Miquel van Smoorenburg <miquels@CISTRON.NL> wrote:
There is a bug in Outlook Express delivered with Windows '98, at least
version 4.72.3110.1 (4.01 SP1) and 4.72.3120.0 (4.01 SP1 + oepatsp1)
Windows '95 updated with MSIE 4.01 has Outlook Express 4.72.3612.1700,
which doesn't show the problem. OE from MSIE3 and MSIE5 don't have the
problem either. There might be versions of MSIE4 included with Windows
'98 that don't show the problem either, but I don't have a stack of
Windows CDs to test against.
We have talked to Microsoft NL about this, tracking number S2134 T6142.
However they either deny there is a bug ("sorry sir, this product has
been available for a year now so there cannot be any bugs in it") or
they do not understand what we are talking about. They also claim to
have not received any mail we sent to them, so I am giving up on that.
We did send them this bug report by fax, perhaps that technology is
stable enough to work for them, I don't know.
Description of the problem:
A dot on a single line means EOM in the POP3 protocol. If a message
contains that it must be escaped by adding an extra dot, so we have 2
dots on a single line - which is OK. However if on the TCP level the
line after this double-dot crosses over to the next packet, Outlook
Express will interpret the double-dot as a single dot, switching back to
POP3 command mode and interpreting the rest of the message as a response
from the POP3 server. Result is an error message and usually a hanging
POP3 session.
Perhaps it's not really a bug in Outlook, but the Windows I/O library
or the TCP implementation.. which is scary.
So at the TCP packet level it looks like this:
packet1: [message data]
packet1: \r\n..\r\nthis is a line that
packet2: continues in the next packet
The double-dot on the 2nd line will be interpreted as a single dot.
It occurred to me that it might not be clear from the original message
but because the POP3 session is hanging, the message will not be removed
from the server and the next time mail is check the same thing will
occur. This is an effective DOS attack against the mailbox.
The only way to solve this is to remove the message with another
POP3 email program (Eudora, Pegasus) or to ask the sysadmin of the POP3
server to remove the message manually (look for a message that has a line
starting with a dot).
Upgrading to MSIE 5.0 will also solve the problem, but there is no
simple/small bugfix from Microsoft available (an MSIE 5.0 download is
what - 20 MB at least?) yet for as far as I know.
So, ISP helpdesks - take note. This is at least one of the causes of
the problems all these people have been having with their "blocked mail".
Mike.
-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Patterson <pj@ctt-inc.com>
To: ntisp@iea-software.com <ntisp@iea-software.com>
Date: Monday, July 26, 1999 9:30 AM
Subject: RE: [NTISP] PostOffice 3.5.3 & Outlook again!
>Well, I have to concur that this is a problem. I also run Post.Office, and
>I have seen this problem a number of times. It typically occurs with
>Outlook Express users, although a few Outlook users and actually one
>Netscape user as well. Deletinging the offending message from the mailbox
>directly always fixes the problem, but I have not been able to find a
>consistant trigger for the problem. While it does seem to occur more often
>with larger files, it is not every large file. The only thing I have
>noticed is that in every case the message was SPAM, but that could simply
>be a coincidence.
>
>I hope PostOffice gets moving on this - I was already unhappy with the
>pricing changes in the last few versions. It is a nice product, but the
>company behind it seems to be degrading...
>
>
>
>
>
>At 09:41 PM 7/25/99 -0400, you wrote:
>>I just wonder why we haven't seen it. I also support post.office at about a
>>half dozen other pops and businesses and have never run across the problem
>>myself so it's not persistent among ALL post.office installations... God
>>knows we have lots of outlook users... and a lot of our users are engineers
>>and architects who absolutely insist on clogging their pipes with large
>>drawing files sent as attachments in outlook.
>>
>>Not doubting what you say, just trying to help out. I don't have a dog in
>>this hunt... I support lots of other packages and they all have their,
>>ahem... "features".
>>
>> )
>>
>>
>>Good luck
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: ntisp-request@iea-software.com
>>> [mailto:ntisp-request@iea-software.com]On Behalf Of Geoff
>>> Sent: Sunday, July 25, 1999 9:49 PM
>>> To: ntisp@iea-software.com
>>> Subject: Re: [NTISP] PostOffice 3.5.3 & Outlook again!
>>>
>>>
>>> This problem is persistent with Post.Office and we contacted them with an
>>> Email petition. The President responded that he would have his
>>> tech support
>>> work on this problem till resolved. Well, that was three months ago and
>>> they still have not fixed the problem.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: rkm <rkm@marshall.net>
>>> To: <ntisp@iea-software.com>
>>> Sent: Sunday, July 25, 1999 6:26 PM
>>> Subject: RE: [NTISP] PostOffice 3.5.3 & Outlook again!
>>>
>>>
>>> > We use ASCEND MAX's here.. could it be your terminal servers?
>>> >
>>> > > -----Original Message-----
>>> > > From: ntisp-request@iea-software.com
>>> > > [mailto:ntisp-request@iea-software.com]On Behalf Of Dan Waldron
>>> > > Sent: Sunday, July 25, 1999 9:26 PM
>>> > > To: ntisp@iea-software.com
>>> > > Subject: Re: [NTISP] PostOffice 3.5.3 & Outlook again!
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > The only thing between our Max terminal server and our mail
>>> server is a
>>> > > 100Mbps ethernet cable. We get the same problem at both of our
>>> > > POPs, however
>>> > > after saying that, we don't seem to suffer the problem with local
>>> network
>>> > > e-mails so I don't think the server is overloaded at all, and the
>>> terminal
>>> > > servers are way under utilised. It seems to happen far too often
>>> > > and there's
>>> > > no correlation between peak and off peak period either.
>>> > >
>>> > > Outlook 5 seemed to help, but it's still a definite problem.
>>> > >
>>> > > Regards
>>> > > Dan
>>> > >
>>> > > ==========================
>>> > > Dan Waldron
>>> > > Internetworx Pty Ltd
>>> > > dan@internetworx.com.au
>>> > > http://www.internetworx.com.au
>>> > > Ph: 1300-300-005
>>> > > Fax: 1300-302-270
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > ----- Original Message -----
>>> > > From: rkm <rkm@marshall.net>
>>> > > To: <ntisp@iea-software.com>
>>> > > Sent: Monday, July 26, 1999 10:28 AM
>>> > > Subject: RE: [NTISP] PostOffice 3.5.3 & Outlook again!
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > > We run post.office at three locations and we have no problems
>>> > > with outlook
>>> > > > and large attachments.
>>> > > >
>>> > > > My guess is you have a system latency somewhere that is causing
>>> > > a timeout?
>>> > > >
>>> > > > > -----Original Message-----
>>> > > > > From: ntisp-request@iea-software.com
>>> > > > > [mailto:ntisp-request@iea-software.com]On Behalf Of Dan Waldron
>>> > > > > Sent: Sunday, July 25, 1999 8:57 PM
>>> > > > > To: ntisp@iea-software.com
>>> > > > > Subject: Re: [NTISP] PostOffice 3.5.3 & Outlook again!
>>> > > > >
>>> > > > >
>>> > > > > We've had enough of spending all day deleting emails,
>>> it's very fast
>>> > > > > starting to look like we dump post.office in search of
>>> > > greener pastures.
>>> > > > > Lately the support has been pathetic, I don't think two or three
>>> > > > > weeks for a
>>> > > > > reply to a support query is reasonable, fair enough perhaps if it
>>> > > > > were free
>>> > > > > support!
>>> > > > >
>>> > > > > Maybe we need an electronic petition! :-)
>>> > > > >
>>> > > > > Rregards
>>> > > > > Dan
>>> > > > >
>>> > > > > ==========================
>>> > > > > Dan Waldron
>>> > > > > Internetworx Pty Ltd
>>> > > > > dan@internetworx.com.au
>>> > > > > http://www.internetworx.com.au
>>> > > > > Ph: 1300-300-005
>>> > > > > Fax: 1300-302-270
>>> > > > >
>>> > > > >
>>> > > > > ----- Original Message -----
>>> > > > > From: Christian Schmit <cschmit@vo.lu>
>>> > > > > To: <ntisp@iea-software.com>
>>> > > > > Sent: Saturday, July 24, 1999 2:41 AM
>>> > > > > Subject: [NTISP] PostOffice 3.5.3 & Outlook again!
>>> > > > >
>>> > > > >
>>> > > > > > Hi,
>>> > > > > >
>>> > > > > > We still have a lot of problems with Outlook customers
>>> > > > > > when they get large mails on our PostOffice server.
>>> > > > > > (around 2-3 MB or more)
>>> > > > > >
>>> > > > > > These customers use Outlook 5 which comes with IE 5.
>>> > > > > > I thought software.com said Outlook ver. 5 would solve
>>> > > > > > the problems they have with Outlook clients. To me
>>> > > > > > it seems that the problems are not solved.
>>> > > > > >
>>> > > > > > Hopefully the next version of postoffice solves these
>>> > > > > > problems. Anyone knowing when version 4 of PostOffice
>>> > > > > > will be released? What features will it have?
>>> > > > > >
>>> > > > > > Christian
>>> > > > > >
>>> > > > > >
>>> > > > > >
>>> > > > > >
>>> > > > > >
>>> > > > > >
>>> > > > > > For more information about this list (including removal) go to:
>>> > > > > > http://www.iea-software.com/support/maillists/liststart
>>> > > > >
>>> > > > >
>>> > > > > For more information about this list (including removal) go to:
>>> > > > > http://www.iea-software.com/support/maillists/liststart
>>> > > > >
>>> > > >
>>> > > >
>>> > > > For more information about this list (including removal) go to:
>>> > > > http://www.iea-software.com/support/maillists/liststart
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > For more information about this list (including removal) go to:
>>> > > http://www.iea-software.com/support/maillists/liststart
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > For more information about this list (including removal) go to:
>>> > http://www.iea-software.com/support/maillists/liststart
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>> For more information about this list (including removal) go to:
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>>
>>
>>For more information about this list (including removal) go to:
>>http://www.iea-software.com/support/maillists/liststart
>>
>
>For more information about this list (including removal) go to:
>http://www.iea-software.com/support/maillists/liststart
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