2.2.15: SMTP submission server?
Ron Leach
ronleach at tesco.net
Sat Nov 15 23:03:47 UTC 2014
List, we're migrating to 2.2 from a 1.x version. There has been
mention from time to time of a dovecot SMTP submission server. Last I
saw was Timo suggesting this would be a 2.3 feature, but that there
was already a 'basic' capability in 2.2 that, more or less, merely
provided a secured/authorised SMTP submission. I haven't found
anything about this in the wiki, but the feature is of interest to us.
I would like to *not* have our MTA capable of being exploited as a
relay (it isn't, at the moment) whereas users are logging into our
dovecot from offsite using imaps with passwords. While moving to 2.2,
I'd like to try to use a secure SMTP submission *separate* from the
MTA so that that software, with whatever vulnerabilities or weaknesses
it might have, remained locked down and could not relay, if at all
possible.
(Imaps with passwords means the login details are not transmitted in
cleartext and, so, leak no security to an observer of the
communications channel. Doubtless there are other weaknesses
somewhere but, at least, when using hotel wifi, for example, there is
little chance of revealing login details to a packet sniffer. It
won't be perfect, there are probably other vulnerabilities, not least
in the underlying OSs at each end, but the connection - which is a
serious vulnerability in many places - will be as good as is practical
to make it.)
So, is there some kind of SMTP submission service for a logged in
dovecot user, and how would a client make use of that? Is it possible
to setup 2.2.15 for this? And, crucially, would the connections
between the client (eg at a hotel in some unreliable location) be
encrypted right from the start, not using STARTTLS, as is the case in
imaps? And, just to be really demanding, could we configure its use
on a non-standard port?
regards, Ron
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