Outgoing server amended to smtp.ntlworld.com by Virgin

[yadmot]

Hi Ravenstar68,

I'm suffering from not being able to send outgoing emails using my Ntlworld email address.  Originally occurred two days ago and searching found had to change server names to virginmedia. This OK for 1 day (!?!); could send and receive emails. Today incoming only no outgoing. 

I use client mail (Windows Live Mail) on Windows 10 desktop as well as Windows 10 Outlook app. WLM preferred method.   Incoming mail OK.   Webmail works incoming and outgoing.

Currently:-

smtp.virginmedia.com
Port 465 SSL
Authentication enabled
Username - my ntlworld email address
Password - my ntlworld password

attempted to run, as suggested:-

curl -vs smtps://smtp.virginmedia.com/ -u  myaddress@ntlworld.com:mypassword 2>&1 | findstr "235 VM"

via copy and paste from text editor to command prompt.  On 'Enter' no response other than return to command prompt

Can you provide further help to 'unblock' outgoing email

Help appreciated

[ravenstar68]

Can you just run the first part alone:

curl -vs smtps://smtp.virginmedia.com/

Tim

Edit - This will just look at the connection and as you are not passing a username and password we don't need to filter the output

[yadmot]

Thanks for your prompt reply.

Done as requested and a connected IP address plus port number given.

Proceeds to check server certificate via handshake data but failed to receive handshake; needing more data...............

I don't understand above so would appreciate further advice/steps to take.

[yadmot]

As and add-on to previous post this is the error message I get when trying to send from my ntlworld account:-

[yadmot]

I've input IP address into Spamhaus Blocklist Project https://www.spamhaus.org/query/ip/nn.nnn.nn.nnnn and the response was:-

Not Listed.  If the IP address or domain you are checking does not show as listed in the results above, then it is not currently in any Spamhaus blocklist.

Help much appreciated

[ravenstar68 · Accepted solution]

I've separated this out into it's own thread.

For future reference, it really is better to create your own thread rather than piggy backing on to someone elses.

@ModTeam - Someone seriously needs to look at what is going on with the revocation checks for your certificates from VM connections.  This is not the first time that we've seen issues checking the certificate revocation.

I know for a fact that the certificate is good - but because curl can't verify that it hasn't been revoked it's abandoning the connection.  Email clients may also do the same thing.  Certainly the Error code given by yadmot shows that the send failed because the connection was closed, NOT because of an issue with the password.

Tim

[yadmot]

Many thanks for your response.

As I understand it, the issue is with virginmedia and not me (?).  I suspected as much when all my devices failed at the same time.  Perception was that Virgin have done maintenance/upgrade work a few days ago and that has messed things up. My Windows Live Mail no longer sends emails nor does my iPhone SE (2nd Gen) nor iPad Air !!

Just come off the phone speaking to a friend living locally and a virginmedia subscriber and email user.  Asked them to send me a test message and guess what, they too cannot send emails form their iPhone 6 or iPad.  They use WLM on desktop but this untested but no doubt would fail like mine.

What's my next step ??  Do I wait and hope it gets resolved ??  Is there anything else I can do other than revert to webmail for all devices

[ravenstar68]

Can you ask your friend to do the curl test.

BTW a modified version of the first test is

curl -v smtps://smtp.virginmedia.com/ -u username:password 2>&1 | (where findstr && (findstr "235 VM") || (grep "235\|VM"))

That will run on Windows and Linux machines.  Again if there's no output get them to just use:

curl -v smtps://smtp.virginmedia.com/

on it's own.

Ask them to post the results in this thread.

[ravenstar68]

I've escalated this as I believe there is an underlying issue going on that Virgin Media really need to be looking at closely.

The underlying cause appears to be the SSL/TLS certificate they are using.  But it's not as simple as it seems.

Here's what I know.

1. I've seen several curl commands fail in the same way yours does.
2. I've also seen a number of threads where people are struggling to connect to imap.virginmedia.com - where the email client cites certificate issues, albeit with a principle target mismatch error.
3. In one case I had a user extract the certificate from the error message and send it to me.  When I inspected the certificate they sent, my system showed no issue with it.
4. VM are using a a single certificate with SAN names (incorrectly IMHO) - for all of servers covering a particular domain.
   Subject Alternative Name
   DNS Name=email.virginmedia.com
   DNS Name=webmail.virginmedia.com
   DNS Name=mail.virginmedia.com
   DNS Name=mail2.virginmedia.com
   DNS Name=mail3.virginmedia.com
   DNS Name=pop.virginmedia.com
   DNS Name=pop3.virginmedia.com
   DNS Name=imap.virginmedia.com
   DNS Name=imap4.virginmedia.com
   DNS Name=smtp.virginmedia.com
   DNS Name=autoconfig.virginmedia.com
   DNS Name=autodiscover.virginmedia.com
   
   I say incorrectly for two reasons:
   SAN names are used where a server on a single IP uses multiple hostnames>
   imap4.virginmedia.com and mail3.virginmedia.com do not exist in DNS
   
   While the incorrect usage doesn't APPEAR to play a part in what's going on, it does mean that this issue could have wider implications.
5. If you run the original curl command with certificate revocation checks ignored, you'll see it completes.
   
   curl -v --ssl-no-revoke smtps://smtp.virginmedia.com/ -u username:password 2>&1 | (where findstr && (findstr "235 VM") || (grep "235\|VM"))
   
   

@ModTeam - This is something that really needs taking seriously by the email team.   This is not simply a case of "Check your settings are correct."  In fact from the mail program error, we see that the settings are indeed correct.

Tim

[yadmot]

Ravenstar68,

My friend is elderly and not very PC aware.  I look after his technical needs as his tech support.  I'll see what I can do.