NDR: "A configuration error in the e-mail system..."

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Anett - 07 Mar 2006 11:21 GMT

Hi

We seem to have a problem when one of our users recieve messages from
one specific remote sender. The messages are delivered all the way to
the back-end server, but there a NDR is created:

"A configuration error in the e-mail system caused the message to
bounce between two servers or to be forwarded between two recipients.
Contact your administrator."

This is only happening when the messages is addressed to a send list,
not when it is addressed directly to the user.

We are running Exchange Server 2000 and Outlook 2002.

I hope someone can help me in this matter.

Regards

Anett

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Brian Tillman - 07 Mar 2006 15:09 GMT

> We seem to have a problem when one of our users recieve messages from
> one specific remote sender. The messages are delivered all the way to
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> bounce between two servers or to be forwarded between two recipients.
> Contact your administrator."

This sounds like a message a sender would receive, not a recipient. It's
the result of two mail routers thinking that each is the forwarder for
itself; i.e., router A thinks that in order to reach the recipient, router B
must handle the message and router B thinks that A should handle the
message.

Who sent the original messge that elicited this NDR and who received the
NDR?

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Brian Tillman

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Anett - 08 Mar 2006 15:24 GMT

> > We seem to have a problem when one of our users recieve messages from
> > one specific remote sender. The messages are delivered all the way to
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> --
> Brian Tillman

Sorry for my indistinct description. The NDR is, off course, sent back
to the original sender.

Anett

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Brian Tillman - 08 Mar 2006 18:01 GMT

> Sorry for my indistinct description. The NDR is, off course, sent back
> to the original sender.

That's what I thought. Is the NDR generated by your mail server or one
outside of your system? If the latter, you have no hope of addressing the
issue.

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Brian Tillman

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Anett - 09 Mar 2006 13:11 GMT

> > Sorry for my indistinct description. The NDR is, off course, sent back
> > to the original sender.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> --
> Brian Tillman

The NDR is created by our back-end server and sent out.

Anett

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Brian Tillman - 09 Mar 2006 14:01 GMT

> The NDR is created by our back-end server and sent out.

Are you sure your server is generating it or is it just passing it back to
the original sender from an upstream router?

Are the sender and recipient addresses on separate machines? If the router
producing the error is in your domain, then that machine is talking to
another router that it thinks is upstream from it and that other router
thinks the original is upstream so they hand the message back and forth
until the maximum hop value is exceeded causing one of them to report the
NDR to the sender. Is the original message appended to or included in the
NDR? If so, the Received-by headers should tell you which teo machines are
arguing.

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Brian Tillman

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Anett - 10 Mar 2006 12:34 GMT

> > The NDR is created by our back-end server and sent out.
>
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> --
> Brian Tillman

According to the information in Message Tracking Center (Exchange
System Manager), the message is transferred from the front end server
to the back end server, and then the NDR is generated.

It's an external sender on a different domain. The original message is
not included in or appended to the NDR.

The thing is the problem occurs only when the mail is addressed to a
send list, not when the sender is addressing it directly to the
recipient. That's why we can't figure out what's wrong. Why it is ok in
one case but not in the other...

Any idea?

Anett

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bigpond916 - 26 Jun 2007 02:27 GMT

Hi,

I received the same NDR but what worries me more is that I received 3
bounced emails as shown below but no one in our company sent these
emails as you can tell from the subject line that the email sent is
obviously spam.

What I am concerned about is that our Server has been hijaked and is
sending out spam?

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.

Subject: Make 1500-1700 AUD a WEEK?17! Yes.
Sent: 26/06/2007 8:16 AM

The following recipient(s) cannot be reached:

name@company.com on 26/06/2007 10:30 AM
A configuration error in the e-mail system caused the
message to bounce between two servers or to be forwarded between two
recipients. Contact your administrator.
<EXCHCLUST.company.com #4.4.6>

[

This sounds like a message a sender would receive, not a recipient.
It's
the result of two mail routers thinking that each is the forwarder for
itself; i.e., router A thinks that in order to reach the recipient,
router B
must handle the message and router B thinks that A should handle the
message.

Who sent the original messge that elicited this NDR and who received
the
NDR?
--
Brian Tillman

Signature

bigpond916

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Brian Tillman - 26 Jun 2007 15:44 GMT

> I received the same NDR but what worries me more is that I received 3
> bounced emails as shown below but no one in our company sent these
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> What I am concerned about is that our Server has been hijaked and is
> sending out spam?

It probably hasn;t been hijacked. I think two things are happening here.
The first is that your address has been hijacked and the second is that the
mail routers at company.com are misconfigured or that "name" forwards his
mail to someone and that someone forwards it back to name.

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Brian Tillman

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