Mail Authentication

[smallstonefan]

I was testing a new email ActiveX component and was surprised when I was able to send email through my mail.jamesfoxall.com mail server with no password.

 

Can anyone send email through my mail server without authentication?

 

Am I just missing something?

 

Thanks for your help,

 

James

[Deverill]

I'm no email guru so I'm just throwing out what comes to mind, but I believe the email caches your password so if you come from the same IP with the same email account within so many seconds it knows it's you. Did you just check email with a client that had a password in place?

[scotttyz]

I'm no email guru so I'm just throwing out what comes to mind, but I believe the email caches your password so if you come from the same IP with the same email account within so many seconds it knows it's you. Did you just check email with a client that had a password in place?

That is right on for many mail servers. If you have authenticated recently (a few minutes?) then the authentication will hold for a bit and allow what looks like un-authenticated mail to be sent.

[smallstonefan]

I'm no email guru so I'm just throwing out what comes to mind, but I believe the email caches your password so if you come from the same IP with the same email account within so many seconds it knows it's you. Did you just check email with a client that had a password in place?

Heck, I learn something new everyday! Yes, the email address is active in Outlook, so it gets pinged regularly.

 

THANKS!

 

I need to test the authentication of this component. Any idea how long you have to remain idle after checking email to have it reset the IP?

 

I really appreciate your help!

[TCH-Bruce]

Moving for organization

[scotttyz]

I need to test the authentication of this component. Any idea how long you have to remain idle after checking email to have it reset the IP?

 

I really appreciate your help!

if you are familiar with telnet (or similar) you could have outlook closed and try to talk to the outgoing mail server.

 

Or if not, try using outllook express (assuming you are using Outlook for regular mail) set up 1 single account, turn off all send/recieve options, use an inncorect incomming email server and add the correct info to the outgoing server but leave the password blank and try to send an email. Make sure you have not auth'd in a while and if you get the password promt BOOM! auth works

[smallstonefan]

Thanks. I actually know how to test the authentication, I'm just wondering how long the IP address is held in the cache.

 

I do appreciate your input though,

 

James