Man Page: clamsmtpd(8)
clamsmtpd(8) BSD System Manager's Manual clamsmtpd(8)
NAME
clamsmtpd - an SMTP server for scanning viruses via clamd
SYNOPSIS
clamsmtpd [-d level] [-f configfile] [-p pidfile]
clamsmtpd -v
DESCRIPTION
clamsmtpd is an SMTP filter that allows you to check for viruses using
the ClamAV anti-virus software. It accepts SMTP connections and forwards
the SMTP commands and responses to another SMTP server.
The DATA email body is intercepted and scanned before forwarding. By
default email with viruses are dropped silently and logged without any
additional action taken.
clamsmtpd aims to be lightweight and simple rather than have a myriad of
options. The options it does have are configured by editing the
clamsmtpd.conf(5) file. See the man page for clamsmtpd.conf(5) for more
info on the default location of the configuration file.
OPTIONS
Previous versions had more options. These still work for now but have
equivalents in clamsmtpd.conf(5) and are not documented here. The options
are as follows.
-d Don't detach from the console and run as a daemon. In addi-
tion the level argument specifies what level of error mes-
sages to display. 0 being the least, 4 the most.
-f configfile specifies an alternate location for the clamsmtpd
configuration file. See clamsmtpd.conf(5) for more details on
where the configuration file is located by default.
-p pidfile specifies a location for the a process id file to be
written to. This file contains the process id of clamsmtpd
and can be used to stop the daemon.
-v Prints the clamsmtp version number and exits.
LOGGING
clamsmtpd logs to syslogd by default under the 'mail' facility. You can
also output logs to the console using the -d option.
LOOPBACK FEATURE
In some cases it's advantageous to consolidate the virus scanning and
filtering for several mail servers on one machine. clamsmtpd allows this
by providing a loopback feature to connect back to the IP that an SMTP
connection comes in from.
To use this feature specify only a port number (no IP address) for the
OutAddress setting in the configuration file. This will cause clamsmtpd
to pass the email back to the said port on the incoming IP address.
Make sure the MaxConnections setting is set high enough to handle the
mail from all the servers without refusing connections.
TRANSPARENT PROXY FEATURE
A transparent proxy is a configuration on a gateway that routes certain
types of traffic through a proxy server without any changes on the client
computers. clamsmtpd has support for transparent proxying of SMTP traf-
fic by enabling the TransparentProxy setting. This type of setup usually
involves firewall rules which redirect traffic to clamsmtpd and the setup
varies from OS to OS. The SMTP traffic will be forwarded to it's original
destination after being scanned.
When doing transparent proxying for outgoing email it's probably a good
idea to turn on bounce notifications using the Action: bounce setting.
Also note that some features (such as SSL/TLS) will not be available when
going through the transparent proxy.
Make sure that the MaxConnections setting is set high enough for your
transparent proxying. Because clamsmtpd is not being used as a filter
inside a queue, which usually throttles the amount of email going
through, this setting may need to be higher than usual.
VIRUS ACTIONS
Using the VirusAction option you can run a script or program whenever a
virus is found. This may be handy in certain circumstances but it has
several drawbacks. For one, the performance of the virus filtering will
take a hit, perhaps DOS'ing your machine under heavy load. Secondly as
with running any program there are security implications to be consid-
ered.
The script is run without its output being logged, or return value being
checked. Because of this you should test it thoroughly. Make sure it runs
without problems under the user that clamsmtpd(8) is being run as.
Various environment variables will be present when your script is run.
You may need to escape them properly before use in your favorite script-
ing language. Failure to do this could lead to a REMOTE COMPROMISE of
your machine.
CLIENT The network address of the SMTP client connected.
EMAIL When the Quarantine option is enabled, this specifies the
file that the virus was saved to.
RECIPIENTS The email addresses of the email recipients. These are speci-
fied one per line, in standard address format.
REMOTE If clamsmtpd is being used to filter email between SMTP
servers, then this is the IP address of the original client.
In order for this information to be present (a) the SMTP
client (sending server) must an send an XFORWARD command and
(b) the SMTP server (receiving server) must accept that XFOR-
WARD command without error.
REMOTE_HELO
If clamsmtpd is being used to filter email between SMTP
servers, then this is the HELO/EHLO banner of the original
client. In order for this information to be present (a) the
SMTP client (sending server) must an send an XFORWARD command
and (b) the SMTP server (receiving server) must accept that
XFORWARD command without error.
SENDER The email address for the sender of the email.
SERVER The network address of the SMTP server we're connected to.
TMPDIR The path to the temp directory in use. This is the same as
the TempDirectory option.
VIRUS The name of the virus found.
SECURITY
There's no reason to run this daemon as root. It is meant as a filter and
should listen on a high TCP port. It's probably a good idea to run it
using the same user as the clamd(8) daemon. This way the temporary files
it writes are accessible to clamd(8)
Care should be taken with the directory that clamsmtpd writes its tempo-
rary files to. In order to be secure, it should not be a world writeable
location. Specify the directory using the TempDirectory setting.
When using the VirusAction option make sure you understand the security
issues involved. Unescaped environment variables can lead to execution of
arbitrary shell commands on your machine.
If running clamsmtpd on a publicly accessible IP address or without a
firewall please be sure to understand all the possible security issues.
This is especially true if the loopback feature is used (see above).
SEE ALSO
clamsmtpd.conf(5) clamd(8), clamdscan(1)
AUTHOR
Stef Walter <stef@thewalter.net>
clamsmtp June 30, 2008 clamsmtp