[AHBL] spamassassin is returning false positives by default
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
spamassassin (Debian) |
Fix Released
|
Unknown
|
|||
spamassassin (Ubuntu) |
Fix Released
|
Critical
|
Robie Basak | ||
Lucid |
Fix Released
|
Critical
|
Robie Basak | ||
Precise |
Fix Released
|
Critical
|
Robie Basak | ||
Trusty |
Fix Released
|
Critical
|
Robie Basak | ||
Utopic |
Fix Released
|
Critical
|
Robie Basak |
Bug Description
[Impact]
spamassassin users have a regression in behaviour in the last month or so. The AHBL DNS check is now returning a false positive. This causes mail to be more likely to be classified as spam. Depending on user configuration, this could cause emails to be rejected when they should be accepted, or placed in a spam folder when they should not, or for emails to be incorrectly discarded (data loss).
[Workaround]
Use sa-update to download the latest rules from upstream. However, not all users run sa-update and may not have noticed this bug. So given that sa-update is not run automatically by default, an SRU is appropriate to change the default installation to not use the AHBL blacklist.
[Development Fix]
Disable use of the AHBL DNS blacklist in the default rules list.
[Stable Fix]
Same as development fix.
[Test Case]
Run test.sh (attached). This reads testcase (attached) and will print whether spamassassin is affected, and return with an appropriate exit status. Due to the nature of this bug this requires Internet connectivity; problems or changes online could lead to a false negative.
[Regression Potential]
Unlikely. The highest risk is of some problem in package rebuild or that there's a mistake in the patch causing some other change in behaviour. But that seems very unlikely given that the configuration change is quite trivial.
Be aware that Internet connectivity is required when verifying this SRU.
[Original Description]
AHBL has discontinued their operations and is deliberetly marking all checks as positive:
http://
AHBL is enabled by default in SpamAssassin in at least 10.04, 12.04 and 14.04. This means that every mail gets 2 points on spam score list.
10.04:
# grep -sr AHBL /usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
12.04:
# grep -sr AHBL /usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
14.04:
# grep -sr AHBL /usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
/usr/share/
AHBL should be removed from SpamAssassin ASAP.
Related branches
description: | updated |
Changed in spamassassin (Ubuntu): | |
assignee: | nobody → Kick In (kick-d) |
Changed in spamassassin (Ubuntu Lucid): | |
status: | New → Triaged |
Changed in spamassassin (Ubuntu Precise): | |
status: | New → Triaged |
Changed in spamassassin (Ubuntu Trusty): | |
status: | New → Triaged |
Changed in spamassassin (Ubuntu Utopic): | |
status: | New → Triaged |
Changed in spamassassin (Ubuntu Lucid): | |
importance: | Undecided → Critical |
Changed in spamassassin (Ubuntu Precise): | |
importance: | Undecided → Critical |
Changed in spamassassin (Ubuntu Trusty): | |
importance: | Undecided → Critical |
Changed in spamassassin (Ubuntu Lucid): | |
assignee: | nobody → Robie Basak (racb) |
Changed in spamassassin (Ubuntu Utopic): | |
assignee: | nobody → Robie Basak (racb) |
importance: | Undecided → Critical |
Changed in spamassassin (Ubuntu Precise): | |
assignee: | nobody → Robie Basak (racb) |
Changed in spamassassin (Ubuntu Trusty): | |
assignee: | nobody → Robie Basak (racb) |
Changed in spamassassin (Debian): | |
status: | Unknown → New |
tags: | added: verification-done-precise verification-done-trusty |
Changed in spamassassin (Debian): | |
status: | New → Fix Released |
Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.