DMARC Working Group S. Jones
Internet-Draft DMARC.org
Intended status: Informational K. Andersen
Expires: June 22, 2018 LinkedIn
J. Rae-Grant
Google
T. Adams, Ed.
Paypal
December 19, 2017
Recommended Usage of the Authenticated Received Chain (ARC)
draft-ietf-dmarc-arc-usage-03
Abstract
The Authentication Received Chain (ARC) provides a means to preserve
email authentication results and verify the identity of email message
handlers, each of which participates by inserting certain header
fields before passing the message on. But the specification does not
indicate how intermediaries and receivers should interpret or utilize
ARC. This document will provide guidance in these areas.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
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This Internet-Draft will expire on June 22, 2018.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2017 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. How does ARC work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Evaluating the Efficacy of the ARC Protocol . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1. Success Consideration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2. Failure Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.3. Open Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.3.1. Value of the ARC-Seal (AS) Header . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.3.2. DNS Overhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.3.3. Distinguishing Valuable from Worthless Trace
Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Guidance for Receivers/Validators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.1. What is the significance of an intact ARC chain? . . . . 6
4.2. What exactly is an "intact" ARC chain? . . . . . . . . . 6
4.3. What is the significance of an invalid ("broken") ARC
chain? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.4. What does the absence of an ARC chain in a message mean? 7
4.5. What reasonable conclusions can you draw based upon
seeing lots of mail with ARC chains? . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.6. What if none of the intermediaries have been seen
previously? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.7. What about ARC chains where some intermediaries are known
and others are not? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.8. What should message handlers do when they detect
malicious content in messages where ARC is present? . . . 9
4.9. What feedback does a sender or domain owner get about ARC
when it is applied to their messages? . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.10. What prevents a malicious actor from removing the ARC
header fields, altering the content, and creating a new
ARC chain? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5. Guidance for Intermediaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.1. What is an Intermediary under ARC? . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.2. What are the minimum requirements for an ARC
Intermediary? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.2.1. More specifically a participating ARC intermediary
must do the following: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.3. Should every MTA be an ARC participant? . . . . . . . . . 11
5.4. What should an intermediary do in the case of an invalid
or "broken" ARC chain? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.5. What should I do in the case where there is no ARC chain
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present in a message? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.6. How could ARC affect my reputation as an intermediary? . 11
5.7. What can I do to influence my reputation as an
intermediary? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6. Guidance for Originators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.1. Where can I find out more information? . . . . . . . . . 12
6.2. How/where can I test interoperabililty for my
implementation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.3. How can ARC impact my email? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.4. How can ARC impact my reputation as a message sender? . . 13
6.5. Can I tell intermediaries not to use ARC? . . . . . . . . 13
7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7.3. URIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Appendix A. GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Appendix B. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Appendix C. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Appendix D. Comments and Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1. Introduction
[ARC] is intended to be used primarily by intermediaries, or message
handlers - those parties who may forward or resend messages, with or
without alterations, such that they will no longer pass the SPF,
DKIM, and/or [RFC7489] authentication mechanisms. In such cases ARC
may provide the final message recipient with useful information about
the original sender.
2. How does ARC work?
Consider a mailing list as an example, where the message submitter's
domain publishes a DMARC policy other than "p=none". The message is
received, a prefix is added to the RFC5322.Subject header field, some
text is appended to the message body, and the message is sent to list
members with the original RFC5322.From address intact. In this case
SPF may pass because the mailing list operator uses their own domain
in the RFC5321.MailFrom header field, but this domain will not match
the RFC5322.From address, thus the DMARC SPF result cannot be a
"pass." Any DKIM signature from the message submitter's domain will
be broken as the message body has been altered (and if included in
the signature, the RFC5322.Subject header field). Again, the DMARC
DKIM result cannot be a "pass." And if the mailing list operator
inserted an Authentication-Results header field it was most likely
stripped and/or replaced by the next message receiver.
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If the mailing list implemented ARC, it would record the contents of
the Authentication-Results header field in the ARC-Authentication-
Results header field. It would then create an an ARC-Message-
Signature header field, which includes a cryptographic signature of
the message itself, and then an ARC-Seal header field, which includes
a cryptographic signature of a few key message header fields -
including the other ARC header fields.
Any subsequent system participating in ARC that was not performing
final delivery of the message within its ADMD boundaries would also
generate and insert ARC header fields whose signatures cover all ARC
header fields inserted into the message by previous message handlers.
Thus the information from any previous ARC participants, including
the ARC-Authentication-Results header field from the mailing list
operator, would be signed at each ADMD that handled the message.
When the message reaches the final receiving system, the SPF and DKIM
results will not satisfy the DMARC policy for the message author's
domain. However if the receiving system implements ARC then it can
check for and validate an ARC chain and verify that the contents of
the ARC-Authentication-Results header field were conveyed intact from
the mailing list operator. At that point the receiving system might
choose to use those authentication results in the decision of whether
or not to deliver the message, even though it failed to pass the
usual authentication checks.
3. Evaluating the Efficacy of the ARC Protocol
The ARC protocol is designed to mitigate some of the most common
failure conditions for email which transits intermediary handlers en
route to the final recipient. Some of these problems have happened
due to the adoption of the DMARC protocol [RFC7489] and are listed in
[RFC6377] and [RFC7960].
As the ARC protocol becomes standardized and implemented amongst
intermediary handlers, the following aspects should be evaluated in
order to determine the success of the protocol in accomplishing the
intended benefits.
3.1. Success Consideration
Currently, many receivers have heuristically determined overrides in
order to rescue mail from intermediary-caused failures. Many of
those overrides rely on inferrence rather than direct evidence.
ARC will be a success if, for ARC sealed messages, receivers are able
to implment ARC-based algorithmic decisions based on the direct
evidence found within the ARC chain. This is especially relevant for
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DMARC processing when the DKIM d= value is aligned with the
rfc5322.From author domain.
3.2. Failure Considerations
The intent of ARC is to be at most value-add and at worst benign. If
ARC opens up significant new vectors for abuse (see [ARC] Security
Considerations) then this protocol will be a failure. Note that
weaknesses inherent in the mail protocols ARC is built upon (such as
DKIM replay attacks and other known issues) are not new vectors which
can be attributed to this specification.
3.3. Open Questions
The following open questions are academic and have no clear answer at
the time of the development of the protocol. However, wide-spread
deployment should be able to gather the necessary data to
conclusively answer some or all of them.
3.3.1. Value of the ARC-Seal (AS) Header
Data should be collected to show if the ARC-Seal (AS) provides value
beyond the ARC Message Signature (AMS) for either making delivery
decisions or catching malicious actors trying to craft or replay
malicious chains.
3.3.2. DNS Overhead
Longer ARC chains will require more queries to retrieve the keys for
validating the chain. While this is not believed to be a security
issue (see [ARC], Security Conditions -> DNS Attacks), it is unclear
how much overhead will truly be added. This is similar to some of
the initial processing and query load concerns which were debated at
the time of the DKIM specification development.
Data should be collected to better understand usable length and
distribution of lengths found in valid ARC chains along with the the
DNS impact of processing ARC chains.
3.3.3. Distinguishing Valuable from Worthless Trace Information
There are several edge cases where the information in the AAR can
make the difference between message delivery or rejection. For
example, if there is a well known mailing list that ARC seals but
doesn't do its own initial DMARC enforcement, a Final Receiver with
this knowledge could make a delivery decision based upon the
authentication information it sees in the corresponding AAR header.
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Certain trace information in the AAR is useful/necessary in the
construction of DMARC reports. It would be beneficial to identify
the value-add of having intermediary-handled mail flow information
added into the DMARC reports going back to senders.
Certain receivers believe the entire set of trace information would
be valuable to feed into machine learning systems to identify fraud
and/or provide other signals related to message delivery.
It is unclear what trace information will be valuable for all
receivers, regardless of size.
Data should be collected on what trace information receivers are
using that provides useful signals that affect deliverability, and
what portions of the trace data are left untouched or provide no
useful information.
Since many such systems are intentionly proprietary or confidential
to prevent gaming by abusers, it may not be viable to reliably answer
this particular question. The evolving nature of attacks can also
shift the landscape of "useful" information over time.
4. Guidance for Receivers/Validators
4.1. What is the significance of an intact ARC chain?
An intact ARC chain conveys authentication results like SPF and DKIM
as observed by the first ARC participant. In cases where the message
no longer produces passing results for DKIM, SPF, or DMARC but an
intact ARC chain is present, the message receiver may choose to use
the contents of the ARC-Authentication-Results header field in
determining how to handle the message.
4.2. What exactly is an "intact" ARC chain?
Note that not all ADMDs will implement ARC, and receivers will see
messages where one or more non-participating ADMDs handled a message
before, after, or in between participating ADMDs.
An intact ARC chain is one where the ARC header fields that are
present can be validated, and in particular the ARC-Message-Signature
header field from the last ARC participant can still be validated.
This shows that, whether another ADMD handled the message after the
last ARC participant or not, the portions of the message covered by
that signature were not altered. If any non-participating ADMDs
handled the message between ARC intermediaries but did not alter the
message in a way that invalidated the most recent ARC-Message-
Signature present at that time, the chain would still be considered
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intact by the next ARC participant, and recorded as such in the ARC-
Seal header field they insert.
Message receivers may make local policy decisions about whether to
use the contents of the ARC-Authentication-Results header field in
cases where a message no longer passes DKIM, DMARC, and/or SPF
checks. Whether an ARC chain is intact can be used to inform that
local policy decision.
So for example one message receiver may decide that, for messages
with an intact ARC chain where a DMARC evaluation does not pass, but
the ARC-Authentication-Results header field indicates a DKIM pass was
reported by the first ARC intermediary that matches the domain in the
RFC5322.From header field, it will override a DMARC "p=reject"
policy. Another message receiver may decide to do so for intact ARC
chains where the ARC-Authentication-Results header field indicates an
SPF pass. A third message receiver may use very different criteria,
according to their requirements, while a fourth may choose not to
take ARC information into account at all.
4.3. What is the significance of an invalid ("broken") ARC chain?
An ARC chain is not considered to be valid if the signatures in the
ARC-Seal header fields cannot be verified. For example the remote
server delivering the message to the local ADMD is not reflected in
any ARC header fields, perhaps because they have not implemented ARC,
but they modified the message such that ARC and DKIM signatures
already in the message were invalidated.
In such cases the ARC-Authentication-Results header field should not
have any influence on the disposition of the message. For example, a
message that fails under DMARC and has an invalid ARC chain would be
subject to that DMARC policy, which may cause it to be quarantined or
rejected.
4.4. What does the absence of an ARC chain in a message mean?
The absence of an ARC chain means nothing. ARC is intended to allow
a participating message handler to preserve certain authentication
results when a message is being forwarded and/or modified such that
the final recipient can evaluate this information. If they are
absent, there is nothing extra that ARC requires the final recipient
to do.
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4.5. What reasonable conclusions can you draw based upon seeing lots of
mail with ARC chains?
With sufficient history, ARC can be used to augment DMARC
authentication policy (i.e. a message could fail DMARC, but validated
ARC information and therefore could be considered as validly
authenticated as reported by the first ARC participant).
If the validator does content analysis and reputation tracking, the
ARC participants in a message can be credited or discredited for good
or bad content. By analyzing different ARC chains involved in "bad"
messages, a validator might identify malicious participating
intermediaries.
With a valid chain and good reputations for all ARC participants,
receivers may choose to apply a "local policy override" to the DMARC
policy assertion for the domain authentication evaluation, depending
on the ARC-Authentication-Results header field value. Normal content
analysis should never be skipped.
4.6. What if none of the intermediaries have been seen previously?
This has no impact on the operation of ARC, as ARC is not a
reputation system. ARC conveys the results of other authentication
mechanisms such that the participating message handlers can be
positively identified. Final message recipients may or may not
choose to examine these results when messages fail other
authentication checks. They are more likely to override, say, a
failing DMARC result in the presence of an intact ARC chain where the
participating ARC message handlers have been observed to not convey
"bad" content in the past, and the initial ARC participant indicates
the message they received had passed authentication checks.
4.7. What about ARC chains where some intermediaries are known and
others are not?
Validators may choose to build reputation models for ARC message
handlers they have observed. Generally speaking it is more feasible
to accrue positive reputation to intermediaries when they
consistently send messages that are evaluated positively in terms of
content and ARC chains. When messages are received with ARC chains
that are not intact, it is very difficult identify which
intermediaries may have manipulated the message or injected bad
content.
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4.8. What should message handlers do when they detect malicious content
in messages where ARC is present?
Message handlers should do what they normally do when they detect
malicious content in a message - hopefully that means quarantining or
discarding the message. ARC information should never make malicious
content acceptable.
In such cases it is difficult to determine where the malicious
content may have been injected. What ARC can do in such cases is
verify that a given intermediary or message handler did in fact
handle the message as indicated in the header fields. In such cases
a message recipient who maintains a reputation system about email
senders may wish to incorporate this information as an additional
factor in the score for the intermediaries and sender in question.
However reputation systems are very complex, and usually unique to
those organizations operating them, and therefore beyond the scope of
this document.
4.9. What feedback does a sender or domain owner get about ARC when it
is applied to their messages?
ARC itself does not include any mechanism for feedback or reporting.
It does however recommend that message receiving systems that use ARC
to augment their delivery decisions, who use DMARC and decide to
deliver a message because of ARC information, should include a
notation to that effect in their normal DMARC reports. These
notations would be easily identifiable by report processors, so that
senders and domain owners can see where ARC is being used to augment
the deliverability of their messages.
4.10. What prevents a malicious actor from removing the ARC header
fields, altering the content, and creating a new ARC chain?
ARC does not prevent a malicious actor from doing this. Nor does it
prevent a malicious actor from removing all but the first ADMD's ARC
header fields and altering the message, eliminating intervening
participants from the ARC chain. Or similar variations.
A valid ARC chain does not provide any automatic benefit. With an
intact ARC chain, the final message recipient may choose to use the
contents of the ARC-Authentication-Results header field in
determining how to handle the message. The decision to use the ARC-
Authentication-Results header field is dependent on evaluation of
those ARC intermediaries.
In the first case, the bad actor has succeeded in manipulating the
message but they have attached a verifiable signature identifying
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themselves. While not an ideal situation, it is something they are
already able to do without ARC involved, but now a signature linked
to the domain responsible for the manipulation is present.
Additionally in the second case it is possible some negative
reputational impact might accrue to the first ARC participant left in
place until more messages reveal the pattern of activity by the bad
actor. But again, a bad actor can similarly manipulate a sequence of
RFC5322.Received header fields today without ARC, but with ARC that
bad actor has verifiably identified themselves.
5. Guidance for Intermediaries
5.1. What is an Intermediary under ARC?
In the context of ARC, an Intermediary is typically an Administrative
Management Domain [RFC5598] that is receiving a message, potentially
manipulating or altering it, and then passing it on to another ADMD
for delivery. Common examples of Intermediaries are mailing lists,
alumni or professional email address providers that forward messages
such as universities or professional organizations, et cetera.
5.2. What are the minimum requirements for an ARC Intermediary?
A participating ARC intermediary must validate the ARC chain on a
message it receives, if one is present. It then attaches its own ARC
seal and signature, including an indication if the chain failed to
validate upon receipt.
5.2.1. More specifically a participating ARC intermediary must do the
following:
1. Validate that the ARC chain, if one is already present in the
message, is intact and well-formed.
2. Validate that the most recent sender matches the last entry in
the ARC chain (if present).
3. Validate that the most recent sender's DKIM signature is
attached, and matches the reference to it in the ARC chain (if
present).
4. Generate a new ARC Signature and add it to the message according
to the ARC specification.
5. Generate a new ARC Seal and add it to the message according to
the ARC specification.
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5.3. Should every MTA be an ARC participant?
Generally speaking, ARC is designed to operate at the ADMD level.
When a message is first received by an ADMD, the traditional
authentication results should be captured and preserved - this could
be the common case of creating an Authentication-Results header
field. But when it is determined that the message is being sent on
outside of that ADMD, that is when the ADMD should add itself to the
ARC chain - before sending the message outside of the ADMD.
Some organizations may operate multiple ADMDs, with more or less
independence between them. While they should make a determination
based on their specific circumstances, it may be useful and
appropriate to have one or both ADMDs be ARC participants.
5.4. What should an intermediary do in the case of an invalid or
"broken" ARC chain?
In general terms, a participating ARC intermediary will note that an
ARC chain was present and invalid, or broken, when it attaches its
own ARC seal and signature. However the fact that the ARC chain was
invalid should have no impact on whether and how the message is
delivered.
5.5. What should I do in the case where there is no ARC chain present
in a message?
A participating ARC intermediary receiving a message with no ARC
chain, and which will be delivered outside its ADMD, should start an
ARC chain according to the ARC specification. This will include
capturing the normal email authentication results for the
intermediary (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, etc), which will be conveyed as part
of the ARC chain.
5.6. How could ARC affect my reputation as an intermediary?
Message receivers often operate reputation systems, which build a
behavioral profile of various message handlers and intermediaries.
The presence or absence of ARC is yet another data point that may be
used as an input to such reputation systems. Messages deemed to have
good content may provide a positive signal for the intermediaries
that handled it, while messages with bad content may provide a
negative signal for the those intermediaries. Intact and valid ARC
elements may amplify or attenuate such signals, depending on the
circumstances.
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Reputation systems are complex and usually specific to a given
message receiver, and a meaningful discussion of such a broad topic
is beyond the scope of this document.
5.7. What can I do to influence my reputation as an intermediary?
Today it is extremely simple for a malicious actor to construct a
message that includes your identity as an intermediary, even though
you never handled the message. It is possible that an intermediary
implementing ARC on all traffic it handles might receive some
reputational benefit by making it easier to detect when their
involvement in conveying bad traffic has been "forged."
As mentioned previously reputation systems are very complex and
usually specific to a given message receiver, and a meaningful
discussion of such a broad topic is beyond the scope of this
document.
6. Guidance for Originators
6.1. Where can I find out more information?
Please join the arc-discuss list at arc-discuss@dmarc.org
[1][mailto:arc-discuss@dmarc.org].
To discuss the IETF spec itself, please join the dmarc working group
at [https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/dmarc].
6.2. How/where can I test interoperabililty for my implementation?
The arc-discuss list is the best place to stay in touch with work in
progress.
6.3. How can ARC impact my email?
Prior to ARC, certain DMARC policies on a domain would cause messages
using those domains in the RFC5322.From field, and which pass through
certain kinds of intermediaries (mailing lists, forwarding services),
to fail authentication checks at the message receiver. As a result
these messages might not be delivered to the intended recipient.
ARC seeks to provide these so-called "indirect mailflows" with a
means to preserve email authentication results as recorded by
participating intermediaries. Message receivers may accept validated
ARC information to supplement the information that DMARC provides,
potentially deciding to deliver the message even though a DMARC check
did not pass.
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The net result for domain owners and senders is that ARC may allow
messages routed through participating ARC intermediaries to be
delivered, even though those messages would not have been delivered
in the absence of ARC.
6.4. How can ARC impact my reputation as a message sender?
Message receivers often operate reputation systems, which build a
behavioral profile of various message senders (and perhaps
intermediaries). The presence or absence of ARC is yet another data
point that may be used as an input to such reputation systems.
Messages deemed to have good content may provide a positive signal
for the sending domain and the intermediaries that handled it, while
messages with bad content may provide a negative signal for the
sending domain and the intermediaries that handled it. Intact and
valid ARC elements may amplify or attenuate such signals, depending
on the circumstances.
Reputation systems are complex and usually specific to a given
message receiver, and a meaningful discussion of such a broad topic
is beyond the scope of this document.
6.5. Can I tell intermediaries not to use ARC?
At present there is no way for a message sender to request that
intermediaries not employ ARC.
7. References
7.1. Normative References
[RFC5321] Klensin, J., "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", RFC 5321,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5321, October 2008,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5321>.
[RFC5322] Resnick, P., Ed., "Internet Message Format", RFC 5322,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5322, October 2008,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5322>.
[RFC5598] Crocker, D., "Internet Mail Architecture", RFC 5598,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5598, July 2009,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5598>.
[RFC6377] Kucherawy, M., "DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) and
Mailing Lists", BCP 167, RFC 6377, DOI 10.17487/RFC6377,
September 2011, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6377>.
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[RFC7601] Kucherawy, M., "Message Header Field for Indicating
Message Authentication Status", RFC 7601,
DOI 10.17487/RFC7601, August 2015,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7601>.
7.2. Informative References
[ARC] Andersen, K., Rae-Grant, J., Long, B., and S. Jones,
"Authenticated Received Chain (ARC) Protocol", December
2017, <https://tools.ietf.org/html/
draft-ietf-dmarc-arc-protocol-10>.
[ENHANCED-STATUS]
"IANA SMTP Enhanced Status Codes", n.d.,
<http://www.iana.org/assignments/smtp-enhanced-status-
codes/smtp-enhanced-status-codes.xhtml>.
[OAR] Chew, M. and M. Kucherawy, "Original-Authentication-
Results Header Field", February 2012,
<https://tools.ietf.org/html/
draft-kucherawy-original-authres-00>.
[RFC7489] Kucherawy, M., Ed. and E. Zwicky, Ed., "Domain-based
Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance
(DMARC)", RFC 7489, DOI 10.17487/RFC7489, March 2015,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7489>.
[RFC7960] Martin, F., Ed., Lear, E., Ed., Draegen. Ed., T., Zwicky,
E., Ed., and K. Andersen, Ed., "Interoperability Issues
between Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting,
and Conformance (DMARC) and Indirect Email Flows",
RFC 7960, DOI 10.17487/RFC7960, September 2016,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7960>.
7.3. URIs
[1] mailto:arc-discuss@dmarc.org
Appendix A. GLOSSARY
ADMD Administrative Management Domain as used in [RFC5598] and
similar references refers to a single entity operating one or more
computers within one or more domain names under said entity's
control. One example might be a small company with a single
server, handling email for that company's domain. Another example
might be a large university, operating many servers that fulfill
different roles, all handling email for several different domains
representing parts of the university.
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ARC ARC is an acronym: Authentication Results Chain - see also [ARC]
ARC-Seal An [RFC5322] message header field formed in compliance with
the ARC specification. It includes certain content from all prior
ARC participants, if there are any.
ARC-Message-Signature (also abbreviated as "AMS") An [RFC5322]
message header field formed in compliance with the [ARC]
specification. It includes certain content about the message as
it was received and manipulated by the intermediary who inserted
it.
ARC-Authentication-Results (also abbreviated as "AAR") An [RFC5322]
message header field formed in compliance with the [ARC]
specification. It includes certain content about the message as
it was received by the intermediary.
Authentication Results Chain (ARC) A system that allows a Message
Receiver to identify Intermediaries or Message Handlers who have
conveyed a particular message. For more information see the
Abstract of this document, or refer to [ARC].
Domain Naming System Block List (DNSBL) This is a system widely used
in email filtering services whereby information about the past
activity of a set of hosts or domains indicates that messages
should not be accepted from them, or at least should be subject to
greater scrutiny before being accepted. Common examples would be
SpamCop, Spamhaus.org, SORBS, etc.
Email Service Provider (ESP) An Email Service Provider is typically
a vendor or partner firm that sends mail on behalf of another
company. They may use email addresses in Internet domains
belonging to the client or partner firm in various [RFC5321]
fields or [RFC5322] message header fields of the messages they
send on their behalf.
Intermediary In the context of [ARC], an Intermediary is typically
an Administrative Management Domain (per [RFC5598]) that is
receiving a message, potentially manipulating or altering it, and
then passing it on to another ADMD for delivery. Also see
[RFC7960] for more information and discussion. Common examples of
Intermediaries are mailing lists, alumni or professional email
address providers like universities or professional organizations,
et cetera.
Mail/Message Transfer Agent (MTA) This refers to software that sends
and receives email messsages across a network with other MTAs.
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Often run on dedicated servers, common examples are Exim,
Microsoft Exchange, Postfix, and Sendmail.
Mailflow A group of messages that share features in common. Typical
examples would be all messages sent by a given Message Sender to a
Message Receiver, related to a particular announcement, a given
mailing list, et cetera.
Malicious Actor A Malicious Actor is a party, often an Intermediary,
that will take actions that seek to exploit or defraud the
ultimate recipient of the message, or subvert the network controls
and infrastructure of the Message Receiver. Typical examples
would be a spammer who forges content or attributes of a message
in order to evade anti-spam measures, or an entity that adds an
attachment containing a virus to a message.
Message Handler A Message Handler is another name for an
Intermediary.
Message Receiver In the transmission of an email message from one
ADMD to another, this is the organization receiving the message on
behalf of the intended recipient or end user. The Message
Receiver may do this because the intended recipient is an employee
or member of the organization, or because the end user utilizes
email services provided by the Message Receiver (Comcast, GMail,
Yahoo, QQ, et cetera).
Message Sender In the transmission of an email message from one ADMD
to another, this is the organization sending the message on behalf
of the Originator or end user.
Originator This refers to the author of a given email message. In
different contexts it may refer to the end-user writing the
message, or the ADMD providing email services to that end-user.
Reputation In the larger context of email hygiene - blocking spam
and malicious messages - reputation generally refers to a wide
variety of techniques and mechanisms whereby a message receiver
uses the past actions of a sending host or domain to influence the
handling of messages received from them in the future. One of the
classic examples would be a Spamhaus-style DNSBL, where individual
IP addresses will be blocked from sending messages because they've
been identified as being bad actors. Very large message receivers
may build and maintain their own reputation systems of this kind,
whereas other organizations might choose to use commercial
products or free services.
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Reputation Service Provider A Reputation Service Provider would be a
source of reputation information about a message sender. In this
context, the DNSBL services offered by Spamhaus would allow them
to be referred to as an RPS. Many spam and virus filtering
vendors incorporate similar functionality into their services.
Request For Comment (RFC) RFCs are memoranda that "contain technical
and organizational notes about the Internet." Created and managed
by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), they are de facto
standards for various methods of communicating or collaborating
over the Internet.
RFC5321 - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol This document describes the
protocol used to transfer email messages between Message Transfer
Agents (MTA) over a network. Link: [RFC5321]
RFC5322 - Internet Message Format This document describes the format
of Internet email messages, including both the header fields
within the message and various types of content within the message
body. Link: [RFC5322]
Validator A Message Receiver that attempts to validate the ARC chain
in a message.
Appendix B. References
Appendix C. Acknowledgements
This draft is the work of OAR-Dev Group.
The authors thanks the entire OAR-Dev group for the ongoing help,
innumerable diagrams and discussions from all the participants,
especially: Alex Brotman, Brandon Long, Dave Crocker, Elizabeth
Zwicky, Franck Martin, Greg Colburn, J. Trent Adams, John Rae-Grant,
Mike Hammer, Mike Jones, Steve Jones, Terry Zink, Tim Draegen.
Appendix D. Comments and Feedback
Please address all comments, discussions, and questions to the dmarc
working group at [https://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/dmarc].
Authors' Addresses
Steven Jones
DMARC.org
Email: smj@crash.com
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Kurt Andersen
LinkedIn
2029 Stierlin Ct.
Mountain View, California 94043
USA
Email: kurta@linkedin.com
John Rae-Grant
Google
Email: johnrg@google.com
J. Trent Adams (editor)
Paypal
Email: trent.adams@paypal.com
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