Virgin Media Community

[anightin]

Dear All,

Over the last month I've been receiving about 10 or so Mail Delivery System e-mails with the subject being 'Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender', mostly with the following error:

host mx.tb.ukmail.iss.as9143.net[212.54.56.11]
said: 421 4.2.0 MXIN618 Temporary SMC Policy Violation detected, retry
later
;id=eYfnnsdSc8ArqeYfon0nPw;sid=eYfnnsdSc8Arq;mta=mx2.tb;dt=2022-04-13T10:48:25+02:00;ipsrc=64.99.140.10;
(in reply to end of DATA command)

Help!

Many thanks

Andy

[anightin]

For those having similar problems, the background seems to be that I'm using an e-mail redirection service for a domain that I own. I've been using this for many years, but the problems have only started recently, so I guess technology has caught up and now needs further authentication.

I reported this to the domain hosting company I use and they gave the following response:

I have added SPF and DKIM and DMARC records to your domain for you, this usually fixes any issues with e-mail deliverability issues such as the one you are having. Please allow 2-24 hours for this to fully propagate and please get back in touch if any issues reoccur. I will list the information that I have added below:

Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) is a method for associating a domain name to an email message, thereby allowing a person, role, or organization to claim some responsibility for the message. 

Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an email validation system designed to prevent email spam by detecting email spoofing, a common vulnerability, by verifying sender IP addresses.

DMARC, (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) is an email protocol; that when published for a domain; controls what happens if a message fails authentication tests (i.e. the recipient server can't verify that the message's sender is who they say they are).

[Akua_A]

Hi @anightin,

Welcome to our community forums and thank you for your first posts.

Sorry to hear you were having issues with your email system. We are however glad to see you have been able to rectify the issue. Has the issue been resolved in the given time frame? Do you need any further help?

Thanks,

[anightin]

Thanks, with these updates I though it was fixed but unfortunately the issue still persist.

I phoned VM Tech support and their only suggestion was simply to reset my account password and wait a few days!!! Not convinced!

Going back to UK2 I asked them if they could shed any light on the issue. This was their response in comparison (I have redacted the details of my IP address but the actual address issued to my router by VM was used in the conversation):

Hello,

Thank you for providing that information.

I have looked through the headers and tested the IP address you have. In regards to the IP 86.16.xx.xxx it does show to be on a Blacklist, please see the information below:

https://mxtoolbox.com/SuperTool.aspx?action=blacklist%3a86.16.xx.xxx&run=toolpage

https://mxtoolbox.com/Problem/Blacklist/SORBS-DUHL/?page=prob_blacklist&ip=86.16.xx.xxx&link=button&...

I have done some searching also on the SMC Policy Violation bounces/rejections and seem to be pointed towards Virgin Media forums as the only source of info on this. It seems to be related to mail filters and firewalls blocking the messages. I suspect it it is due to the blacklisting of this IP address. I have included the forum link below:

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/virginmedia-SMC-Policy-Violation-bounce-error/td-p/465253...

I would recommend requesting a delisting of the Virgin IP 86.16.xx.xxx (You can do this on the SORBswebsite - http://www.sorbs.net/delisting/overview.shtml) that you are on as this should help with the prevention of these rejections. In the forum the VM customer had some joy raising the SMC Policy Violation issue with VM Support who were able to get the issue cleared, seemingly by altering some firewall rules at their end.

[Gareth_L]

Hi anightin

Have you been able to request the delisting of your IP address yet?

Gareth_L

[anightin]

I went straight to SORBS.net but they rejected my request and explained that VM need to request this.

I phoned VM tech support and they said that this was not possible -- they didn't give me a reason why.

As of now the issue is still unresolved and I am stuck, so I raised a complaint ticket.

Kind Regards

Andy

[Gareth_L]

Hi anightin, 

Can you please have a look here as well 

Gareth_L

[anightin]

Yes thanks for the link.

The issue here is incoming e-mails to my domain vs emails I am sending.

My IP address shows as blacklisted since Dec 2008 -- way before it go allocated to me.

Sounds to me like some filters have changed on incoming e-mails which is resulting in them getting bounced.

My guess is that the blacklisting is what might be causing it but I would suspect that would be more to do with sending vs receiving.

I guess I just need an expert to look at this for me hence the posts in this forum.

[Steven_L]

Thanks for coming back to us @anightin.

I can pass this onto our team to be looked into further but would need to confirm a few details over via private message, please look out for my message and we can get started.

Regards,

Steven_L

[anightin]

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