailboxes from Another Dovecot >> Server" in the link referenced below since this migration will be >> between servers? >> >> Seems an upgrade from dovecot 2.3.21 (current version on source server) >> to 2.4.2 (installed version on the destination server) would be >> appropriate before migrating any user accounts based on information from >> some of the other posts regarding migration. >> >> Thanks , Bryan >> >> On 5/13/26 13:41, Aki Tuomi via dovecot wrote: >> On 13/05/2026 20:31 EEST Bryan Simmons via dovecot <dovecot(a)dovecot.org> wrote: >> >> Moving postfix and dovecot to a new server including all current users >> and emails. There exists several dovecot files in each user mail directory: >> >> dovecot.index >> dovecot.index.cache >> dovecot.index.log >> dovecot-keywords >> dovecot.list.index.log >> dovecot.mailbox.log >> dovecot-uidlist >> dovecot-uidvalidity >> dovecot-uidvalidity.612d3d34 >> >> Should these files be migrated also or will dovecot recreate them as needed? >> >> Thank you, Bryan >> >> https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.4/core/admin/migration.html#migrating-mailboxes >> >> I would recommend seeing this. Depending on your mailbox format, it can be important that those >> files are copied, but I would suggest doveadm/imap based migration. >> >> Aki >> >> _______________________________________________ >> dovecot mailing list -- dovecot(a)dovecot.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave(a)dovecot.org

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Panic: file charset-iconv.c: line 83 (charset_to_utf8_try): assertion failed: (srcleft <= CHARSET_MAX_PENDING_BUF_SIZE)
by Alex Rosenberg 15 May '26

15 May '26

Attached is an LLM-reduced reproduction of the crash in the title. My particular setup is dovecot 2.3.21.1 (d492236fa0) in a FreeBSD jail (13.5). I realize that this is an older release but there is no FreeBSD port/pkg for dovecot 2.4.x yet. The message in the attachment is reduced from an old (2017!) email to one of the LLVM compiler mailing lists. The original malformed email had this header: X-Mailer: Evolution 3.22.5 (3.22.5-1.fc25) The bug occurs when dovecot's FTS indexer processes a MIME part that: 1. Declares charset="UTF-7" 2. Contains base64-encoded content that, when decoded, has bare '+' characters 3. Causes UTF-7 decoder buffer overflow in charset-iconv.c:83 The base64 content decodes to C source code with expressions like: - argc + 4 - state++ - state-- These '+' characters in UTF-7 context cause the decoder's pending buffer to exceed CHARSET_MAX_PENDING_BUF_SIZE, triggering the assertion failure. Alex

4 5

Can't find unicode/ustring.h in test
by mr.thesaw＠gmail.com 14 May '26

14 May '26

I get this error during compilation: make[3]: Entering directory '/home/hacksaw/src/dovecot-2.4.4/src/lib-language' CC test-lang-icu.o In file included from test-lang-icu.c:8: lang-icu.h:4:10: fatal error: unicode/ustring.h: No such file or directory 4 | #include <unicode/ustring.h> | ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ compilation terminated. I have unicode 66, at least as far as Ubuntu is concerned.

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Dovecot 2.4.4 - mail_crypt with per-user Global Keys from LDAP (not Folder Keys)
by luis.neapolis＠gmail.com 14 May '26

14 May '26

Hi everyone, I'm trying to configure Dovecot 2.4.4 with per-user encryption keys stored in LDAP, using Global Keys mode (NOT Folder Keys). My goal: Each user has their own public key and private key (encrypted with the user's login password) stored in LDAP attributes. 1) LMTP should use the public key to encrypt incoming emails. 2) IMAP should use the user's login password to decrypt the private key from LDAP, then decrypt the emails. I want to use Global Keys mode (where keys are provided via userdb), NOT Folder Keys (where Dovecot stores keys in dovecot-attributes files). What works: LMTP receives emails and encrypts them correctly using the user's public key from LDAP and the encrypted files are saved to disk. What doesn't work: IMAP can log in and see the email list (subject, from, date), but the email body never loads. Error: Decryption error: no private key available May 14 18:58:45 host dovecot[295725]: imap(test(a)example.com)<295760><SESSIONID>: Debug: Mailbox INBOX: UID 11: Opened mail because: prefetch May 14 18:58:45 host dovecot[295725]: imap(test(a)example.com)<295760><SESSIONID>: Debug: dict(file): Looking up 'priv/a82ea60599ba056ad47904003a5aeee9/vendor/vendor.dovecot/pvt/crypt/privkeys/aacbcb614fb59f81e9519186b12ac8862858d89fa3bcc1be5f25b886d3e95ee3' May 14 18:58:45 host dovecot[295725]: imap(test(a)example.com)<295760><SESSIONID>: Debug: dict(file): Lookup finished for 'priv/a82ea60599ba056ad47904003a5aeee9/vendor/vendor.dovecot/pvt/crypt/privkeys/aacbcb614fb59f81e9519186b12ac8862858d89fa3bcc1be5f25b886d3e95ee3': not found May 14 18:58:45 host dovecot[295725]: imap(test(a)example.com)<295760><SESSIONID>: Error: Mailbox INBOX: UID 11: read() failed: read(/mail/example.com/test/cur/1778773528.M279604P294174.host.example.com,… failed: Decryption error: no private key available (FETCH BODY[1]) The confusing part: IMAP has the user's password (the user authenticated successfully). The private key in LDAP is encrypted with that same password. So IMAP should be able to decrypt the private key, then decrypt the email. But Dovecot is not using the password it already has to unlock the private key. My configuration: dovecot_config_version = 2.4.4 mail_plugins { quota = yes } # Empty global key block (workaround for LMTP not to fail) crypt_global_private_key main { } passdb ldap { driver = ldap filter = (&(objectClass=Account) (mail=%{user})) fields { mail = %{ldap:mail} password = %{ldap:userPassword} userdb_home = %{ldap:homeDirectory} } } userdb ldap { driver = ldap filter = (&(objectClass=Account) (mail=%{user})) fields { home = %{ldap:homeDirectory} uid = %{ldap:uidNumber|default('500')} gid = %{ldap:gidNumber|default('500')} # Per-user keys from LDAP (Global Keys mode) crypt_global_public_key_file = inline:%{ldap:userPublicKey} crypt_global_private_key/main/crypt_private_key_file = inline:%{ldap:userPrivateKey} crypt_private_key_password = %{password} } } protocol imap { mail_plugins { imap_quota = yes mail_crypt = yes } protocol lmtp { mail_plugins { sieve = yes mail_crypt = yes } } Note: I do NOT have mail_attribute_dict configured. I do NOT want Dovecot to store keys in local files. I want everything to come from LDAP. What I've verified: 1) The private key is valid and decrypts correctly with the user's password using openssl pkey -passin pass:xxx. 2) doveadm user shows the keys are retrieved from LDAP. The error persists. The question: Since IMAP already has the user's password (from the successful login), how can I make Dovecot use that password to decrypt the private key from LDAP and then decrypt the emails? Is there a specific setting I'm missing? Does crypt_private_key_password = %{password} need to be placed somewhere else (e.g., inside the protocol imap block) to work correctly? Also, I see in the logs that Dovecot is still looking for dict(file) keys (Folder Keys mode). How can I completely disable Folder Keys behavior and force Dovecot to only use Global Keys from LDAP? Thank you! Dovecot version: 2.4.4-5 OS: AlmaLinux 9.7 Mail storage: Maildir

1 0

Backup problem
by Doug Hardie 13 May '26

13 May '26

I just migrated my mail server to a new machine. When the new machine was back up and running, I found one mailbox that used to have many emails, now only had 3. I went back to the old machine and found there were only those three messages in the mailbox. I suspect somehow I managed to delete them prior to the backup to the new machine. I have a copy of that mailbox on a backup machine. I just checked and all are there. They have file names like: 1658299911.M966551P8821.mail,S=5001,W=5108:2,S 1664572476.M701757P94428.mail,S=4051,W=4135:2,Sab 1665119988.M609674P37848.mail,S=8455,W=8629:2,Sab 1665757235.M137163P32739.mail,S=5838,W=5950:2,S 1665774793.M299412P37846.mail,S=4669,W=4755:2,S 1665782571.M706364P40033.mail,S=12191,W=12379:2,S The backup machine has all the dovecot files for that user. How can I restore those email from the backup machine to the new server? -- Doug

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Can I use a static userdb or no?
by social+17dw1scw＠lombra.net 13 May '26

13 May '26

Hi, I've been researching this for a while now, and can't find a definitive answer. I have a virtual setup, with globally static UID, GID and mail locations set. The documentation is clear that this lets me use a static userdb instead of SQL. But then, doveadm mailbox list -A requires that a valid iterate_query is set, and that requires an SQL userdb. So, which is it? If querying does not work with a static userdb, that seems like a significant caveat. I'm also curious how this works with prefetch. I understand I can make the passdb query return static values, but I figure since I already have those configured, I shouldn't need to do that. How can I determine whether prefetching is working as intended? Thank you.

3 2

postfix/dovecot migration
by Bryan Simmons 13 May '26

13 May '26

Moving postfix and dovecot to a new server including all current users and emails. There exists several dovecot files in each user mail directory: dovecot.index dovecot.index.cache dovecot.index.log dovecot-keywords dovecot.list.index.log dovecot.mailbox.log dovecot-uidlist dovecot-uidvalidity dovecot-uidvalidity.612d3d34 Should these files be migrated also or will dovecot recreate them as needed? Thank you, Bryan

2 1

Expand dovecot recipients from ldap group
by Maksim Rodin 13 May '26

13 May '26

Hello, I have set up dovecot (2.3.21) to get its recipients from Active Directory. I can successfully get recipients from Active Directory user objects using their sAMAccountName: # cat /etc/dovecot/local.conf ... passdb users { driver = ldap args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-ldap_domain.conf.ext } userdb users { driver = static args = uid=vmail gid=vmail } ... Here is the relevant part of the ldap config: # cat /etc/dovecot/dovecot-ldap_domain.conf.ext ... user_attrs = \ =home=/vmail/%{ldap:sAMAccountName}, \ =uid=vmail, \ =gid=vmail pass_filter = (&(objectCategory=person)(mail=%u)) user_filter = (&(objectCategory=person)(mail=%u)) ... I can also successfully get user aliases from Active Directory user objects using their otherMailbox attribute: # cat /etc/dovecot/local.conf ... userdb aliases { driver = ldap args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-ldap_domain_aliases.conf.ext } ... Here is the relevant part of the ldap config: # cat /etc/dovecot/dovecot-ldap_domain_aliases.conf.ext: ... user_attrs = \ =home=/vmail/%{ldap:sAMAccountName}, \ =uid=vmail, \ =gid=vmail pass_filter = (&(objectCategory=person)(otherMailbox=%u)) user_filter = (&(objectCategory=person)(otherMailbox=%u)) Now I am struggling with the task of getting recipients from Active Directory group objects to handle them as distribution groups. Is there a way to expand an Active Directory group object to multiple recipients? I know all of this can be done with postfix ldap module, but I would like to handle all the delivery tasks to dovecot LMTP. -- Best regards Maksim Roin

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Sync'ing two dovecot servers
by Marc Singer 12 May '26

12 May '26

Greetings, I was pleased to see that dovecot has a sync function in doveadm. So far, other tools for moving mailbox contents from one server to another has not been successful. However. Perhaps I don't understand how this should work. I have a new containerized dovecot v2.4.2 # 2.4.2 (0962ed2104): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # OS: Linux 6.12.63+deb13-amd64 x86_64 and I have an existing dovecot running in a VPS: # 2.3.19.1 (9b53102964): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 0.5.19 (4eae2f79) # OS: Linux 6.1.0-35-amd64 x86_64 Debian 12.11 I want to move one user, as a test. I execute this in the container. # doveadm sync -R1 -u USER tcps:OLD_SERVER:993 doveadm(USER): Error: conn OLD_SERVER:993 (IP:993): doveadm server sent invalid handshake: * OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 SASL-IR LOGIN-REFERRALS ID ENABLE IDLE LITERAL+ AUTH=PLAIN AUTH=LOGIN] Dovecot (Debian) ready. doveadm(USER): Error: cmd sync: Disconnected from remote: Connection closed I'm pretty sure that doveadm sync was able to negotiate the TLS connection. I don't see what it could object to in the sign-on. What am I missing? Cheers -- /Marc Oscar Singer/ *Woollysoft* Dial 817.1823.602.1+ from right to left. Greetings, I was pleased to see that dovecot has a sync function in doveadm. So far, other tools for moving mailbox contents from one server to another has not been successful. However. Perhaps I don't understand how this should work. I have a new containerized dovecot v2.4.2 # 2.4.2 (0962ed2104): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # OS: Linux 6.12.63+deb13-amd64 x86_64 and I have an existing dovecot running in a VPS: # 2.3.19.1 (9b53102964): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 0.5.19 (4eae2f79) # OS: Linux 6.1.0-35-amd64 x86_64 Debian 12.11 I want to move one user, as a test. I execute this in the container. # doveadm sync -R1 -u USER tcps:OLD_SERVER:993 doveadm(USER): Error: conn OLD_SERVER:993 (IP:993): doveadm server sent invalid handshake: * OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 SASL-IR LOGIN-REFERRALS ID ENABLE IDLE LITERAL+ AUTH=PLAIN AUTH=LOGIN] Dovecot (Debian) ready. doveadm(USER): Error: cmd sync: Disconnected from remote: Connection closed I'm pretty sure that doveadm sync was able to negotiate the TLS connection. I don't see what it could object to in the sign-on. What am I missing? Cheers -- Marc Oscar Singer Woollysoft Dial 817.1823.602.1+ from right to left.

5 7

Dovecot and Pigeonhole v2.4.4 Released
by Aki Tuomi 12 May '26

12 May '26

Hi! We are happy to publish version 2.4.4 of Dovecot and Pigeonhole. These contain CVEs, discovered by external researches. The majority of these have been discovered with help of automated code analysis tools like claude code security, which is why some of these are rather old, missed bugs. No new supported distros have been added or old removed, no new dependencies have been added. Note that there are experimental features in 2.4, one is enabled with `--enable-experimental-mail-utf8`, and another with `--enable-experimental-imap4rev2`, and you also need to set mail_utf8_extensions=yes and imap4rev2_enabled=yes to enable them in config. https://dovecot.org/releases/2.4/dovecot-2.4.4.tar.gz https://dovecot.org/releases/2.4/dovecot-2.4.4.tar.gz.sig https://pigeonhole.dovecot.org/releases/2.4/dovecot-pigeonhole-2.4.4.tar.gz https://pigeonhole.dovecot.org/releases/2.4/dovecot-pigeonhole-2.4.4.tar.gz… Binary packages in https://repo.dovecot.org/ Docker images in https://hub.docker.com/r/dovecot/dovecot --- * CVE-2026-27851: lib-var-expand: Safe filter marks all following pipelines safe. * CVE-2026-33603: auth: CRAM-SHA-*-PLUS channel binding could be faked. MITM attacker with a certificate trusted by the client could have bypassed the requirement for channel binding. * CVE-2026-40020: IMAP folders can be shared-spammed to everyone. * CVE-2026-42006: An attacker can cause uncontrolled memory usage with excessive bracing over IMAP. The fix in CVE-2026-27857 was incomplete. * indexer-worker, quota-status, script-login, program-client-local: Root privileges are now dropped permanently before serving requests. * indexer-worker: Default restart_request_count changed to 1 to work correctly after permanent root privilege drop. * lmtp: Add back service_extra_groups=$SET:default_internal_group that was incorrectly removed in v2.4.3. * master: inet_listener_reuse_port has been replaced by service_reuse_port. The new setting properly pre-creates all listener sockets at startup and assigns one unique socket per process. Using this allows evenly distributing incoming connections to login processes. See https://doc.dovecot.org/latest/core/config/service.html#service_reuse_port for details. - auth: Fix LDAP escaping of 0x13 control character. - auth: Use timing-safe comparison for certificate and public key fingerprints. - fts: Correctly handle internal http-client response errors. - fts: Don't send request to Tika if there is no body text. - fts: Fix address header indexing for RFC 2047 encoded-words. - fts: tika, fts-solr: Fix use-after-free crash during DNS lookup. - imap: Fix assertion panic on invalid REPLACE 0 command. - lib-auth-client: Avoid "unknown id" errors for aborted auth requests. - lib-dcrypt: Fix potential crash if trying to access untrusted/corrupted keys. - lib-dcrypt: Improve error message if keys aren't in hex format as expected. - lib-index: Fix potential crash if fsck fails. - lib-ldap: Fix using OpenLDAP default CA when ssl_client_ca_dir/file is unset. v2.4.3 regression. - lib-master, master: Fix behavior for services with client_limit>1 and restart_request_count so that processes reaching restart_request_count are no longer counted towards process_limit. - lib-master: Fix crash when reaching client_limit with restart_request_count>1. - lib-master: haproxy - Don't trust client certificate common name when HAProxy reports verification failure. - lib-sasl: cram-md5 - Fix out of bounds memory read. - lib-sasl: oauth2 - Fix one byte out of bounds read. - lib-sql: cassandra - Fix reusing Cassandra SSL connections. - lib-sql: sqlite - Fix sqlite_journal_mode=wal to actually work. - lib-storage: Auto-rename non-NFC subscription file entries to NFC on read. - lib-storage: Prevent non-atom SEARCH keywords from causing IMAP command injection. - lib-var-expand-crypt: Return error if hex decoding fails. - lib-var-expand: Fix crash (SIGFPE) with non-positive divisor for / and %. - log: Fix memory leak at deinit. - login-common: When process is full, don't destroy clients waiting on master auth. - login-proxy: Fix crash with rawlog and multiplexing during reconnection. - mail-compress: Fix panic when save method unavailable. - mail-crypt: Fix crash when HMAC-based algorithm is used. - mail-crypt: Use AEAD instead of HMAC with ChaCha20-Poly1305. - mdbox: Create files with O_NOFOLLOW. - push-notification: ox - Fix use-after-free crash during DNS lookup. - quota: quota-status - Limit input buffer size to 1 kB. ––- * CVE-2026-40016: sieve :contains and :matches operators could have been using excessive amount of CPU. Limit the CPU to sieve_max_cpu_time. - Fix potential crashes parsing corrupted Sieve binaries. - lib-sieve: matches - Fix trailing literal match when it fills value exactly. v2.4.3 regression.

2 2

Dovecot Security Advisory OXDC-2026-0002
by Aki Tuomi 12 May '26

12 May '26

Hi! We're sharing our latest advisory with you and like to thank everyone who contributed in finding and solving those vulnerabilities. This advisory is also published at https://documentation.open-xchange.com/dovecot/security/advisories/html/202… --- Classification: TLP:GREEN Internal reference: DOV-8967 Type: CWE-235 (Improper Handling of Extra Parameters) Component: core Report confidence: Confirmed Solution status: Fixed by vendor Last affected revision: OX Dovecot Pro core 3.1.4, OX Dovecot CE core 2.4.3 First fixed revision: OX Dovecot Pro core 3.1.5, OX Dovecot CE core 2.4.4 Discovery date: 2026-03-29 Solution date: 2026-05-05 Disclosure date: 2026-05-05 Researcher credits: caprinuxx@yeswehack CVE: CVE-2026-27851 CVSS: 7.4 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N) Details: lib-var-expand: Safe filter leaks to all following pipelines. When safe filter is used with variable expansion, all following pipelines on the same string are incorrectly interpreted as safe too, enabling unsafe data to be unescaped. Risk: This can enable SQL / LDAP injection attacks when used in authentication. No publicly available exploits are known. Solution: Avoid using safe filter until on fixed version. --- Internal reference: DOV-8948 Type: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) Component: core Report confidence: Confirmed Solution status: Fixed by vendor Last affected revision: OX Dovecot Pro core 2.3.0 First fixed revision: OX Dovecot Pro core 3.1.5, OX Dovecot CE core 2.4.4 Discovery date: 2026-03-24 Solution date: 2026-05-05 Disclosure date: 2026-05-05 Researcher credits: djvirus@yeswehack CVE: CVE-2026-40016 CVSS: 5.3 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H) Details: Sieve :contains/:matches O(N×M) Substring Match Bypasses sieve_max_cpu_time Limit (130× Overrun). Attacker can upload a malicious Sieve script over ManageSieve service (or locally) to bypass configured CPU time limits for Sieve up to 130 times of the configured limit. Risk: Attacker can use this to degrade server performance and bypass configured CPU time limits for Sieve scripts. No publicly available exploits are known. Solution: Install fixed version, or alternatively prevent direct access to Sieve scripts via ManageSieve or local access. --- Internal reference: DOV-9030 Type: CWE-99 (Improper Control of Resource Identifiers ('Resource Injection')) Component: core Report confidence: Confirmed Solution status: Fixed by vendor Last affected revision: OX Dovecot Pro core 3.1.0, OX Dovecot CE core 2.4.0 First fixed revision: OX Dovecot Pro core 3.1.5, OX Dovecot CE core 2.4.4 Discovery date: 2026-04-08 Solution date: 2026-05-05 Disclosure date: 2026-05-05 Researcher credits: ylwango613@yeswehack CVE: CVE-2026-33603 CVSS: 6.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N) Details: login: Base64 input can contain tabs that bypass IPC protection. Attacker can use a specially crafted base64 exchange between Dovecot and Client to fake SCRAM TLS channel binding. This requires that the attacker is able to position itself between Dovecot and the client connection. Risk: If successful, the attacker can eavesdrop communications between Dovecot and client as MITM proxy. No publicly available exploits are known. Solution: Install fixed version. --- Internal reference: DOV-9040 Type: CWE-284 (Improper Access Control) Component: core Report confidence: Confirmed Solution status: Fixed by vendor Last affected revision: OX Dovecot Pro core 2.3.0 First fixed revision: OX Dovecot Pro core 3.1.5, OX Dovecot CE core 2.4.4 Discovery date: 2026-04-08 Solution date: 2026-05-05 Disclosure date: 2026-05-05 Researcher credits: ilhamaf@yeswehack CVE: CVE-2026-40020 CVSS: 3.1 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L) Details: IMAP folders can be shared-spammed to everyone. Attacker can use the IMAP SETACL command to inject the anyone permission to user's dovecot-acl file even if imap_acl_allow_anyone=no. This causes folders to be spammed to all users. Risk: The impact is limited to being able to spam folders to other users, no unexpected access is gained. No publicly available exploits are known. Solution: Install to fixed version. --- Internal reference: DOV-9138 Type: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) Component: core Report confidence: Confirmed Solution status: Fixed by vendor Last affected revision: OX Dovecot Pro core 3.0.5, OX Dovecot Pro core 3.1.4, OX Dovecot CE core 2.4.3 First fixed revision: OX Dovecot Pro core 3.1.5, OX Dovecot CE core 2.4.4 Discovery date: 2026-04-27 Solution date: 2026-05-05 Disclosure date: 2026-05-05 Researcher credits: D4RKCYPH3R@yeswehack CVE: CVE-2026-42006 CVSS: 4.3 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L) Details: imap-login: Excessive memory usage DoS - Try 2. An attacker can cause uncontrolled memory usage with excessive bracing over IMAP. The fix in CVE-2026-27857 was incomplete, only blocking one way of doing this, so there was still another way left open. In particular, the fix was for closing braces, but you could still use open braces to bypass the limit. Risk: Using excessive bracing, attacker can cause memory usage up to configured memory limit. No publicly available exploits are known. Solution: Install fixed version, or configure vsz_limit for imap process to low value.

1 0

Changed location of index files
by Lafiel Elentari 11 May '26

11 May '26

Hello. After upgrading to version 2.4, index files were moved to the user's home directory, and the `mail_path = ~/mail` parameter was no longer taken into account when processing index files. In addition, indexes for the `INBOX` folder no longer respect the `mail_index_path=` parameter and are stored in the `./INBOX/dovecot.index.*` folder, although they should be stored in the same folder where the messages are stored, given the current configuration. My configuration: ``` mail_home = mail_inbox_path = mail_index_path = mail_path = ~/mail userdb declarative { passwd_file_path = /var/data/mail/dovecot/passdb driver = passwd-file fields { home = /var/data/mail/vmail/%{user | domain}/%{user | username} mail_index_path = /var/data/mail/vmail/%{user | domain }/%{user | username} } } ``` Current location of index files: ``` /var/data/mail/vmail/example.com/user ├── INBOX │ ├── dovecot.index.cache │ └── dovecot.index.log ├── Sent │ ├── dovecot.index.cache │ └── dovecot.index.log ├── Drafts │ └── dovecot.index.log ├── Junk │ └── dovecot.index.log ├── Trash │ ├── dovecot.index.cache │ └── dovecot.index.log ├── dovecot.list.index ├── dovecot.list.index.log └─── mail ├── cur ├── new ├── tmp ├── Sent │ ├── cur │ ├── new │ ├── tmp │ └── dovecot-uidlist ├── Drafts │ ├── cur │ ├── new │ ├── tmp │ └── dovecot-uidlist ├── Junk │ ├── cur │ ├── new │ ├── tmp │ └── dovecot-uidlist ├── Trash │ ├── cur │ ├── new │ ├── tmp │ └── dovecot-uidlist ├── subscriptions ├── dovecot.mailbox.log ├── dovecot-uidlist ├── dovecot-uidvalidity └── dovecot-uidvalidity.69d94118 ``` Expected location of index files according to configuration: ``` /var/data/mail/vmail/example.com/user └─── mail ├── cur ├── new ├── tmp ├── Sent │ ├── cur │ ├── new │ ├── tmp │ ├── dovecot.index │ ├── dovecot.index.cache │ ├── dovecot.index.log │ └── dovecot-uidlist ├── Drafts │ ├── new │ ├── tmp │ ├── cur │ ├── dovecot.index │ ├── dovecot.index.cache │ ├── dovecot.index.log │ └── dovecot-uidlist ├── Junk │ ├── new │ ├── tmp │ ├── cur │ ├── dovecot.index │ ├── dovecot.index.cache │ ├── dovecot.index.log │ └── dovecot-uidlist ├── Trash │ ├── cur │ ├── new │ ├── tmp │ ├── dovecot.index │ ├── dovecot.index.cache │ ├── dovecot.index.log │ └── dovecot-uidlist ├── dovecot.index ├── dovecot.index.cache ├── dovecot.index.log ├── dovecot.list.index ├── dovecot.list.index.log ├── dovecot.mailbox.log ├── dovecot-uidlist ├── dovecot-uidvalidity ├── dovecot-uidvalidity.69d94118 └── subscriptions ``` -- Best regards, Lafiel Elentari mailto:lafiel@elven.pw

2 2

Dovecot 2.3.21.1 missing dbox-Mails folder causes IMAP folder which can not be deleted? Possible known bug?
by Benoit Panizzon 11 May '26

11 May '26

Hi Team Running Dovecot 2.3.21.1 in an ISP environment using dbox format as storage and built in dovecot replication to a secondary storage. => I know, it's not new - migration to 2.4 with completely replacing replication is pending. For quite some time we are fighting issues with customers which are unable to delete IMAP folder. Those folder end up in status \NoSelect When you issue a 'delete' for the folder, it is successful, but either the folder is back after logout/login or back right away when you list the folders. Usual remedy: completely delete mail index of affected mailbox on both, primary and secondary storage, delete complete mail storage on secondary, resync with doveadm force-resync, cross filters. Now I had a mailbox where even this did not solve the issue - but I noticed something weird. . delete "mailbox" => OK . delete "mailbox" => OK . create "mailbox" => OK . create "mailbox" => Mailbox does already exist . delete "mailbox" => OK . delete "mailbox" => Mailbox does not exist Now the Mailbox is gone from the file system and is not shown with list anymore. Now I had a closer look at the next affected mailbox on the filesystem. IMAP Foldername: LIST (\Noselect \HasNoChildren) "." INBOX.brokenmbox Filesystem, directories: INBOX/brokenmbox/ => There is no content, no hidden files inside the folder 'broeknmbox' . delete "INBOX.brokenmbox" => OK Checking Filesystem. Nothing changed, still the same. . create "INBOX.brokenmbox" => OK Checking Filesystem: Now we have: INBOX/broeknmbox/dbox-Mails/ all empty. . delete "INBOX.brokenmbox" => OK Checking Filesystem: broeknmbox/dbox-Mails/ are both gone within INBOX! Conclusion: Dovecot seems to get confused, when a directory without dbox-Mails subdirectory exists, fails to delete such directories but still lists them as IMAP folders. Is this a known bug? Is there anything which is know to cause this issue which we could tweak at our configuration? Mit freundlichen Grüssen -Benoît Panizzon- -- I m p r o W a r e A G - Leiter Commerce Kunden ______________________________________________________ Zurlindenstrasse 29 Tel +41 61 826 93 00 CH-4133 Pratteln Fax +41 61 826 93 01 Schweiz Web http://www.imp.ch ______________________________________________________

1 0

Migration Planning for Dovecot 2.3 to 2.4
by Gregory Carter 05 May '26

05 May '26

Hello so I have started planning my 2.3 to 2.4 migration and finished the lab work today for that process. Does anyone know of any tools to migrate the configs from 2.3 to 2.4? Also if you are running 2.4 I would like to hear from you as to how well it is working out. Thanks. Hello so I have started planning my 2.3 to 2.4 migration and finished the lab work today for that process. Does anyone know of any tools to migrate the configs from 2.3 to 2.4? Also if you are running 2.4 I would like to hear from you as to how well it is working out. Thanks.

8 12

Dovecot sieve, help !
by Tommy Berglund 03 May '26

03 May '26

Hi! I need help and advice on how to get sieve working. Postfix dovecot works to receive and send mail but I can't get sieve to work. Domain and user are virtual in mariadb. Tips are welcome. Doveconf -n attached.

3 4

mail_inbox_path in manual
by Daniel Convissor (business) 01 May '26

01 May '26

Hi: Recently upgraded Debian to version 13/Trixie, which brings Dovecot up to 2.4 (with its significant configuration file changes). As mentioned on this list, Debian decided to manually put mail_inbox_path in their distribution's config files (and set it to /var/mail/%{user}).[1] This resulted in mayhem for me because that's not where our mail is. I assume this has happened to others as well. I figured out the problem by looking at mail.log after adding mail_debug=yes to my local Dovecot config file. Perhaps Dovecot's manual can be updated to clarify the situation, please? The Mail Location page[2] warns admins to not touch this setting. The upgrade page[3] does not mention needing to look out for Debian's choice. (Granted, this is a Debian problem, but the Dovecot manual is where people turn to figure out what is happening.) Thank you, --Dan [1] https://dovecot.org/mailman3/archives/list/dovecot@dovecot.org/message/Q6HI… [2] https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.3/core/config/mail_location.html#mail_inbox_path [3] https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.3/installation/upgrade/2.3-to-2.4.html -- T H E A N A L Y S I S A N D S O L U T I O N S C O M P A N Y Designing transportation systems everyone can use https://www.AnalysisAndSolutions.com/

1 0

Confusion about ldap in 2.4
by fc26wuqa＠studserv.uni-leipzig.de 28 Apr '26

28 Apr '26

Hello, With dovecot 2.3 it was clear to me, how I should set up ldap: Include `conf.d/auth-ldap.conf.ext` in `conf.d/10-auth.conf` and include `dovecot-ldap.conf.ext` with the usual parameters like hosts, uris, dn, etc. In dovecot 2.4 I am a little bit confused about whats the best practice. I heard about that .ext files being outdated and examples in the documentation saying I should put everything in dovecot.conf? So If in 2.3 my config would look like this: ``` # auth-ldap.conf.ext passdb { driver = ldap args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-ldap.conf.ext } userdb { driver = ldap args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-ldap.conf.ext } ``` ``` # dovecot-ldap.conf.ext hosts = ldap.something.org:636 uris = ldaps://smoething.org dn = cn=something,ou=something,dc=something,dc=org dnspass = somethingsomething auth_bind = yes auth_bind_userdn = uid=%u,ou=something ... ``` I would put something like this in dovecot.conf? Or in auth-ldap.conf.ext? ``` ldap_uris = ldap://ldap.example.org ldap_auth_dn = cn=admin,dc=example,dc=org ldap_auth_dn_password = secret ldap_base = dc=example,dc=org passdb ldap { bind = yes filter = (&(objectClass=posixAccount)(uid=%{user})) fields { user = %{ldap:uid} } } ``` (https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.3/core/config/auth/databases/ldap.html#dn-lookup)

1 0

Upgrading from 2.4.2 to 2.4.3 broke static password login
by harrison＠hhj.me 28 Apr '26

28 Apr '26

Hey folks, I've got dovecot running via docker on version 2.4.2. Here's what my config extension looks like: ``` # auth_mechanisms = plain login auth_verbose = yes passdb static { password = %{env:USER_PASSWORD} } service lmtp { inet_listener lmtps { port = 31024 ssl = no } } ssl_server_cert_file = /etc/dovecot/ssl/cert.pem ssl_server_key_file = /etc/dovecot/ssl/key.pem ssl = yes auth_allow_cleartext = no namespace inbox { type = private separator = / inbox = yes mailbox Drafts { special_use = \Drafts auto = subscribe } mailbox Junk { special_use = \Junk auto = create } mailbox spam { special_use = \Junk auto = no } mailbox Spam { special_use = \Junk auto = no } mailbox Trash { special_use = \Trash auto = subscribe } mailbox TRASH { special_use = \Trash auto = no } mailbox Sent { special_use = \Sent auto = subscribe } mailbox "Sent Mail" { special_use = \Sent auto = no } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = \Sent auto = no } mailbox Archive { special_use = \Archive auto = create } mailbox "Archives" { special_use = \Archive auto = no } } ``` I have env `USER_PASSWORD` defined in the format of `{PLAIN}REDACTED` This has been humming along fine for a little while. I recently automatically upgraded to 2.4.3 which broke my ability to login via IMAP to retrieve emails (it also broke my local mail transport setup; it was unable to send emails). I could see the following messages in the logs: ``` Apr 27 11:12:09 auth(REDACTED,REDACTED,sasl:plain)<REDACTED>: Info: static: No password returned (and no nopassword) Apr 27 11:12:11 imap-login: Info: Login aborted: Connection closed (auth failed, 1 attempts in 6 secs) (auth_failed): user=<REDACTED>, method=PLAIN, rip=REDACTED, lip=172.17.0.2, TLS, session=<REDACTED> ``` Downgrading back to 2.4.2 "fixed" the problem (I was able to login again; LMTP worked again). I didn't change my config extension between the upgrades. I tried searching https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Adovecot%2Fcore+password&type=issues and I see a few related to passwords but nothing is really jumping out at me. Help? I'm staying pinned on 2.4.2 for now but that's not a long term solution.

2 3

Panic in logs
by Kamil Jońca 26 Apr '26

26 Apr '26

Recently I found in my lda logs: 2025-12-30T07:55:14.717927+01:00 alfa dovecot: lda(kjonca): Error: Raw backtrace: #1 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #2 i_syslog_fatal_handler[0x7f99a2351430] -> #3 i_panic[0x7f99a226d453] -> #4 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #5 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #6 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #7 buffer_append[0x7f99a2345270] -> #8 dregex_code_match_groups[0x7f99a233f1a0] -> #9 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #10 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #11 sieve_match_value[0x7f99a117f770] -> #12 sieve_match[0x7f99a117fa30] -> #13 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #14 sieve_interpreter_continue[0x7f99a117e100] -> #15 sieve_multiscript_run[0x7f99a1190330] -> #16 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #17 mail_deliver[0x7f99a27e54a0] -> #18 main[0x55e371c555e0] -> #19 __libc_start_call_main[0x7f99a1e29f00] -> #20 __libc_start_main_alias_2[0x7f99a1e29fa0] -> #21 _start[0x55e371c566a0] And sadly it seems, that mail is missing (it was passed to pipe program to further processing) KJ -- http://wolnelektury.pl/wesprzyj/teraz/ When you go out to buy, don't show your silver.

4 6

Incorrect ARC signature on emails
by Lafiel Elentari 25 Apr '26

25 Apr '26

Hello. On the mail server, I configured addition of the `Authentication-Results` header with authentication check results. I noticed that emails from the dovecot.org server have an incorrect ARC signature: Authentication-Results: ...; dkim=pass header.d=dovecot.org header.s=... header.b=...; dkim=fail ("body hash did not verify") header.d=... header.s=... header.b=...; arc=reject ("signature check failed: fail, {[1] = sig:dovecot.org:reject}"); spf=pass (...: domain of "dovecot-bounces+...=...(a)dovecot.org" designates ... as permitted sender) smtp.mailfrom="dovecot-bounces+...=...(a)dovecot.org"; dmarc=pass (policy=reject) header.from=dovecot.org ``` -- Best regards, Lafiel Elentari mailto:lafiel@elven.pw

2 2

mbox to maildir migration, same server?
by kjohnson＠eclypse.org 25 Apr '26

25 Apr '26

What is the recommended procedure to migrate from mbox to maildir on a server already running dovecot? Ideally, this procedure would convert messages in an existing mbox INBOX and in ~/mail mboxes (as defined in my dovecot configuration) to storage in a ~/Maildir. Some of the INBOXs are rather large -- 100's of MB (one of the reasons for migrating). What I have tried has not worked for me. Below, I describe what I tried, how I tested before I tried, what went wrong, and the current setup (pre-migration). What I tried: ============= stop exim4 service dovecot stop Make dovecot listen only locally, not to external connections. /etc/dovecot/local.conf protocol imap { listen = 127.0.0.1:143 ssl_listen = 127.0.0.1:993 } protocol pop3 { listen = 127.0.0.1:110 ssl_listen = 127.0.0.1:995 } Modify dovecot configuration for maildir: Watch capitalization! #in 10-mail.conf: mail_location = maildir:/home/%u/Maildir namespace inbox { separator = / } dovecot -n, to confirm results and perform limited syntax checking. service dovecot start for each user, in a bash script: dsync -v -u "$U" mirror "mbox:/home/$U/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/$U" (if the conversion worked for all users, then reconfigure exim to use maildir and restart it; reconfigure dovecot to listen to external interfaces and restart.) How I tested: ============= Before trying this on the real server, I set up a matching (same versions of Debian, Exim, and Dovecot) VM using mbox, with a couple of accounts. One using POP3, one using IMAP. The IMAP account was accessed from Claws and from Outlook. The test accounts had perhaps a dozen messages on the server. I tried the conversion procedure, and everything I tried worked flawlessly. (Yes, next time I will move some real inbox files from the live server). What went wrong: ================ I encountered two types of problems here. The first was several dsync warnings (username changed): dsync(example): Warning: Mailbox changes caused a desync. You may want to run dsync again: Remote lost mailbox GUID 21bfa11a81f11763ac150000d09efc50 (maybe it was just deleted?) As I understand it, this can result in some or all messages being downloaded again by clients. My understanding may be wrong. I also don't understand how the mailbox could have changed -- exim4 was stopped, dovecot is only listening on 127.0.0.1, and I am the only user who uses a local mail client on that system, and this was not my account. The second problem I encountered seems to match Debian Bug report logs - #1011238. In part of the discussion of that report, the reporter mentions adding -1 to the command, as shown: dsync -v -u "$U" mirror -1 "mbox:/home/$U/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/$U" While this seemed to eliminate the dsync panic of #1011238, as far as I can tell, no old messages were actually moved from the old mbox files to the new maildirs. At that point I restored the backup mbox files and undid the changes to dovecot and exim4. Current setup: ============== Debian 11.4 Exim 4.94.2-7 dovecot 1:2.3.13+dfsg1-2 The current setup with Dovecot was a successful migration from IMAP-UW in December 2020. Output from dovecot -n (the list of trusted networks has been removed) # 2.3.13 (89f716dc2): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 0.5.13 (cdd19fe3) # OS: Linux 5.10.0-16-686-pae i686 Debian 11.4 # Hostname: localhost auth_verbose = yes mail_location = mbox:~/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/%u mail_privileged_group = mail namespace inbox { inbox = yes location = mailbox Drafts { special_use = \Drafts } mailbox Junk { special_use = \Junk } mailbox Sent { special_use = \Sent } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = \Sent } mailbox Trash { special_use = \Trash } prefix = } passdb { driver = pam } pop3_uidl_format = %08Xv%08Xu protocols = " imap pop3" ssl_cert = </etc/dovecot/dovecot.pem ssl_client_ca_dir = /etc/ssl/certs ssl_dh = # hidden, use -P to show it ssl_key = # hidden, use -P to show it userdb { driver = passwd } Thank you to anyone who read this far. Ken

5 5

Is this a bug of `doveadm mailbox metadata set` with `-A` and `-s ""`
by Zhang Huangbin 24 Apr '26

24 Apr '26

Dear all, Recently i encountered an issue with `doveadm mailbox metadata set` (and `unset`) with either `-A` or `-F <path>`. When i run `doveadm mailbox metadata set` for single user, it correctly generates content in `dovecot-attributes` file: ``` doveadm mailbox metadata set -u <email> -s "" "/private/vendor/vendor.dovecot/http-notify" "user=all" ``` But if i run with `-A`, or `-F <path>`, Dovecot generates incorrect "path" and unreadable characters in `dovecot-attributes` file: ``` # doveadm mailbox metadata set -A -s "" "/private/vendor/vendor.dovecot/http-notify" "user=all" # for i in $(find . -name 'dovecot-attributes'); do echo $i; cat $i; done priv/4898662293abe1690d9a000063130d18/vendor/vendor.dovecot/pvt/server/?????? user=all priv/90e7b40fc8c1e9690924000063130d18/vendor/vendor.dovecot/pvt/server/vendor/vendor.dovecot/http-notify user=all priv/60ba353790c1e969f923000063130d18/vendor/vendor.dovecot/pvt/server/endor.dovecot/pvt/server/CV?? user=all ``` It's ok if i specify the mailbox in -s, for example: `-s "INBOX"`, `-s "Sent"`, but it's not what i want, because only emails delivered to specified mailbox will be pushed. Is this a bug?

1 1

[Bug Report] anvil panic: anvil-connection.c:727: unreached triggered by duplicate imap-login handshake with pid=-1
by Jeff Aitken 24 Apr '26

24 Apr '26

Environment: FreeBSD 14.4-RELEASE Dovecot 2.4.3 (e278b1e09b) Pigeonhole 2.4.3 (0bf9ee48) Postfix 3.11.1, rspamd 4.0.0 Description: The dovecot anvil process is crashing repeatedly with a panic in anvil-connection.c at line 727. The panic is triggered by i_unreached() in anvil_connection_destroy(). Total of ~18 crashes in the last 24 hours, happens to multiple users. The anvil process restarts successfully and works as expected other than the crashes. No other symptoms that I can see that appear related. Log messages: dovecot[87542]: anvil: Panic: file anvil-connection.c: line 727: unreached dovecot[87542]: anvil: Fatal: master: service(anvil): child 88408 killed with signal 6 (core not dumped) dovecot[87542]: anvil: Error: connect limit: disconnection for unknown (pid=88756, user=<username>, service=imap, ip=X.X.X.X, ...) dovecot[87542]: anvil: Warning: conn unix:anvil (uid=0): Handshake with duplicate service=imap-login pid=-1 - replacing the old connection Analysis (from claude): In anvil_connection_destroy(), when conn->added_to_hash is true, the code asserts that the connection must still be present in anvil_connections_hash. However, when a duplicate handshake is received for the same (service, pid) key, the old connection appears to be evicted from the hash table without clearing its added_to_hash flag. When the old connection is subsequently destroyed, hash_table_lookup_full() fails to find it, triggering i_unreached(). The pid=-1 in the duplicate handshake warning is also notable — this does not appear to be a valid process ID and may indicate that the handshake is being sent before the imap-login process has fully initialized. Workaround: Setting service_restart_request_count = unlimited and service_process_min_avail = 2 on the imap-login service seems to have reduces process turnover and appears to have reduced the frequency of the crash, but I’ve only got a couple of hours since that change so too early to say for sure. Suggested fix: When a duplicate handshake causes an existing connection to be evicted from anvil_connections_hash, the evicted connection's added_to_hash flag should be cleared to prevent the assertion failure in anvil_connection_destroy(). Appreciate any insight, and happy to provide additional info that would be helpful. —Jeff

1 0

Unable to get Dovecot 2.4 to allow unencrypted connection
by David Koski 24 Apr '26

24 Apr '26

Hello, In spite of: ssl = no auth_allow_cleartext = yes ..in a telnet session, I get: * OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 SASL-IR LOGIN-REFERRALS ID ENABLE IDLE LITERAL+ STARTTLS LOGINDISABLED AUTH=GSSAPI AUTH=CRAM-MD5] Dovecot (Debian) ready. a1 login ln(a)zample.com <super-secret> * BAD [ALERT] Plaintext authentication not allowed without SSL/TLS, but your client did it anyway. If anyone was listening, the password was exposed. a1 NO [PRIVACYREQUIRED] Plaintext authentication disallowed on non-secure (SSL/TLS) connections. I need to see the network traffic to troubleshoot the way Outlook 2019 handles IMAP folders. Regards, David Koski dkoski(a)sutinen.com

3 9

Re: large mbox files
by Joseph Tam 23 Apr '26

23 Apr '26

On Wed, 22 Apr 2026, Marc wrote: > How are messages deleted from large mbox files, are these files > completely rewritten? I can't really believe that as some are bigger > than the free disk space available. I think it's a little better than that: bytes are shuffled up to fill the deleted message hole. I gather this from noting the difference in operation time from deleting a message from the top vs bottom of a large mailbox. Joseph Tam <jtam.home(a)gmail.com>

1 0

large mbox files
by Marc 23 Apr '26

23 Apr '26

How are messages deleted from large mbox files, are these files completely rewritten? I can't really believe that as some are bigger than the free disk space available.

2 1

doveadm expunge silently ignores multiple -u flags instead of erroring or processing all users
by Robert Kretowicz 21 Apr '26

21 Apr '26

Hello, I would like to report what I believe is a bug in doveadm expunge argument handling. Summary When multiple -u flags are passed to doveadm expunge, for example: doveadm expunge -u user1 -u user2 -u user3 mailbox '*' BEFORE 2015-01-01 the command exits with code 0 (success) but only processes one of the specified users. The remaining users are silently skipped with no warning or error message produced. Why this is a bug This is a silent failure on a destructive, irreversible operation. An administrator has no indication that most users were not processed. Good CLI tools should either: Accept multiple -u flags and process all specified users (consistent with how -F file works), or Reject the command immediately with a clear error such as: Error: -u flag specified multiple times. Use -F <file> for multiple users. Silently accepting invalid input and doing something unpredictable is the worst possible outcome, especially for a mail expunge operation. Environment OS: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (Bookworm) Dovecot version: 2.3.x (from Debian package) doveconf -n output available on request — omitted due to containing internal domain names. Workaround I am currently using bashfor user in user1 user2 user3; do doveadm expunge -u "$user" mailbox '*' BEFORE 2015-01-01 done Thank you for your time. Robert Kretowicz

2 1

Master user login attempted without master passdbs
by horst.simon.aus＠gmail.com 21 Apr '26

21 Apr '26

Hi, I have dovecot version v2.3.21.1 and my users (username(a)domain.name) are in mysql, all can logon to imap and sending mail, but when I am trying to create and enable sieve scripts from an weblient (horde webmail) it fails with authentication errors. It tries to use master user authentication and the logs are showing following: A pr 15 10:34:51 auth: Debug: client in: AUTH 1 PLAIN service=sieve secured session=yTdN4nRPFcF/AAAB lip=127.0.0.1 rip=127.0.0.1 lport=4190 rport=49429 resp=aG9yc3QAaG9yc3RAaGJzaW1vbi5uZXQAYXVnQDYmOXVzdA== (previous base64 data may contain sensitive data) Apr 15 10:34:51 auth: Info: plain(horst(a)hbsimon.net,127.0.0.1,<yTdN4nRPFcF/AAAB>): login user: Master user login attempted without master passdbs Apr 15 10:34:51 auth: Debug: auth(horst(a)hbsimon.net,127.0.0.1,<yTdN4nRPFcF/AAAB>): Auth request finished Apr 15 10:34:51 auth: Debug: auth client connected (pid=1478) Apr 15 10:34:53 auth: Debug: client passdb out: FAIL 1 user=horst(a)hbsimon.net Apr 15 10:34:53 managesieve-login: Info: Disconnected: Connection closed (auth failed, 1 attempts in 2 secs): user=<horst(a)hbsimon.net>, method=PLAIN, rip=127.0.0.1, lip=127.0.0.1, secured, session=<yTdN4nRPFcF/AAAB> Apr 15 10:35:06 auth: Debug: client in: AUTH 1 PLAIN service=sieve secured session=VEgr43RPGMF/AAAB lip=127.0.0.1 rip=127.0.0.1 lport=4190 rport=49432 resp=aG9yc3QAaG9yc3RAaGJzaW1vbi5uZXQAYXVnQDYmOXVzdA== (previous base64 data may contain sensitive data) Apr 15 10:35:06 auth: Info: plain(horst(a)hbsimon.net,127.0.0.1,<VEgr43RPGMF/AAAB>): login user: Master user login attempted without master passdbs Apr 15 10:35:06 auth: Debug: auth(horst(a)hbsimon.net,127.0.0.1,<VEgr43RPGMF/AAAB>): Auth request finished Apr 15 10:35:06 auth: Debug: auth client connected (pid=1484) Apr 15 10:35:08 auth: Debug: client passdb out: FAIL 1 user=horst(a)hbsimon.net Apr 15 10:35:08 managesieve-login: Info: Disconnected: Connection closed (auth failed, 1 attempts in 2 secs): user=<horst(a)hbsimon.net>, method=PLAIN, rip=127.0.0.1, lip=127.0.0.1, secured, session=<VEgr43RPGMF/AAAB> How can I bypass the master user login and use the assigned user or what should the master user be and how to create it? Thanks and Regards, Horst

4 7

Dovecot 2.4 SETQUOTA, how to allow (admin) users to set quota (and write it back to LDAP)
by Johannes Nohl 20 Apr '26

20 Apr '26

Is it true that Dovecot dismissed the functionality of SETQUOTA with version 2.4.0 - without any replacement? see https://dovecot.org/mailman3/archives/list/dovecot-news@dovecot.org/message… Does this also applies to 2.4.2 and 2.4.3, or does the mechanism of plugin imap_quota returned (manual reads that there are no options to this plugin)? IMAP always replies `c008 NO [NOPERM] Permission denied (0.001 + 0.000 secs).` If you can activate the former `quota_set` option, how to combine it with LDAP? I know that you can read Quota from LDAP with userdb field `quota_storage_size = {ldap:quotaBytes}B`. But how to set it? I also remember an old opinion that writing LDAP is to slow, you should store quota e.g. in a text file and write it back to LDAP time shifted. That would be fine for me - however, how to enable SETQUOTA then? Thank you for help. -- Johannes Nohl postmaster(a)i-t-cloud.de

3 3

Config: Reading value from file for password does not work
by René Neumann 19 Apr '26

19 Apr '26

Hi, I want to read the ldap auth-dn password from a file to avoid having it as part of the configuration (which may be checked into VCS). I specified ldap_auth_dn_password = </some/file where /some/file contains the password without extra whitespace (esp. there is no `\n`, I checked with xxd). But ldap auth does not succeed because of a wrong password. Password itself does work though, as checked with ldapsearch (even using the same file as password provider) `doveconf -x -P` *does* show the correct value. The same issue has been reported back in 2019 [1], without any reply though :-/ Any ideas? Thanks, René [1] https://dovecot.org/list/dovecot/2019-September/117100.html

2 3

[Bug Report] 2.4.3 on macOS: anvil panics at anvil-connection.c:727 on every IMAP client handshake
by I-K-D-T＠web.de 18 Apr '26

18 Apr '26

Hi Dovecot developers, I'm hitting a reproducible anvil panic on macOS when any IMAP client tries to connect. Every client handshake triggers an `i_unreached()` assertion in `anvil-connection.c:727`, causing the anvil child to be killed with SIGABRT. Dovecot keeps restarting anvil, but every subsequent connection attempt triggers the same panic, so the service effectively cannot accept logins. ## Environment - Dovecot: 2.4.3 (e278b1e09b), Pigeonhole 2.4.3 (0bf9ee48) -- from Homebrew - OS: macOS 15.6 (Sequoia, Darwin 24.6.0, arm64/Apple Silicon, APFS) - Mail client: Mozilla Thunderbird 149.0.2 - Dovecot started via `sudo brew services start dovecot` (launchd) ## Reproducing 1. Fresh macOS install of Dovecot 2.4.3 via Homebrew. 2. Configure a minimal single-user IMAP setup with `passdb static` / `userdb static`, SSL on port 993 with a self-signed cert, Maildir storage (config at end of this mail). 3. Start Dovecot as root via launchd (`sudo brew services start dovecot`). 4. Connect any IMAP client to localhost:993 (I used Thunderbird 149 with a permanent cert exception for the self-signed certificate). 5. The client hangs / reports "server closed the connection" / sees no folders. 6. `dovecot.log` fills with repeated entries like the following: ``` anvil: Warning: conn unix:anvil (uid=0): Handshake with duplicate service=imap-login pid=-1 - replacing the old connection anvil: Panic: file anvil-connection.c: line 727: unreached anvil: Error: Raw backtrace: 0 libdovecot.0.dylib backtrace_append + 72 -> 1 libdovecot.0.dylib backtrace_get + 44 -> 2 libdovecot.0.dylib default_fatal_finish + 72 -> 3 libdovecot.0.dylib default_error_handler -> 4 libdovecot.0.dylib i_internal_error_handler -> 5 libdovecot.0.dylib i_fatal -> 6 libdovecot.0.dylib default_write -> 7 anvil anvil_connection_input_line -> 8 libdovecot.0.dylib connection_input_read_stream + 196 -> 9 libdovecot.0.dylib connection_input_default + 72 -> 10 libdovecot.0.dylib io_loop_call_io + 116 -> 11 libdovecot.0.dylib io_loop_handler_run_internal + 284 -> 12 libdovecot.0.dylib io_loop_handler_run + 220 -> 13 libdovecot.0.dylib io_loop_run + 88 -> 14 libdovecot.0.dylib master_service_run + 292 -> 15 anvil main + 368 -> 16 dyld start + 6076 anvil: Fatal: master: service(anvil): child NNNN killed with signal 6 (core dumps disabled) ``` The key signature is the two-line sequence: ``` Warning: conn unix:anvil (uid=0): Handshake with duplicate service=imap-login pid=-1 - replacing the old connection Panic: file anvil-connection.c: line 727: unreached ``` Every IMAP client handshake produces this. The `pid=-1` in the handshake warning looks suspicious -- it appears anvil is either not receiving a valid pid from imap-login or is registering a second connection with the same service name before the first is cleaned up. ## Workarounds attempted (none succeeded) - User-level setup with default_login_user=andreas -> same panic - Root-level setup with default_login_user=andreas -> same panic - Root-level setup with default_login_user=_www (unprivileged macOS service account with uid=70) -> same panic - Adding `default_vsz_limit = unlimited` (required separately on macOS because setrlimit(RLIMIT_DATA) fails with EINVAL on Darwin) -> did not affect anvil - Plaintext IMAP on 143 (no TLS) vs. IMAPS on 993 with self-signed cert -> same panic in both - Restarting Dovecot via launchd (`sudo brew services stop/start dovecot`) -> the panic recurs on the next connection ## `doveconf -n` output ``` # 2.4.3 (e278b1e09b): /opt/homebrew/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 2.4.3 (0bf9ee48) # OS: Darwin 24.6.0 arm64 apfs # Hostname: macbook-air-von-andreas.local dovecot_config_version = 2.4.3 auth_mechanisms = plain login default_internal_group = _www default_internal_user = _www default_login_user = _www default_vsz_limit = unlimited dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.3 info_log_path = /opt/homebrew/var/log/dovecot/dovecot-info.log listen = 127.0.0.1 log_path = /opt/homebrew/var/log/dovecot/dovecot.log mail_driver = maildir mail_gid = staff mail_home = /Users/andreas/mail/%{user} mail_path = /Users/andreas/mail/%{user} mail_uid = andreas protocols = imap ssl_server { cert_file = /opt/homebrew/etc/dovecot/ssl/dovecot.crt key_file = /opt/homebrew/etc/dovecot/ssl/dovecot.key } service imap-login { inet_listener imap { port = 143 } inet_listener imaps { port = 993 ssl = yes } } passdb static { password = # hidden } userdb static { fields { gid = staff home = /Users/andreas/mail/%{user} uid = andreas } } namespace inbox { mailbox_list_layout = fs inbox = yes prefix = separator = / } ``` ## What I would expect The anvil connection from imap-login should register with a valid pid (not -1) or anvil should tolerate the re-registration gracefully instead of hitting an i_unreached() assertion. ## Note on `dovecot-sysreport` Running `dovecot-sysreport` as the normal user fails with permission errors on `/opt/homebrew/var/run/dovecot/*` sockets (log-errors, master). The `grep -P` usage inside the script also fails on BSD grep (macOS). Let me know if a sysreport archive would be useful -- I can re-run with sudo and adjust grep if needed. Happy to provide further reproduction details, additional log output, or test any fix suggestions. Thanks for Dovecot. Andreas Marth I-K-D-T(a)web.de

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still a compile error in 2.4.3
by matthias 14 Apr '26

14 Apr '26

Hi, I got this message while I compile the version 2.4.3: libtool: error: cannot find the library '../../src/lib-lua/libdovecot-lua.la' or unhandled argument '../../src/lib-lua/libdovecot-lua.la' Thanks Matthias

3 2

INBOX.dovecot.sieve not selectable
by 87auteur-niobium＠icloud.com 14 Apr '26

14 Apr '26

Hi folks, I’m seeing “INBOX.dovecot.sieve” listed on the response of the IMAP LIST command, but attempting to select the mailbox fails with “Internal server error occurred. Refer to the server log for more information”. I assume INBOX.dovecot.sieve is an internal/system folder that shouldn’t be on the LIST response. Is this a known issue? If it is, is it being tracked anywhere (I don’t see an “Issues” tab on GitHub for Dovecot Core)?

2 1

imap-login not passing DSN through
by Hadmut Danisch 14 Apr '26

14 Apr '26

Hi, I have a problem with postfix + dovecot 1:2.3.21+dfsg1-2ubuntu6.3 on Ubuntu Server 24.04: When using dovecot's imap-login to verify users and passwords againgst dovecot's user list, it doesn't pass the DSN flag through, therefore effectively disabling DSN. Postfix, submission port bound to 127.0.0.1, port 587: 250-myhostname 250-PIPELINING 250-SIZE 18432000 250-ETRN 250-STARTTLS 250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES 250-8BITMIME 250-DSN 250-SMTPUTF8 250 CHUNKING but imap-login (configured to forward to 127.0.0.1:587): 250-myhostname 250-8BITMIME 250-AUTH PLAIN 250-BURL imap 250-CHUNKING 250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES 250-SIZE 250 PIPELINING So both the size limit and DSN are not passed through, SMTPUTF8 either. Even setting imap_capability = +DSN in 20-imap.conf doesn't help. What is keeping dovecot's imap-login from offering DSN? best regards Hadmut Hi, I have a problem with postfix + dovecot 1:2.3.21+dfsg1-2ubuntu6.3 on Ubuntu Server 24.04: When using dovecot's imap-login to verify users and passwords againgst dovecot's user list, it doesn't pass the DSN flag through, therefore effectively disabling DSN. Postfix, submission port bound to 127.0.0.1, port 587: 250-myhostname 250-PIPELINING 250-SIZE 18432000 250-ETRN 250-STARTTLS 250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES 250-8BITMIME 250-DSN 250-SMTPUTF8 250 CHUNKING but imap-login (configured to forward to 127.0.0.1:587): 250-myhostname 250-8BITMIME 250-AUTH PLAIN 250-BURL imap 250-CHUNKING 250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES 250-SIZE 250 PIPELINING So both the size limit and DSN are not passed through, SMTPUTF8 either. Even setting imap_capability = +DSN in 20-imap.conf doesn't help. What is keeping dovecot's imap-login from offering DSN? best regards Hadmut

1 1

doveadm batch crash
by Jonathan Casiot 13 Apr '26

13 Apr '26

Hi I'm having an issue with doveadm batch - the following command always crashes: doveadm batch : mailbox status all inbox Whereas the following work as expected: doveadm mailbox status all inbox doveadm batch : mailbox list Any assistance gratefully received. Debug output from the crash: Debug: Loading modules from directory: /usr/lib64/dovecot Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/lib01_acl_plugin.so Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/lib10_mail_crypt_plugin.so Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/lib90_stats_plugin.so Debug: Loading modules from directory: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm/lib10_doveadm_acl_plugin.so Debug: Skipping module doveadm_expire_plugin, because dlopen() failed: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm/lib10_doveadm_expire_plugin.so: undefined symbol: expire_set_deinit (this is usually intentional, so just ignore this message) Debug: Skipping module doveadm_quota_plugin, because dlopen() failed: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm/lib10_doveadm_quota_plugin.so: undefined symbol: quota_user_module (this is usually intentional, so just ignore this message) Debug: Skipping module doveadm_fts_lucene_plugin, because dlopen() failed: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm/lib20_doveadm_fts_lucene_plugin.so: undefined symbol: lucene_index_iter_deinit (this is usually intentional, so just ignore this message) Debug: Skipping module doveadm_fts_plugin, because dlopen() failed: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm/lib20_doveadm_fts_plugin.so: undefined symbol: fts_user_get_language_list (this is usually intentional, so just ignore this message) Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm/libdoveadm_mail_crypt_plugin.so doveadm(jc): Debug: Effective uid=1001, gid=100, home=/home/jc doveadm(jc): Debug: acl: No acl_shared_dict setting - shared mailbox listing is disabled doveadm(jc): Debug: mail_crypt_plugin: mail_crypt_curve setting missing - generating EC keys disabled doveadm(jc): Debug: Namespace inbox: type=private, prefix=, sep=., inbox=yes, hidden=no, list=yes, subscriptions=yes location=mdbox:~/mdbox:ALT=~/Archive/tape/mdbox doveadm(jc): Debug: fs: root=/home/jc/mdbox, index=, indexpvt=, control=, inbox=, alt=/home/jc/Archive/tape/mdbox doveadm(jc): Debug: acl: initializing backend with data: vfile doveadm(jc): Debug: acl: acl username = jc doveadm(jc): Debug: acl: owner = 1 doveadm(jc): Debug: acl vfile: Global ACLs disabled doveadm(jc): Panic: file mail-storage.c: line 875 (mailbox_set_reason): assertion failed: (reason != NULL) doveadm(jc): Error: Raw backtrace: /usr/lib64/dovecot/libdovecot.so.0(+0xa0e9e) [0x7fc993023e9e] -> /usr/lib64/dovecot/libdovecot.so.0(default_fatal_handler+0x2a) [0x7fc993023f0a] -> /usr/lib64/dovecot/libdovecot.so.0(i_fatal+0) [0x7fc992fb3c97] -> /usr/lib64/dovecot/libdovecot-storage.so.0(+0x49856) [0x7fc993301856] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(+0x348e2) [0x5631dbb5f8e2] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(+0x2e1ad) [0x5631dbb591ad] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(+0x2bd2c) [0x5631dbb56d2c] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(+0x2c92a) [0x5631dbb5792a] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(doveadm_mail_try_run+0x215) [0x5631dbb58285] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(main+0x46a) [0x5631dbb473fa] -> /lib64/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xf5) [0x7fc992bd83d5] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(+0x1c565) [0x5631dbb47565] Aborted (core dumped) And doveconf -n output: # 2.2.36 (1f10bfa63): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # OS: Linux 3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.x86_64 x86_64 CentOS Linux release 7.6.1810 (Core) # Hostname: ### redacted ### first_valid_gid = 100 first_valid_uid = 1000 last_valid_gid = 100 last_valid_uid = 1999 listen = * login_greeting = IMAP ready login_log_format_elements = user=<%u> method=%m rip=%r lip=%l mpid=%e session=<%{session}> %k mail_attribute_dict = file:%h/mdbox/dovecot-attributes mail_location = mdbox:~/mdbox:ALT=~/Archive/tape/mdbox mail_plugins = acl stats mail_crypt mailbox_list_index = yes mdbox_rotate_size = 16 M namespace inbox { inbox = yes location = mailbox Drafts { special_use = \Drafts } mailbox Junk { special_use = \Junk } mailbox Sent { special_use = \Sent } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = \Sent } mailbox Trash { special_use = \Trash } prefix = separator = . } passdb { driver = pam } plugin { acl = vfile mail_crypt_global_private_key = <### redacted ### mail_crypt_global_public_key = <### redacted ### mail_crypt_save_version = 2 stats_memory_limit = 16 M stats_refresh = 30 secs stats_track_cmds = yes } postmaster_address = ### redacted ### protocols = imap service auth { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0660 user = postfix } } service imap-login { process_limit = 200 process_min_avail = 4 service_count = 1 } service stats { fifo_listener stats-mail { group = users mode = 01224 } } ssl = required ssl_cert = <### redacted ### ssl_key = # hidden, use -P to show it ssl_prefer_server_ciphers = yes ssl_protocols = !SSLv2 !SSLv3 !TLSv1 userdb { driver = passwd } verbose_proctitle = yes protocol imap { imap_idle_notify_interval = 10 mins imap_metadata = yes mail_max_userip_connections = 20 mail_plugins = acl stats mail_crypt imap_acl imap_stats } Regards, -- Jonathan

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decode2text
by Joan Moreau 13 Apr '26

13 Apr '26

Hi I can't find decode2text.sh in the git Where is it maintained ? Thank you Joan Hi I can't find decode2text.sh in the git Where is it maintained ? Thank you Joan

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Fwd: [EXT] In Yocto-Mailinglist, there were two version of dovecot 2.4.3 found?
by Martin Maurer 10 Apr '26

10 Apr '26

Hello, resent to get clarification, about different content of 2.4.3 release tar file Best regards, Martin -------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht -------- Betreff: Re: [EXT] In Yocto-Mailinglist, there were two version of dovecot 2.4.3 found? Datum: Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:37:36 +0300 (EEST) Von: Aki Tuomi <aki.tuomi(a)open-xchange.com> An: Martin Maurer <martin.maurer(a)mmeacs.de> Kopie (CC): dovecot-owner(a)dovecot.org <dovecot-owner(a)dovecot.org> Please send mails to dovecot(a)dovecot.org, which is our public mailing list. Aki > On 10/04/2026 14:18 EEST Martin Maurer <martin.maurer(a)mmeacs.de> wrote: > > Hi, > > in Yocto mailing list there was found out, that two different version > of dovecot 2.4.3 seems to exist: > > > https://github.com/dovecot/core/releases/download/2.4.3/dovecot-2.4.3.tar.gz > > > sha256:e0b30330fe51e47ecfcf641bc16041184d91bdd0ac3db789b7cef54e3a75ac9b > > > https://dovecot.org/releases/2.4/dovecot-2.4.3.tar.gz > > SHA256: ff0be85228122f250627b19e67505fdb7fb2f72a702ef6bf35f27fce54c072e5 > > > When downloading both and comparing them: > > The doc/man directory seem to be different. > > When I had looked correctly, all others files seems to be identical. > > > Can you explain, what could have happened? > > In Yocto the SHA256 checksum is checked, and this seems to fail, when > the one or the other download place is used. > > Is this as planned or had an error happened? > > > Many thanks for the clarification! > > > Best regards, > > Martin Hello, resent to get clarification, about different content of 2.4.3 release tar file Best regards, Martin -------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht -------- Betreff: Re: [EXT] In Yocto-Mailinglist, there were two version of dovecot 2.4.3 found? Datum: Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:37:36 +0300 (EEST) Von: Aki Tuomi [1]<aki.tuomi(a)open-xchange.com> An: Martin Maurer [2]<martin.maurer(a)mmeacs.de> Kopie (CC): [3]dovecot-owner(a)dovecot.org [4]<dovecot-owner(a)dovecot.org> Please send mails to [5]dovecot(a)dovecot.org, which is our public mailing list. Aki On 10/04/2026 14:18 EEST Martin Maurer [6]<martin.maurer(a)mmeacs.de> wrote: Hi, in Yocto mailing list there was found out, that two different version of dovecot 2.4.3 seems to exist: [7]https://github.com/dovecot/core/releases/download/2.4.3/dovecot-2.4.3.tar… sha256:e0b30330fe51e47ecfcf641bc16041184d91bdd0ac3db789b7cef54e3a75ac9b [8]https://dovecot.org/releases/2.4/dovecot-2.4.3.tar.gz SHA256: ff0be85228122f250627b19e67505fdb7fb2f72a702ef6bf35f27fce54c072e5 When downloading both and comparing them: The doc/man directory seem to be different. When I had looked correctly, all others files seems to be identical. Can you explain, what could have happened? In Yocto the SHA256 checksum is checked, and this seems to fail, when the one or the other download place is used. Is this as planned or had an error happened? Many thanks for the clarification! Best regards, Martin References Visible links 1. mailto:aki.tuomi@open-xchange.com 2. mailto:martin.maurer@mmeacs.de 3. mailto:dovecot-owner@dovecot.org 4. mailto:dovecot-owner@dovecot.org 5. mailto:dovecot@dovecot.org 6. mailto:martin.maurer@mmeacs.de 7. https://github.com/dovecot/core/releases/download/2.4.3/dovecot-2.4.3.tar.gz 8. https://dovecot.org/releases/2.4/dovecot-2.4.3.tar.gz

1 0

Source tarballs for dovecot 2.4.3 republished
by Aki Tuomi 10 Apr '26

10 Apr '26

Hi! We have republished the source tarballs for 2.4.3 due to missing man pages in the tarball. Regards, AKi

1 0

Dovecot Proxy with mysql passdb and oauth2 authentication: upgrade from 2.3.21 to 2.4.3 does not work
by Urban Loesch 07 Apr '26

07 Apr '26

Hi, I am running a Dovecot IMAP/POP3 proxy in my test environment using the latest version, 2.3.21, installed from the Dovecot repository. It functions as a pure IMAP/POP3 proxy for 7 different IMAP backends (currently always Dovecot 2.3.21). The proxy retrieves all its information from a MySQL database mainly the ip-address to which backend he should pass the connection and forwards all authentication information to the backend. This has always worked without any issues so far. Now I'm trying to upgrade the proxy from 2.3.21 to 2.4.3. I tried to convert my 2.3.21 configuration to 2.4.3 with your very helpfull tool from https://dovecot.org/upgrader/. But now when I try to start dovecot I get the followong error in my logs: ... 2026-04-07T12:00:57.692994+02:00 imap-dev dovecot: auth: Debug: Loading modules from directory: /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/auth 2026-04-07T12:00:57.695908+02:00 imap-dev dovecot: auth: Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/auth/libdriver_mysql.so 2026-04-07T12:00:57.696532+02:00 imap-dev dovecot: auth: Fatal: Cannot initialize oauth2: Missing oauth2_introspection_mode setting 2026-04-07T12:00:57.697569+02:00 imap-dev dovecot: master: Error: service(auth): command startup failed, throttling for 4.000 secs ... As I just said, the server only works as a proxy (no mailboxes hosted on itself, etc). Have you any idea how I can solve this issues? Below my current .deb packages installed and "doveconf -n" from 2.4.3. Many thanks in advance Urban ----------------------- # dpkg -l |grep dovecot ii dovecot-core 2:2.4.3-1+debian12 amd64 secure POP3/IMAP server - core files ii dovecot-imapd 2:2.4.3-1+debian12 amd64 secure POP3/IMAP server - IMAP daemon ii dovecot-ldap 2:2.4.3-1+debian12 amd64 secure POP3/IMAP server - LDAP support ii dovecot-lmtpd 2:2.4.3-1+debian12 amd64 secure POP3/IMAP server - LMTP server ii dovecot-managesieved 2:2.4.3-1+debian12 amd64 secure POP3/IMAP server - ManageSieve server ii dovecot-mysql 2:2.4.3-1+debian12 amd64 secure POP3/IMAP server - MySQL support ii dovecot-pop3d 2:2.4.3-1+debian12 amd64 secure POP3/IMAP server - POP3 daemon ii dovecot-sieve 2:2.4.3-1+debian12 amd64 secure POP3/IMAP server - Sieve filters support ------------------------ # 2.4.3-1+debian12 (c1b22ef978): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 2.4.3-1+debian12 (99939e07) # OS: Linux 6.1.0-31-amd64 x86_64 Debian 12.13 # Hostname: imap-dev.domain.com dovecot_config_version = 2.4.3 auth_cache_negative_ttl = 0 auth_cache_size = 128 M auth_cache_ttl = 0 auth_debug = yes auth_debug_passwords = yes auth_failure_delay = 5 secs auth_mechanisms = plain login oauthbearer xoauth2 auth_username_chars = abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ01234567890.-_%@ auth_username_translation = %@ dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.0 login_log_format_elements = user=<%{user}> method=%{mechanism} rip=%{remote_ip} lip=%{local_ip} mpid=%{mail_pid} %{secured} %{ssl_security} managesieve_sieve_capability = fileinto reject envelope encoded-character vacation subaddress comparator-i;ascii-numeric relational regex imap4flags copy include variables body enotify environment mailbox date index ihave duplicate mime foreverypart extracttext protocols = imap sieve sql_driver = mysql ssl_min_protocol = TLSv1 verbose_proctitle = yes namespace inbox { inbox = yes mailbox Drafts { special_use = "\\Drafts" } mailbox Junk { special_use = "\\Junk" } mailbox Sent { special_use = "\\Sent" } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = "\\Sent" } mailbox Trash { special_use = "\\Trash" } } passdb sql { default_password_scheme = PLAIN query = SELECT NULL AS password, 'y' AS nodb, SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING_INDEX(param, '[', -1), ']', 1) AS host, '%{user}' AS destuser, 'Y' AS nologin, 'Y' AS nopassword, 'Y' AS proxy, '%{mechanism}' AS proxy_mech FROM mail_username WHERE user = '%{user}' AND allow_login = 'y' AND ('%{protocol}' = 'imap' OR '%{protocol}' = 'sieve'); } mysql devdb1.domain.com { dbname = mailconfig_dev password = # hidden, use -P to show it user = imap-dev } sieve_script personal { driver = file path = ~/sieve } service imap-login { process_min_avail = 2 restart_request_count = unlimited vsz_limit = 512 M } service managesieve-login { inet_listener sieve { port = 4190 } } service pop3-login { process_min_avail = 2 restart_request_count = unlimited vsz_limit = 256 M } service tcpwrap { unix_listener login/tcpwrap { group = $SET:default_login_user mode = 0600 user = $SET:default_login_user } } ssl_server { cert_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.com/fullchain.pem dh_file = /etc/dovecot/dh.pem key_file = /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.com/privkey.pem prefer_ciphers = server } protocol imap { imap_capability = IMAP4rev1 LITERAL+ SASL-IR LOGIN-REFERRALS ID ENABLE IDLE login_greeting = Domain-Dev IMAP Server ready. } protocol pop3 { login_greeting = Domain-Dev POP3 Server ready. pop3_enable_last = yes pop3_uidl_format = %{uid | substr(0, 8)}%{uidvalidity | substr(0, 8)} }

1 0

Dovecot and Pigeonhole v2.4.3 released
by Aki Tuomi 07 Apr '26

07 Apr '26

Hi! We are happy to publish version 2.4.3 of Dovecot and Pigeonhole. These contain several CVEs, discovered by external researches. The majority of these have been discovered with help of automated code analysis tools like claude code security, which is why some of these are rather old, missed bugs. No new supported distros have been added or old removed, no new dependencies have been added. Note that there are experimental features in 2.4, one is enabled with `--enable-experimental-mail-utf8`, and another with `--enable-experimental-imap4rev2`, and you also need to set mail_utf8_extensions=yes and imap4rev2_enabled=yes to enable them in config. https://dovecot.org/releases/2.4/dovecot-2.4.3.tar.gz https://dovecot.org/releases/2.4/dovecot-2.4.3.tar.gz.sig https://pigeonhole.dovecot.org/releases/2.4/dovecot-pigeonhole-2.4.3.tar.gz https://pigeonhole.dovecot.org/releases/2.4/dovecot-pigeonhole-2.4.3.tar.gz… Binary packages in https://repo.dovecot.org/ Docker images in https://hub.docker.com/r/dovecot/dovecot --- * CVE-2025-59028: Invalid base64 authentication can cause DoS for other logins. * CVE-2025-59031: decode2text.sh OOXML extraction may follow symlinks and read unintended files during indexing. Fixed by dropping the script. * CVE-2026-24031: SQL injection possible if auth_username_chars is configured empty. Fixed escaping to always happen. v2.4 regression. * CVE-2026-27859: Excessive RFC 2231 MIME parameters in email would cause excessive CPU usage. Fixed by limiting number of parameters to process. * CVE-2026-27860: LDAP query injection possible if auth_username_chars is configured empty. Fixed escaping to always happen. v2.4 regression. * CVE-2026-27857: Sending excessive parenthesis causes imap-login to use excessive memory. * CVE-2026-27856: Doveadm credentials were not checked using timing-safe checking function. * CVE-2026-27855: OTP driver vulnerable to replay attack. * Remove default service/*/service_extra_groups=$SET:default_internal_group. They are now replaced by default mail_access_groups=$SET:default_internal_group. * The version file has been renamed as version.txt to avoid clash with C++ headers. * auth: oauth2 - Do not export token automatically, must be exported using fields. * config: Don't accept 0 as meaning unlimited anymore for last_valid_uid, last_valid_gid, mail_cache_max_headers_count, mail_cache_max_header_name_length, mail_vsize_bg_after_count, mail_sort_max_read_count, message_max_size, submission_max_recipients and quota_mail_size. * imap, pop3: Don't autoexpunge if Dovecot is shutting down or process is killed. * imap: LIST - Handle invalid mUTF-7 mailbox names as never matching anything * lazy-expunge: Change lazy_expunge_only_last_instance default to yes. * lda: Use EX_TEMPFAIL (75) if configuration is invalid instead of 89. v2.4 regression. * lib-master: Increase ANVIL_DEFAULT_LOOKUP_TIMEOUT_MSECS from 5s to 30s * lib: crc32 - Use zlib's built-in CRC32 function + Improve UTF-8 support for mail storage. + auth: Add default auth-token UNIX socket for token-based authentication. + doc: solr-config-9.xml - Make it compatible with Solr 9.8.0 + doveadm: dsync - Search mails when exporting to reduce number of mails exported by dsync-server. + dovecot-sysreport: Add -D|--destdir support. + imap, imap-hibernate: Use DOVECOT-TOKEN authentication for unhibernation. Default imap-master socket permissioms have been changed due to this. + imap: Add APPENDLIMIT capability when configured with quota_mail_size. + imap: Support STATUS (DELETED) for IMAP4rev2. + imapc: Add support for SEARCH MIMEPART + imapc: Improve error forwarding. + imapc: Support SORT and ESORT extensions. + imapc: Support STATUS (DELETED) for IMAP4rev2. + lib-sql: Support parameterized queries. + lib-test: Add new test-dir API for better temporary test directory handling. + lmtp: Advertize SIZE capability when configured with quota_mail_size. + lmtp: Support XCLIENT DESTADDR and DESTPORT + pop3-login: proxy - Add support for XCLIENT DESTIP and DESTPORT + submission-login: proxy - Add support for XCLIENT DESTIP and DESTPORT + Various optimizations have been made to the code. - Fix building dovecot with BSD, Solaris and macOS. - auth: Crash would occur if users were iterated but userdb_ldap_iterate_fields was not set. - auth: Fix request leak when client authenticates with unsupported mechanism. - auth: Some passdbs would default to PLAIN instead of CRYPT scheme. - config: Section and setting names could have been intermixed, resulting in the setting being silently ignored. - configure: Fix checking if BUILD_IMAP_HIBERNATE is set - doveadm: dsync - -e parameter was handled wrong with dsync-server. - fts-flatcurve: Mailbox leak would occur if mailbox failed to open. - imap: Fix potential issues with unhibernation and process state handling. - imapc: SEARCH failure handling was done wrong. - imapc: UID STORE commands included extra comma in uidset. - lib-auth-client: auth-master - Fix panic when reconnecting after handshake timeout. - lib-compression: Lz4 algorithm would assert-crash with malicious data. - lib-dcrypt: Fix digest algorithm handling. - lib-dict: Escape username paths to prevent traversal issues with dict-fs. - lib-http: Fix HTTP parsing edge cases and state handling. - lib-iostream: Disallow empty ssl_min_protocol. - lib-json: Fix incorrect character handling logic. - lib-ldap: Fix various TLS related bugs. - lib-mail: Fix charset translation and MIME parsing edge cases. - lib-mail: Fix multiple bounds checks and parsing issues in message handling. - lib-var-expand: Multiple fixes and improvements for expansion handling. - lib: Fix punycode decoding out-of-bounds reads. - lib: Fix unicode normalization edge cases causing crashes. - lib-http: Chunked transfer trailer size was not limited. - login-common: Improve logging and internal error handling. - login-common: login_log_format_elements was split by spaces naively, which could break variable expansion. Use template aware splitting now. - master: Dovecot would fail to start if listen directive was used and dovenull or dovecot user was missing. - pop3c: Connection might've hung with SSL. - util: Fix handling of environment variables containing control characters. - Many other bugs have been fixed. --- * CVE-2026-27858: managesieve-login can allocate large amount of memory during authentication. * CVE-2025-59032: ManageSieve panic occurs with sieve-connect as a client. * lib-sieve: Don't accept 0 as meaning unlimited anymore for sieve_quota_script_count and sieve_quota_storage_size. * managesieve-login: If mail_max_userip_connections is reached, return LIMIT/CONNECTIONS resp-code. * managesieve-login: proxy - Return unexpected backend failures as TRYLATER/NORETRY resp-code. * managesieve: Remove default service_extra_groups=$SET:default_internal_group. + managesieve-login: proxy - Add support for XCLIENT DESTIP and DESTPORT. - imapsieve: Fix panic occurring upon implicit flag changes. - lib-sieve: include-extension - Fix crash occurring when previous global command has no arguments. - lib-sieve: Fix erroneous attempt to read active script for non-personal storage. - lib-sieve: ldap: Fix linking non-shared LIBDOVECOT.

8 11

Bug report: filter `default` in LDAP context does not suppress error logging
by Johannes Nohl 07 Apr '26

07 Apr '26

Bug report: Expanding variables with filter `default` in LDAP context does not suppress error logging if LDAP attribute is missing. Expected behaviour: Missing LDAP attribute does not throw an error. Example `nologin = %{ldap:missingAttribute | default}` Details: Please note: The missing attribute is called `shadowInactive` in reality. There might be another issue, the field nologin is boolean and set true if any value is assigned -- while default without parameter returns empty (thus, you cannot use default with nologin without workaround). The intended behaviour is documented clearly, however due to a bug in rendering you need to look into the doc sources (my PR for that was accepted already: https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.2/core/config/auth/databases/ldap.html#ldap-spe… https://github.com/dovecot/documentation/pull/1478#pullrequestreview-403461… Full context: passdb ldap { driver = ldap ldap_filter = (&(objectClass=posixAccount)(mail=%{user})) fields { user = %{ldap:uid} nologin = %{ldap:shadowInactive | default} reason = The account for this email address is disabled. } } The same error was reported already a year ago, although among others, see point 4: https://dovecot.org/mailman3/archives/list/dovecot@dovecot.org/thread/TLJ2O… Please excuse my first attempt of 31-03-2026. It was unreadable. Aki already tried to help but was - I guess - distracted from the main point. I found a workaround for the missing attribute translation to boolean fields (if someone is interested) https://dovecot.org/mailman3/archives/list/dovecot@dovecot.org/thread/67Z4C… I tested with dovecot 2.4.2 and 2.4.3 (openSUSE repos) against local LDAP. The check for disabled users throws permanently errors in the log file, whenever the user is missing the ldap attribute for disabled. Thus, for each login of all enabled users (you will probably agree that this not acceptable). This results in the following log line: 2026-03-31T00:46:31.102690+02:00 mailserver dovecot: auth(test,ipv4,sasl:plain)<YE81n0VOVuofEeSD>: Error: ldap: auth_passdb_post settings: Failed to parse configuration: Failed to expand passdb_fields/nologin setting variables: ldap: No such attribute 'shadowinactive' Thank you Johannes -- Johannes Nohl postmaster(a)i-t-cloud.de

2 3

[Dovecot] migration from IMAP/POP3 courier server to a remote dovecot server
by nik600 06 Apr '26

06 Apr '26

Dear all i'm planning a transparent migration from a courier server that provides both IMAP and POP3 access to users to a remote dovecot server with both IMAP and POP3 access. I have to migrate about 2500 users for 250 GB of space. I'm using dovecot 2.2.5.4 on debian6 squeeze. To make a transparent migration i have to maintain old IMAP UIDs and POP3 UIDs, so i've read http://wiki2.dovecot.org/Migration and http://wiki2.dovecot.org/Migration/Courier and http://wiki2.dovecot.org/Migration/Dsync And decided that probably the best tool to use is Dsync, as the courier-dovecot-migrate.pl<http://www.dovecot.org/tools/courier-dovecot-migrate.pl> script works only locally. I've tested the dsync following instructions reported above but after the migration of one test-account the client re-download messages. If i want to keep both IMAP UIDs and POP3 UIDs i have to sync both imapc and pop3c with two commands? doveadm -o imapc_user=foo -o pop3c_user=foo -o imapc_password=bar -o pop3c_password=bar backup -R -u user@domain imapc: doveadm -o imapc_user=foo -o pop3c_user=foo -o imapc_password=bar -o pop3c_password=bar backup -R -u user@domain pop3c: Or imapc is enough? Do you have any suggestion? Thanks -- /*************/ nik600 http://www.kumbe.it

2 3

oath-toolkit pam authentication with dovecot
by "Tóth Attila" 04 Apr '26

04 Apr '26

Anybody has experience in deploying oath-toolkit totp authentication for dovecot? It works for ssh in a challenge response fashion, but I have concernes against concatenating the password with the totp digits, because I have difficulties even with su+oath_toolkit... Thx: Dw. -- dr Tóth Attila, Radiológus, 06-20-825-8057 Attila Toth MD, Radiologist, +36-20-825-8057

2 1

enabling fts_flatcurve on debian
by Stefan G. Weichinger 03 Apr '26

03 Apr '26

Which xapian-related packages do I need? I have issues enabling the plugin ... pls advise

2 6

2.4 upgrade : INBOX does not exist
by Stefan G. Weichinger 02 Apr '26

02 Apr '26

Today I upgraded a server at a customer. I modified the config I had built over the last week, with the help of this list. So far nearly everything works, but thunderbird complains about non-existing mailboxes like INBOX. But we can access it, it's a bit strange. In the filesystem it looks like: # ls -la /home/vmail/our.tld/user\(a)our.tld/ insgesamt 7096 drwx------ 69 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 19:00 . drwx------ 129 vmail vmail 12288 2. Apr 18:56 .. drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 8. Jun 2021 .Administrator drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 18:40 .Administrator.Archiv drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 18:40 '.Administrator.Domainwechsel AquaCC' drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 11. Mai 2025 .Archives drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 18:40 .Archives.2001 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 18:40 .Archives.2002 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 18:40 .Archives.2003 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 12. Aug 2024 .Archives.2004 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 18:40 .Archives.2005 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 12. Aug 2024 .Archives.2006 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 12. Aug 2024 .Archives.2007 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 10. Feb 18:17 .Archives.2008 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 12. Aug 2024 .Archives.2009 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 12. Aug 2024 .Archives.2010 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 10. Feb 18:10 .Archives.2011 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 12. Aug 2024 .Archives.2012 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 12. Aug 2024 .Archives.2013 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 10. Feb 18:09 .Archives.2014 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 12. Aug 2024 .Archives.2015 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 17:51 .Archives.2016 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 11. Feb 11:57 .Archives.2017 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 10. Jun 2025 .Archives.2018 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 11. Feb 11:57 .Archives.2019 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 10. Feb 18:23 .Archives.2020 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 1. Apr 20:18 .Archives.2021 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 30. Mär 09:37 .Archives.2022 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 1. Apr 20:18 .Archives.2023 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 1. Apr 20:18 .Archives.2024 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 17:48 .Archives.2025 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 17:59 .Archives.2026 drwx------ 2 vmail vmail 323584 2. Apr 19:00 cur -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 0 2. Aug 2021 dovecot-acl-list -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 70712 2. Apr 18:37 dovecot.index -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 6266860 2. Apr 19:01 dovecot.index.cache -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 32160 2. Apr 19:00 dovecot.index.log -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 46940 2. Apr 06:20 dovecot.index.log.2 -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 91 18. Aug 2020 dovecot-keywords -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 65 2. Apr 18:37 .dovecot.lda-dupes drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 18:37 .dovecot.lda-dupes.locks -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 6504 2. Apr 18:49 dovecot.list.index -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 3356 2. Apr 19:02 dovecot.list.index.log -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 2904 7. Jän 13:53 dovecot.mailbox.log -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 186894 2. Apr 18:59 dovecot-uidlist -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 8 7. Jän 13:53 dovecot-uidvalidity -r--r--r-- 1 vmail vmail 0 21. Apr 2020 dovecot-uidvalidity.5e9efc52 drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 12:02 .Drafts drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 12. Jun 2025 '.Entw&APw-rfe' drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 6. Mai 2020 .Gesendet drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 18:22 .INBOX.Administrator drwx------ 5 vmail vmail 4096 2. Apr 18:21 .INBOX.Alerts [..] We have mail_home = /home/vmail/%{user | domain}/%{user} I tried mail_home = /home/vmail/%{user | domain}/%{user | username} but that breaks things completely. In 2.3 we had these namespaces: namespace { type = private separator = / prefix = #location defaults to mail_location. inbox = yes } namespace { type = public separator = / prefix = Oeffentlich/ location = maildir:/home/vmail/oeffentlich subscriptions = yes } I tried "prefix = INBOX/" ... not good. I share the config, a little bit anonymized, acls removed ... # doveconf -n # 2.4.1-4 (7d8c0e5759): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 2.4.1-4 (0a86619f) # OS: Linux 6.12.74+deb13+1-amd64 x86_64 Debian 13.4 # Hostname: xxxx dovecot_config_version = 2.4.1 auth_allow_weak_schemes = yes auth_cache_size = 4M auth_debug = yes auth_mechanisms = plain login auth_verbose = yes default_process_limit = 300 dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.0 import_environment { CORE_ERROR = %{env:CORE_ERROR} CORE_OUTOFMEM = %{env:CORE_OUTOFMEM} LISTEN_FDS = %{env:LISTEN_FDS} LISTEN_PID = %{env:LISTEN_PID} MALLOC_MMAP_THRESHOLD_ = 131072 NOTIFY_SOCKET = %{env:NOTIFY_SOCKET} PATH = %{env:PATH} TZ = :/etc/localtime } info_log_path = /var/log/dovecot.info listen = * [::] log_path = /var/log/dovecot.log mail_debug = yes mail_driver = maildir mail_gid = 5000 mail_home = /home/vmail/%{user | domain}/%{user} mail_path = ~ mail_plugins { acl = yes notify = yes quota = no } mail_uid = 5000 protocols = imap sieve lmtp sieve_extensions { fileinto = yes reject = yes envelope = yes encoded-character = yes vacation = yes subaddress = yes comparator-i;ascii-numeric = yes relational = yes regex = yes imap4flags = yes copy = yes include = yes body = yes variables = yes enotify = yes environment = yes mailbox = yes date = yes index = yes ihave = yes duplicate = yes mime = yes foreverypart = yes extracttext = yes editheader = yes mboxmetadata = yes servermetadata = yes spamtest = yes spamtestplus = yes virustest = yes } sieve_global_extensions { vnd.dovecot.debug = yes vnd.dovecot.environment = yes vnd.dovecot.pipe = yes } sieve_pipe_bin_dir = /usr/lib/dovecot/sieve sieve_plugins = sieve_imapsieve sieve_extprograms sieve_spamtest_score_max_value = 15 sieve_spamtest_status_header = X-Spamd-Result: .*? \[([[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+) / [[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+\]; sql_driver = mysql ssl = required verbose_proctitle = yes mysql /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock { dbname = postfix_db password = # hidden, use -P to show it user = postfix_user } passdb sql { default_password_scheme = MD5-CRYPT query = SELECT username as user, password FROM mailbox WHERE ((username = '%{user | username}(a)domain1.at') OR (username = '%{user | username}(a)domain2.at')) AND active = '1' } userdb sql { iterate_query = SELECT userid AS username, domain FROM users query = SELECT username as user FROM mailbox WHERE ((username = '%{user | username}(a)domain1.at') OR (username = '%{user | username}(a)domain2.at') ) AND active = '1' } namespace inbox { inbox = yes prefix = separator = / type = private } namespace oeffentlich { mail_path = /home/vmail/oeffentlich prefix = Oeffentlich/ separator = / subscriptions = yes type = public mailbox Oeffentlich { acl [DELETED for now] } service imap-login { process_min_avail = 8 inet_listener imap { port = 0 ssl = no listen = } inet_listener imaps { port = 993 ssl = yes listen = } } service lmtp { extra_groups = $SET:default_internal_group user = vmail unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/dovecot-lmtp { group = postfix mode = 0660 user = postfix } } service imap { } service auth { client_limit = 1200 user = root unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0666 user = postfix } unix_listener auth-client { group = postfix mode = 0660 user = postfix } unix_listener auth-userdb { mode = 0660 } } service auth-worker { } service dict { unix_listener dict { } } ssl_server { cert_file = /etc/letsencrypt/pfsense/cloud_imap_mail_smtp_LE_cert.fullchain key_file = /etc/letsencrypt/pfsense/cloud_imap_mail_smtp_LE_cert.key } protocol lda { mail_plugins = sieve } protocol imap { imap_idle_notify_interval = 29 mins mail_max_userip_connections = 50 mail_plugins { imap_acl = yes imap_quota = no imap_sieve = yes } } protocol lmtp { mail_plugins = sieve postmaster_address = logs(a)xunil.at } service managesieve-login { inet_listener sieve { port = 4190 } } service managesieve { } protocol sieve { managesieve_notify_capability = mailto managesieve_sieve_capability = fileinto reject envelope encoded-character vacation subaddress comparator-i;ascii-numeric relational regex imap4flags copy include variables body enotify environment mailbox date ihave } sieve_script personal { active_path = /home/vmail/%{user | domain}/%{user}/sieve/scripts/.dovecot.sieve driver = file path = /home/vmail/%{user | domain}/%{user}/sieve/scripts } sieve_script before-0 { driver = file path = /usr/lib/dovecot/sieve/global-spam.sieve type = before } service anvil { unix_listener anvil { group = $SET:default_internal_group mode = 0660 } } I assume I am not far from full success, I'd just like to get rid of these errors because tomorrow dozens of users will access their mailboxes ... Thanks for any pointers!

1 1

BUG-Report: mysql: SSL support not compiled in (remove ssl_client_ca_file and ssl_client_ca_dir settings) third attempt!
by Klaus Tachtler 02 Apr '26

02 Apr '26

Hello everyone, Problem info: ============ An error occurs, while trying to establish a TLS/SSL secured connection to a database (mariadb), which has the ability to accept TLS/SSL connections. Analysis from Archlinux Gitlab Issue, which could be found under following link by - Toolybird: https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/packaging/packages/dovecot/-/issues/… > Thanks for reporting. It would appear to be some kind of (upstream?) > bug in the autofoo. The error message can be traced back to > HAVE_MYSQL_SSL being undefined when it should be defined. This is > reflected in log: https://reproducible.archlinux.org/api/v0/builds/946041/log > It took quite some debugging, but adding the following hack before the > autoreconf call appears to make it work: > checking for mysql_ssl_set in -llibmariadb... no > sed -i 's/mysql_driver="libmariadb"/mysql_driver="mariadb"/' m4/ > want_mysql.m4 > After that it now shows: > checking for mysql_ssl_set in -lmariadb... yes Steps to reproduce: ================== 1. Configure dovecot 2.4.2-4 as described below 2. Restart dovecot 2.4.2-4 3. Try send an email (echo "Test-E-Mail" | /usr/sbin/sendmail root) 4. Determine error messages inside dovecot 2.4.2-4-Log > 01 Dec 22 04:57:38 server dovecot[842]: auth: Error: > mysql(db.idmz.tachtler.net): mysql: SSL support not compiled in > (remove ssl_client_ca_file and ssl_client_ca_dir settings) > 02 Dec 22 04:57:38 server dovecot[842]: auth-worker: Error: > mysql(db.idmz.tachtler.net): mysql: SSL support not compiled in > (remove ssl_client_ca_file and ssl_client_ca_dir settings) Additional info: =============== OS version: Archlinux package version(s): dovecot 2.4.2-4 necessary config file part: > 45 sql_driver = mysql > 46 > 47 mysql db.idmz.tachtler.net { > 48 host = db.idmz.tachtler.net > 49 port = 3306 > 50 user = postfixuser > 51 password = secret > 52 dbname = postfix > 53 ssl = yes > 54 ssl_client_ca_file = /etc/dovecot/ssl/certs/CAcert.pem > 55 ssl_client_cert_file = > /etc/dovecot/ssl/certs/client.idmz.tachtler.net.pem > 56 ssl_client_key_file = > /etc/dovecot/ssl/private/client.idmz.tachtler.net.key.pem > 57 ssl_cipher_list = DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA > 58 } WITHOUT the following line, a database connections is possible and works as expected: > 53 ssl = yes > 54 ssl_client_ca_file = /etc/dovecot/ssl/certs/CAcert.pem > 55 ssl_client_cert_file = > /etc/dovecot/ssl/certs/client.idmz.tachtler.net.pem > 56 ssl_client_key_file = > /etc/dovecot/ssl/private/client.idmz.tachtler.net.key.pem > 57 ssl_cipher_list = DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA Thanky you in advance for your help! Klaus Tachtler. -- --------------------------------------- e-Mail : klaus(a)tachtler.net Homepage: https://www.tachtler.net DokuWiki: https://dokuwiki.tachtler.net ---------------------------------------

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Error: sieve: fail2ban: line 23: read(<lmtp DATA local>) failed: Seeking past EOF by 2364 bytes
by Graham Cobb 01 Apr '26

01 Apr '26

Hi, dovecot is crashing for me while doing sieve processing for messages received via lmtp. This is reproducible, and seems to hit every message which runs a particular sieve script. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated! The error is: Error: sieve: fail2ban: line 23: read(<lmtp DATA local>) failed: Seeking past EOF by 2364 bytes Note: the number of bytes is always one of: 2169, 2272, 2259, 2364. I have many of these. I cannot see how the "Seeking past EOF" error can be caused by a bug in my sieve script. But please let me know if it can! Background: I have (and have had for many years) a complex set of sieve scripts for controlling my incoming email. They have worked fine for all that time. However, recently (ish), processing which uses a particular script is crashing dovecot. The actual log extract is below. The sieve script line 23, mentioned in the error report, is a large "if anyof (" statement containing many clauses like: body :raw :regex "country:[[:space:]]+KR", I can provide the full sieve script if required. This is what I see in the dovecot log (note: I reformatted the backtrace to make it easier to read. I also changed all my server names): Mar 29 03:03:52 SERVER dovecot-HOST: lmtp(4008073): Connect from local Mar 29 03:03:52 SERVER dovecot-HOST: lmtp(cobb)<4008073><PiAQHoiIyGmJKD0Ay7SJiA>: Error: sieve: fail2ban: line 23: read(<lmtp DATA local>) failed: Seeking past EOF by 2364 bytes Mar 29 03:03:52 SERVER dovecot-HOST: lmtp(cobb)<4008073><PiAQHoiIyGmJKD0Ay7SJiA>: Error: sieve: Execution of script 'auto:personal/.dovecot' was aborted due to temporary failure (user logfile /home/cobb/.dovecot.sieve.log may reveal additional details) Mar 29 03:03:52 SERVER dovecot-HOST: lmtp(cobb)<4008073><PiAQHoiIyGmJKD0Ay7SJiA>: Panic: file istream-concat.c: line 27 (i_stream_concat_close): assertion failed: (cstream->cur_input == cstream->input[cstream->cur_idx]) Mar 29 03:03:52 SERVER dovecot-HOST: lmtp(cobb)<4008073><PiAQHoiIyGmJKD0Ay7SJiA>: Error: Raw backtrace: #1 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #2 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #3 i_panic[0x7f41540655e6] -> #4 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #5 io_stream_unref[0x7f415413c120] -> #6 i_stream_unref[0x7f4154145c30] -> #7 index_storage_mailbox_close[0x7f4154383e70] -> #8 mailbox_close[0x7f41542fd9e0] -> #9 mailbox_free[0x7f4154302ab0] -> #10 lmtp_local_deinit[0x55dfa9c4e320] -> #11 client_state_reset[0x55dfa9c4f0d0] -> #12 smtp_server_transaction_free[0x7f4154091880] -> #13 smtp_server_connection_reset_state[0x7f4154093c90] -> #14 smtp_server_command_call_hooks[0x7f415408be60] -> #15 smtp_server_command_send_replies[0x7f4154090050] -> #16 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #17 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #18 io_loop_call_io[0x7f4154151710] -> #19 io_loop_handler_run_internal[0x7f41541534b0] -> #20 io_loop_handler_run[0x7f4154153640] -> #21 io_loop_run[0x7f4154153820] -> #22 master_service_run[0x7f41540a6330] -> #23 main[0x55dfa9c4a260] -> #24 __libc_start_call_main[0x7f4153e32c30] -> #25 __libc_start_main_alias_2[0x7f4153e32ce0] -> #26 _start[0x55dfa9c4a470] Mar 29 03:03:54 SERVER dovecot-HOST: lmtp(cobb)<4008073><PiAQHoiIyGmJKD0Ay7SJiA>: Fatal: master: service(lmtp): child 4008073 killed with signal 6 (core dumped) Mar 29 03:04:05 SERVER postfix/lmtp[4008072]: 005083DC75D: to=<MYADDRESS@MYDOMAIN>, orig_to=<ANOTHER@ANOTHERDOMAIN>, relay=SERVERNAME[private/dovecot-lmtp], delay=1740676, delays=1740674/0.25/0.04/1.5, dsn=4.4.2, status=deferred (lost connection with SERVERNAME[private/dovecot-lmtp] while sending end of data -- message may be sent more than once) The only message in .dovecot.sieve.log is: fail2ban: line 23: error: failed to read input message: internal error occurred: refer to server log for more information. [2026-04-01 18:54:13]. Thanks in advance for any thoughts! Graham

2 1

Broken table in dovecot-pw manual
by Célestin Matte 01 Apr '26

01 Apr '26

Hello, I just noticed while reading the dovecot-pw man on Arch Linux that the table in the -r option is broken (missing newline between row): | Scheme | Minimum | Maximum | Default | | ------ | ------- | ------- | ------- | | BLF-CRYPT | 4 | 31 | 5 | | SHA256-CRYPT | 1000 | 999999999 | 5000 | | SHA512-CRYPT | 1000 | 999999999 | 5000 | Regards, -- Célestin Matte

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dovecot.list.index.log owned by root: why?
by Stefan G. Weichinger 01 Apr '26

01 Apr '26

I use these sql-queries to let all mailboxes be accessed by the uid=1001: passdb sql { default_password_scheme = MD5-CRYPT passdb_sql_query = SELECT username as user, password, \ '/home/vmail/%{user | domain }/%{user}' as userdb_home, 'maildir:/home/vmail/%{user | domain }/%{user}' as userdb_mail,\ 1001 as userdb_uid, 1001 as userdb_gid FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%{user}' AND active = '1' } userdb prefetch { } ( I assume this following query isn't used then anymore) userdb sql { userdb_sql_query = SELECT username as user, password, \ '/home/vmail/%{user | domain }/%{user}' as userdb_home, 'maildir:/home/vmail/%{user | domain }/%{user}' as userdb_mail,\ 1001 as userdb_uid, 1001 as userdb_gid \ FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%{user}' AND active = '1' userdb_sql_iterate_query = SELECT userid AS username, domain FROM users } id 1001 uid=1001(vmail) gid=1001(vmail) groups=1001(vmail),118(dovecot) I get errors like: Apr 01 11:43:05 imap(logs(a)xunil.at)<1564491><N8oZ6WJO/uwgAQRwHwsMRX9ul+gRMpfY>: Error: open(/home/vmail/xunil.at/logs(a)xunil.at/dovecot.list.index.log) failed: Permission denied (euid=1001(vmail) egid=1001(vmail) missing +r perm: /home/vmail/xunil.at/logs(a)xunil.at/dovecot.list.index.log) ls -l /home/vmail/xunil.at/logs(a)xunil.at/ total 944 drwx------ 2 vmail vmail 622592 Apr 1 11:43 cur -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 0 Jul 30 2021 dovecot-acl-list -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 3304 Apr 1 11:35 dovecot.index -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 202444 Apr 1 11:43 dovecot.index.cache -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 2908 Apr 1 11:43 dovecot.index.log -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 32892 Apr 1 11:35 dovecot.index.log.2 -rw------- 1 vmail vmail 91 Feb 9 2024 dovecot-keywords -rw------- 1 root root 5744 Apr 1 10:30 dovecot.list.index -rw------- 1 root root 480 Apr 1 10:52 dovecot.list.index.log [..] Why do these 2 files get owned by root now ... ? All files below "/home/vmail" should be owned by vmail:vmail I ran chown, and chgrp, sure .. but the errors return. How to fix this? Thanks in advance!

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cannot get IOS or MacOSX to connect to dovecot:995 since upgraded Mac or iPhone
by Bill Scheding 01 Apr '26

01 Apr '26

Versions: [wls(a)www.wls.org]$ uname -a Linux www.wls.org 3.10.0-1160.119.1.el7.x86_64 #1 SMP Tue Jun 4 14:43:51 UTC 2024 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux [wls(a)ww.wls.org]$ dovecot --version 2.2.36 (1f10bfa63) My Certs: Testing cert dovecot.key unable to load certificate 139668060415888:error:0906D06C:PEM routines:PEM_read_bio:no start line:pem_lib.c:707:Expecting: TRUSTED CERTIFICATE lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 Mar 25 15:44 dovecot.key -> dovecot.key.old_sep_2 Testing chain dovecot.pem SHA1 Fingerprint=4A:29:34:1D:D5:9C:67:59:FA:31:7E:FF:F4:53:F8:DB:25:73:15:07 subject= /OU=IMAP server/CN=imap.example.com/emailAddress=postmaster@example.com issuer= /OU=IMAP server/CN=imap.example.com/emailAddress=postmaster@example.com serial=C8AA4C688A3F2638 b5bd7939 notBefore=Sep 2 20:17:33 2018 GMT notAfter=Sep 2 20:17:33 2019 GMT lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 Mar 25 15:44 dovecot.pem -> dovecot.crt.old_sep_2 New Certs: Testing key ca.key.3.13.4 RSA key ok lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 Mar 13 14:14 ca.key.3.13.4 -> ../../tls/private/ca.key.3.13.4 Testing chain ca.crt.3.13.4 SHA1 Fingerprint=79:69:88:2A:E0:BF:58:A8:21:E3:88:12:8D:45:20:4F:FD:68:33:63 subject= /C=XX/ST= /L= /O= /OU=IMAP server/CN=imap.example.com/emailAddress=postmaster@example.com issuer= /C=XX/ST= /L= /O= /OU=IMAP server/CN=imap.example.com/emailAddress=postmaster@example.com serial=B912DD19FEDC441C 402b4e2a notBefore=Mar 13 20:02:58 2026 GMT notAfter=Mar 13 20:02:58 2027 GMT lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 29 Mar 13 14:13 ca.crt.3.13.4 -> ../../tls/certs/ca.crt.3.13.4 They install OK, dovecot starts; but iPhone and mac cannot connect to pop3 Cannot get my iPhone or Mac to accept new certs from lets encrypt, et. al. This is a new problem, started recently. My existing cert expired in 2016 William

2 1

Variable expansion syntax: Filter "default" throws error (unwanted)
by Johannes Nohl 01 Apr '26

01 Apr '26

I am using dovecot 2.4.2 (almost) with new config language and I have a working configuration. However, the check for disabled users throws permanently errors in the log file, whenever a user is missing the ldap attribute for disabled. This is - in my view - due to a misfunction of Filter "default". passdb ldap { driver = ldap ldap_bind = yes ldap_filter = (&(|(objectClass=posixAccount)(objectClass=mailAccount))(uid=%{user})) fields { user = %{ldap:uid} nologin = %{ldap:shadowInactive | default(null)} reason = The account for this email address is disabled. } } This results in the following log line: 2026-03-31T00:46:31.102690+02:00 mailserver dovecot: auth(test,ipv4,sasl:plain)<YE81n0VOVuofEeSD>: Error: ldap: auth_passdb_post settings: Failed to parse configuration: Failed to expand passdb_fields/nologin setting variables: ldap: No such attribute 'shadowinactive' The right behaviour would be no logging on login success. Because the Filter "default" is intended to suppress any errors ("When value is missing or empty, you can use the default filter to provide value. Missing variables will cause errors and must be negated with default. This does not apply to all providers, some providers return empty when value is missing."). https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.2/core/settings/variables.html#variable-expansi… As you may have seen I had to borrow null-value from sql db config also to make nologin ignoring a non present attribute. This is undocumented obviously. Instead, a non-working tip is provided ("Changed: 2.4.0 Extra fields can now also be set to empty string, "). However, the following does not work: "nologin = {ldap:shadowinactive | default("")}". https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.2/core/settings/variables.html Also, the documentation is missing/hiding the part which explains that "default()" can be used to avoid error logs. PR regarding the documentation source is sent already. See "Fails if the attribute is not present, unless the ` <missing part>" https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.0/core/config/auth/databases/ldap.html#ldap-spe… Is there another way to verify if account is disabled? -- Johannes Nohl postmaster i-t-cloud -- Johannes Nohl postmaster(a)i-t-cloud.de I am using dovecot 2.4.2 (almost) with new config language and I have a working configuration. However, the check for disabled users throws permanently errors in the log file, whenever a user is missing the ldap attribute for disabled. This is - in my view - due to a misfunction of Filter "default". passdb ldap { driver = ldap ldap_bind = yes ldap_filter = (&(|(objectClass=posixAccount)(objectClass=mailAccount))(uid=%{user})) fields { user = %{ldap:uid} nologin = %{ldap:shadowInactive | default(null)} reason = The account for this email address is disabled. } } This results in the following log line: *2026-03-31T00:46:31.102690+02:00 mailserver dovecot: auth(test,ipv4,sasl:plain)<YE81n0VOVuofEeSD>: Error: ldap: auth_passdb_post settings: Failed to parse configuration: Failed to expand passdb_fields/nologin setting variables: ldap: No such attribute 'shadowinactive' The right behaviour would be no logging on login success. Because the Filter "default" is intended to suppress any errors ("When value is missing or empty, you can use the default filter to provide value. Missing variables will cause errors and must be negated with default. This does not apply to all providers, some providers return empty when value is missing."). https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.2/core/settings/variables.html#variable-expansi… As you may have seen I had to borrow null-value from sql db config also to make nologin ignoring a non present attribute. This is undocumented obviously. Instead, a non-working tip is provided ("Changed: 2.4.0 Extra fields can now also be set to empty string, "). However, the following does not work: "nologin = {ldap:shadowinactive | default("")}". https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.2/core/settings/variables.html Also, the documentation is missing/hiding the part which explains that "default()" can be used to avoid error logs. PR regarding the documentation source is sent already. See "Fails if the attribute is not present, unless the ` <missing part>" https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.0/core/config/auth/databases/ldap.html#ldap-spe… Is there another way to verify if account is disabled? -- Johannes Nohl postmaster i-t-cloud -- Johannes Nohl postmaster(a)i-t-cloud.de

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