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kloby
New Member
Jul 7, 2014 6:43 AM UTC
Solved

SMTP Auth Failure?

I have FortiMAil 100c in Gateway mod with Exchange2007. How to block or is there some option to limit wrong SMTP auth for mail accounts on fortimail ?
    Carl_Windsor_FTNT
    Staff
    Sep 13, 2016 5:00 PM UTC

    It is not entirely true that you can't ban IP sources, albeit temporarily.  In 5.3, we added SMTP authentication failure tracking.  To configure:   config system security authserver       set status [enable, disable, monitor-only] end   It uses a variety of adaptive factors, similar to our sender reputation feature to detect and block brute forcing (not just consecutive failures) and temporarily locks out (tarpitting) the user.

     

    Carl

    9 replies

    Bromont_FTNT
    Staff
    Staff
    Jul 7, 2014 11:52 AM UTC
    Can you elaborate? If someone authenticates with wrong credentials on the Fortimail relay will be denied.
    emnoc
    New Member
    Jul 8, 2014 8:26 AM UTC
    1s question do you need or expect any SMTP auth? ( 250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN DIGEST-MD5 CRAM-MD5 ) Yes no, just disable it in your mail profile? Unless your offering mali-relay to various src ip_address, than I would disable SMTP-auth imho As soon as you have SMTP authentication enable, than you will get a rash of dictionary attacker trying everything from admin, post,postmaster administrator, root , sales, info, etc...... you get the picture. Bad thing about this, the fortimail has no way to ban these src ip_address unless you use a fortigate and a some custom IPS rule. I wish they would incould some type of brute-force monitor and after a single address failed SMTP-AUTH like 20+ times in X , than you ban them like with a IPS quarantine ip_address does.
    kloby
    klobyAuthor
    New Member
    Jul 8, 2014 12:37 PM UTC
    Thanks for replay, Can you tell me where else can I check that SMTP auth is not enabled, I find it only here (attachment)? And yes it would be nice to have some kind notification that somebody is trying to bruteforce, else you must watch/filter big log files to find something is wrong. :(
    emnoc
    New Member
    Jul 10, 2014 10:34 AM UTC
    I' m re-writing and moving my blog around, but take a look at this. I push this out since I knew you or another will run across the same issue. http://socpuppet.blogspot.com/2014/07/howto-disable-smtp-auth-support.html FWIW; I don' t think the ip/access-policy is where/what enables the SMTP-AUTH but you can check. If you have a fortigate, I would write a SMTP-AUTH rule and block by tracking the server auth-failures and the destination address. This would give you a piece of mind and protection from any brute/dictionary or hybrid based attacks. note: One more auth that can be disable in the same fashion is ; config sys mailserver set smtp-auth-smtps disable end I believe that take care of the SSMTP port 465; cat services | grep smtp smtp 25/tcp mail ssmtp 465/tcp smtps # SMTP over SSL Check and confirm by using mxtoolbox as outline in that blog.
    NotMine
    Explorer III
    Sep 11, 2016 7:36 PM UTC

    To revamp this post: what if I need SMTP authentication for my outside clients (people who are sending email from their mobile devices etc.), and disabling it is not an option?

    Carl_Windsor_FTNT
    Staff
    Staff
    Sep 13, 2016 5:00 PM UTC

    It is not entirely true that you can't ban IP sources, albeit temporarily.  In 5.3, we added SMTP authentication failure tracking.  To configure:   config system security authserver       set status [enable, disable, monitor-only] end   It uses a variety of adaptive factors, similar to our sender reputation feature to detect and block brute forcing (not just consecutive failures) and temporarily locks out (tarpitting) the user.

     

    Carl

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