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Posted to users@spamassassin.apache.org by Ed Kasky <ed...@esson.net> on 2008/04/03 21:47:12 UTC

Blank messages

I can't seem to catch these emails with blank bodies.  I upped the 
BLANK_LINES_80_90 score to 3 but the email below didn't get a hit off the rule.

Is there another rule that I don't know about that is designed for 
blank message bodies?

Thanks in advance on this one.  These things have been plaguing me 
for some time and no matter how many I run through sa-learn, they 
never seem to score above a 5...

>Return-Path: <vi...@dkunath.de>
>X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.4 (2008-01-01) on yoda.wrenkasky.com
>X-Spam-Level: *****
>X-Spam-Status: No, score=5.3 required=6.9 tests=BAYES_99,HTML_MESSAGE,
>         RDNS_DYNAMIC,SARE_OBFU_MILLIONS autolearn=no version=3.2.4
>Received: from zfixtcs.estpak.ee (84-50-66-6-dsl.est.estpak.ee [84.50.66.6])
>         by yoda.wrenkasky.com (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id m33ICCxk003672
>         for <ed...@wrenkasky.com>; Thu, 3 Apr 2008 11:12:19 -0700
>Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:12:21 +0000
>From: "Clemans Ceparano" <vi...@dkunath.de>
>X-Mailer: The Bat! (3.0.0.10) Professional
>Reply-To: Clemans Ceparano <vi...@dkunath.de>
>X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
>Message-ID: <37...@dkunath.de>
>To: <ed...@wrenkasky.com>
>Subject: resipiscence
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>  boundary="----------6622964ADDB6E4"

Ed Kasky
~~~~~~~~~
Randomly Generated Quote (758 of 1229):
Lots of times you have to pretend to join a parade in which you're
not really interested in order to get where you're going.
-Christopher Morley, writer (1890-1957)


Re: Blank messages

Posted by Michelle Konzack <li...@freenet.de>.
Hmmm, maybe you schould decrease the score?

Am 2008-04-03 12:47:12, schrieb Ed Kasky:
> I can't seem to catch these emails with blank bodies.  I upped the 
> BLANK_LINES_80_90 score to 3 but the email below didn't get a hit off the 
> rule.
> 
> Is there another rule that I don't know about that is designed for 
> blank message bodies?
> 
> Thanks in advance on this one.  These things have been plaguing me 
> for some time and no matter how many I run through sa-learn, they 
> never seem to score above a 5...
> 
> >Return-Path: <vi...@dkunath.de>
> >X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.4 (2008-01-01) on 
> >yoda.wrenkasky.com
> >X-Spam-Level: *****
> >X-Spam-Status: No, score=5.3 required=6.9 tests=BAYES_99,HTML_MESSAGE,
                      ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^
Here, your E-Mail WAS in the spamfolder I am currently checking...

> >        RDNS_DYNAMIC,SARE_OBFU_MILLIONS autolearn=no version=3.2.4
<snip>

Thanks, Greetings and nice Day
    Michelle Konzack
    Systemadministrator
    24V Electronic Engineer
    Tamay Dogan Network
    Debian GNU/Linux Consultant


-- 
Linux-User #280138 with the Linux Counter, http://counter.li.org/
##################### Debian GNU/Linux Consultant #####################
Michelle Konzack   Apt. 917                  ICQ #328449886
+49/177/9351947    50, rue de Soultz         MSN LinuxMichi
+33/6/61925193     67100 Strasbourg/France   IRC #Debian (irc.icq.com)

Re: Blank messages

Posted by SM <sm...@resistor.net>.
At 16:12 04-04-2008, Matt Kettler wrote:
>Out of curiosity, did you spot where the error in the formatting is? 
>I looked at the message and failed to spot it...

My initial reply was incorrect as it's not a MIME related problem.  I 
viewed the message again after your question.

There's an extra double-quote in the META line.  The HTML is 
malformed which is why the message appear empty in Eudora's built-in viewer.

At 16:23 04-04-2008, Ed Kasky wrote:
>Not real sure but could it have something to do with the boundary?

The boundary is correct.

Regards,
-sm 


Re: Blank messages

Posted by mouss <mo...@netoyen.net>.
Ed Kasky wrote:
> On Fri, 4 Apr 2008, Matt Kettler wrote:
>
>> SM wrote:
>>> At 04:46 04-04-2008, Matt Kettler wrote:
>>>> However, in this case it looks purely accidental. That appears to 
>>>> be a legitimate HTML document, or at least doesn't appear to be 
>>>> intentionally malformed.
>>>
>>> In this case, the message wasn't formatted correctly as it's going 
>>> to be rendered as a blank message (excluding attachments) by most MUAs.
>>
>> Out of curiosity, did you spot where the error in the formatting is? 
>> I looked at the message and failed to spot it...
>
> Not real sure but could it have something to do with the boundary?
>
> Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>  boundary="----------6622964ADDB6E4"
> Received-SPF: none (yoda.wrenkasky.com: domain of 
> visualiser@dkunath.de does not designate permitted sender hosts)
> X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.92.1/6568/Thu Apr  3 09:12:56 2008 on 
> yoda.wrenkasky.com
> X-Virus-Status: Clean
> Content-Length: 3009
> Status: RO
> X-Status:
> X-Keywords:
> X-UID: 2
>
> ------------6622964ADDB6E4
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
>
> Ahn nyeong,
> ^^^^^^^^^^ this is where the text started but for me was only visible 
> if I viewed full headers in pine or viewed the raw message...

I see no problem with the boundary. can you configure your mailers to 
show text instead of html and try again?

For info, thunderbird shows the message (not blank). didn't test with 
other MUAs.

Re: Blank messages

Posted by Ed Kasky <ed...@esson.net>.
On Fri, 4 Apr 2008, Matt Kettler wrote:

> SM wrote:
>> At 04:46 04-04-2008, Matt Kettler wrote:
>>> However, in this case it looks purely accidental. That appears to be a 
>>> legitimate HTML document, or at least doesn't appear to be intentionally 
>>> malformed.
>> 
>> In this case, the message wasn't formatted correctly as it's going to be 
>> rendered as a blank message (excluding attachments) by most MUAs.
>
> Out of curiosity, did you spot where the error in the formatting is? I looked 
> at the message and failed to spot it...

Not real sure but could it have something to do with the boundary?

Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
  boundary="----------6622964ADDB6E4"
Received-SPF: none (yoda.wrenkasky.com: domain of visualiser@dkunath.de 
does not designate permitted sender hosts)
X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.92.1/6568/Thu Apr  3 09:12:56 2008 on 
yoda.wrenkasky.com
X-Virus-Status: Clean
Content-Length: 3009
Status: RO
X-Status:
X-Keywords:
X-UID: 2

------------6622964ADDB6E4
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Ahn nyeong,
^^^^^^^^^^ this is where the text started but for me was only visible if I 
viewed full headers in pine or viewed the raw message...

Ed

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Randomly generated quote:
Sit straight, and before you buy your shoes measure your feet.
- Zen Saying

Re: Blank messages

Posted by Matt Kettler <mk...@verizon.net>.
SM wrote:
> At 04:46 04-04-2008, Matt Kettler wrote:
>> However, in this case it looks purely accidental. That appears to be 
>> a legitimate HTML document, or at least doesn't appear to be 
>> intentionally malformed.
>
> In this case, the message wasn't formatted correctly as it's going to 
> be rendered as a blank message (excluding attachments) by most MUAs.

Out of curiosity, did you spot where the error in the formatting is? I 
looked at the message and failed to spot it...

Re: Blank messages

Posted by SM <sm...@resistor.net>.
At 04:46 04-04-2008, Matt Kettler wrote:
>However, in this case it looks purely accidental. That appears to be 
>a legitimate HTML document, or at least doesn't appear to be 
>intentionally malformed.

In this case, the message wasn't formatted correctly as it's going to 
be rendered as a blank message (excluding attachments) by most MUAs.

Regards,
-sm 


Re: Blank messages

Posted by Matt Kettler <mk...@verizon.net>.
Ed Kasky wrote:
>
>>
>> Odds are the message isn't blank.. Have you got a copy of the raw 
>> message before Eudora gets a hold of it?
>
> I should have looked at the raw message.  Even in pine, it shows blank 
> until you display the full headers:
> http://www.wrenkasky.com/spam/resipiscence.txt
>
> Quite a difference...
Yep... it's quite common for mail clients to render spam as blank when 
it's not. Unless you're using outlook of course.. spammers are generally 
trying to encode their mail in ways that outlook will display, but some 
spam scanners (not SA) can't decipher. As a side effect, many older or 
more strict mail clients won't render them either.

However, in this case it looks purely accidental. That appears to be a 
legitimate HTML document, or at least doesn't appear to be intentionally 
malformed.





Re: Blank messages

Posted by Ed Kasky <ed...@esson.net>.
At 05:21 PM Thursday, 4/3/2008, Matt Kettler wrote -=>
>Ed Kasky wrote:
>>At 01:29 PM Thursday, 4/3/2008, John Hardin wrote -=>
>>>On Thu, 3 Apr 2008, Ed Kasky wrote:
>>>
>>>>>X-Spam-Status: No, score=5.3 required=6.9 tests=BAYES_99,HTML_MESSAGE,
>>>>>          RDNS_DYNAMIC,SARE_OBFU_MILLIONS autolearn=no version=3.2.4
>>>
>>>How did it hit SARE_OBFU_MILLIONS with a blank body?
>>
>>I wish I had an answer for that one the same as why it didn't hit 
>>BLANK_LINES_80_90...
>
>Odds are the message isn't blank.. Have you got a copy of the raw 
>message before Eudora gets a hold of it?

I should have looked at the raw message.  Even in pine, it shows 
blank until you display the full headers:
http://www.wrenkasky.com/spam/resipiscence.txt

Quite a difference...

>"Thanks in advance on this one.  These things have been plaguing me 
>for some time and no matter how many I run through sa-learn, they 
>never seem to score above a 5... "
>
>"X-Spam-Status: No, score=5.3 required=6.9 tests=BAYES_99,HTML_MESSAGE, "
>
>Well, clearly that one scored above a 5. And with BAYES_99 already 
>in the mix, more sa-learn training won't raise the score. This 
>message already matches the highest bayes classification possible.
>
>Perhaps you need to reconsider your threshold. If false negatives 
>are a big problem for you, raising it above 5.0 isn't a good idea. 
>When you raise the threshold, you're trading off fewer FPs, for more 
>FNs. This particular message clearly exemplifies that.

Not a big problem with FN's per se, just of this type that seem to 
have a blank body in Eudora and when I check them in pine without the 
headers, they still appeared to be blank.  I will start checking the 
raw message more carefully.  Thanks.

Ed

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Randomly Generated Quote (1051 of 1388):
Strike an average between what a woman thinks of her husband a
month before she marries him and what she thinks of him a
year afterward, and you will have the truth about him.
-H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956)


Re: Blank messages

Posted by Matt Kettler <mk...@verizon.net>.
Ed Kasky wrote:
> At 01:29 PM Thursday, 4/3/2008, John Hardin wrote -=>
>> On Thu, 3 Apr 2008, Ed Kasky wrote:
>>
>>>> X-Spam-Status: No, score=5.3 required=6.9 tests=BAYES_99,HTML_MESSAGE,
>>>>          RDNS_DYNAMIC,SARE_OBFU_MILLIONS autolearn=no version=3.2.4
>>
>> How did it hit SARE_OBFU_MILLIONS with a blank body?
>
> I wish I had an answer for that one the same as why it didn't hit 
> BLANK_LINES_80_90...

Odds are the message isn't blank.. Have you got a copy of the raw 
message before Eudora gets a hold of it?

Eudora will discard all but one of the text mime sections of a 
multipart/alternative message prior to storing it in your mailbox. It 
does this for space reasons. The basic reasoning is that if the MUA is 
only going to ever render the text/html, there's no point in it keeping 
the text/plain, so it gets truncated out.

The only way to get a hold of the complete message is to grab a copy 
before eudora touches it. The copy stored by Eudora has been mangled.

That said,  in response to your original post:

"Thanks in advance on this one.  These things have been plaguing me for 
some time and no matter how many I run through sa-learn, they never seem 
to score above a 5... "

"X-Spam-Status: No, score=5.3 required=6.9 tests=BAYES_99,HTML_MESSAGE, "

Well, clearly that one scored above a 5. And with BAYES_99 already in 
the mix, more sa-learn training won't raise the score. This message 
already matches the highest bayes classification possible.

Perhaps you need to reconsider your threshold. If false negatives are a 
big problem for you, raising it above 5.0 isn't a good idea. When you 
raise the threshold, you're trading off fewer FPs, for more FNs. This 
particular message clearly exemplifies that.






Re: Blank messages

Posted by Ed Kasky <ed...@esson.net>.
At 01:29 PM Thursday, 4/3/2008, John Hardin wrote -=>
>On Thu, 3 Apr 2008, Ed Kasky wrote:
>
>>>X-Spam-Status: No, score=5.3 required=6.9 tests=BAYES_99,HTML_MESSAGE,
>>>          RDNS_DYNAMIC,SARE_OBFU_MILLIONS autolearn=no version=3.2.4
>
>How did it hit SARE_OBFU_MILLIONS with a blank body?

I wish I had an answer for that one the same as why it didn't hit 
BLANK_LINES_80_90...


>----------------------------------------------------------
>  10 days until Thomas Jefferson's 265th Birthday

Perfect timing with John Adams on HBO...


Ed Kasky
~~~~~~~~~
Randomly Generated Quote (544 of 1229):
He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet.


Re: Blank messages

Posted by John Hardin <jh...@impsec.org>.
On Thu, 3 Apr 2008, Ed Kasky wrote:

>> X-Spam-Status: No, score=5.3 required=6.9 tests=BAYES_99,HTML_MESSAGE,
>>          RDNS_DYNAMIC,SARE_OBFU_MILLIONS autolearn=no version=3.2.4

How did it hit SARE_OBFU_MILLIONS with a blank body?

-- 
  John Hardin KA7OHZ                    http://www.impsec.org/~jhardin/
  jhardin@impsec.org    FALaholic #11174     pgpk -a jhardin@impsec.org
  key: 0xB8732E79 -- 2D8C 34F4 6411 F507 136C  AF76 D822 E6E6 B873 2E79
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
   End users want eye candy and the "ooo's and aaaahhh's" experience
   when reading mail. To them email isn't a tool, but an entertainment
   form.                                                 -- Steve Lake
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  10 days until Thomas Jefferson's 265th Birthday

Re: Blank messages

Posted by Randy Ramsdell <rr...@livedatagroup.com>.
Ed Kasky wrote:
> I can't seem to catch these emails with blank bodies.  I upped the
> BLANK_LINES_80_90 score to 3 but the email below didn't get a hit off
> the rule.
>
> Is there another rule that I don't know about that is designed for
> blank message bodies?
>
> Thanks in advance on this one.  These things have been plaguing me for
> some time and no matter how many I run through sa-learn, they never
> seem to score above a 5...
>
>> Return-Path: <vi...@dkunath.de>
>> X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.4 (2008-01-01) on
>> yoda.wrenkasky.com
>> X-Spam-Level: *****
>> X-Spam-Status: No, score=5.3 required=6.9 tests=BAYES_99,HTML_MESSAGE,
>>         RDNS_DYNAMIC,SARE_OBFU_MILLIONS autolearn=no version=3.2.4
>>
>
> Ed Kasky
> ~~~~~~~~~
> Randomly Generated Quote (758 of 1229):
> Lots of times you have to pretend to join a parade in which you're
> not really interested in order to get where you're going.
> -Christopher Morley, writer (1890-1957)
>

It scored 5, but your cutoff is 6.3.