nanog mailing list archives

Re: disabling SMTP


From: Vinny Abello <vinny () tellurian com>
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 07:52:55 -0500


At 07:20 AM 3/29/2004, Rob Nelson wrote:


when smtp fixup is on (default on many older pixes, i gather that there
may be some improvements on newer pixes), the smtp banner
is mostly obscured by * characters. the intent is a classic security
by obscurity play, to hide the type and verison of the MTA behind
the pix.

Okay, so this is a problem when an SMTP server is hosted behind the PIX? I thought the fixup statements were for outbound connections, and with it on right now I get the full banner from SMTP servers. I don't host an SMTP server myself, so can't check that.

SMTP fixup is for hosts behind the firewall. That is after all what it's trying to protect (in theory) by mangling the SMTP protocol. :)

Vinny Abello
Network Engineer
Server Management
vinny () tellurian com
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