This how to is created by the Dutch Internet Standards Platform (the organization behind [internet.nl](https://internet.nl)) and is meant to provide practical information and guidance on implementing SPF.
SPF is short for "**S**ender **P**olicy **F**ramework" and is described in [RFC 7208](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7208). It offers domain owners that use their domains for sending e-mail, the possibility to use the DNSSEC infrastructure to publish which hosts (mail servers) are authorized to use their domain names in the "MAIL FROM" and "HELO" identities. So basically SPF is a whitelist which lists all servers that are allowed to send e-mail on behalf of a specific domain. The receiving mail server may use the information (a SPF record) published in the DNS zone of a specific mail sending domain.
Our current e-mail infrastructure was originally designed for any mail sending host to use any DNS domain name it wants. The authenticity of the sending mail server cannot be deterimined, which makes it easy for random third parties to make use of a domain name with possibly a malicious intent. This increases the risk of processing e-mail since the intentions of the sender (host) are uncertain. SPF can help the fight against spam and other kinds of unwanted e-mail be offering a way of authenticating the sending mail server.
* The sender address shown to the user ("RFC5322.From") is not used when authenticating. SPF uses the invisible "RFC5321.MailFrom" header. Combining SPF with DMARC removes this disadvantage.
SPF for outbound e-mail traffic is limited to publishing an SPF policy as a TXT-record in a domain name's DNS zone. This enables other parties to use SPF for validating the authenticity of e-mail servers sending e-mail on behalf of your domain name.
The example below shows an SPF record with a **hard fail**.
Although a soft fail (~all) is recommended in order to prevent false positives, a hard fail (-all) cloud decreases the load on the receiving party's e-mail infrastructure (depending on their configuration) since the e-mail can be dropped immediately when the e-mail is send by a host or IP-address that is not listed in the SPF record.
Ideally incoming e-mail is processed by making a **single decision** based on a collective evaluation of all relevant e-mail standards (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). Although this would be the most elegant way of processing incoming e-mail, most e-mail servers process e-mail standards in a sequential order. This should be taken into consideration when configuring your own e-mail environment; depending on a domain owner's preferences it is also possible to implement a "single decision" e-mail environment.
The [Postfix SMTP server](http://www.postfix.org/smtpd.8.html) seems to be processing e-mails in a sequential order by means of so-called [access restriction lists](http://www.postfix.org/SMTPD_ACCESS_README.html#lists). For each stage of the SMTP conversation Postfix can apply a specific set of restrictions. As repeatedly stated in the [main.cf man page](http://www.postfix.org/postconf.5.html) “Restrictions are applied in the order as specified; the first restriction that matches wins”. This should be taken into consideration when configuring your Postfix implementation.
| MAIL FROM:<sender@example.com> | [smtpd_sender_restrictions](http://www.postfix.org/postconf.5.html#smtpd_sender_restrictions) | RFC5321.MailFrom, Return-Path, Envelope sender, Envelope from --> used by **SPF** |
| DATA | [smtpd_data_restrictions](http://www.postfix.org/postconf.5.html#smtpd_data_restrictions) | | |
| 354 End data with <CR><LF>.<CR><LF> | | |
| To:<recipient@example.com> | | header checks |
| From:<sender@example.com> | | RFC5322.From, headar from, message from --> used by DKIM |
| Subject: Test message | | |
| This is a test message | | body checks |
| . | | |
| 250 2.0.0 Ok: queued as 534AB003427 | | |
| QUIT | | |
| 221 2.0.0 Bye | | |
| Connection closed by foreign host. | | |
### Postfix configuration for Python SPF policy agent
The implementation described in this how to uses an external application to perform SPF checking: Python SPF policy agent (postfix-policyd-spf-python). In order for Postfix to be able to use this application, the following needs to be added to **/etc/postfix/master.cf**:
`policy-spf unix - n n - - spawn user=nobody argv=/usr/bin/policyd-spf`
This creates the service "policy-spf" that can now be called upon by Postfix from within the access restriction lists _smtpd_client_restrictions_ and _smtpd_recipient_restrictions_. This requires the following additions to **/etc/postfix/main.cf**. Make sure to call for the policy-spf service before the "permit".
```
smtpd_recipient_restrictions =
check_policy_service unix:private/policy-spf,
permit
smtpd_client_restrictions =
check_policy_service unix:private/policy-spf,
permit
```
Now also add the following to **/etc/postfix/main.cf**, outside of any section.
`policy-spf_time_limit = 3600s`
### Postfix configuration for SpamAssassin
Because this implementation uses SpamAssassin for post-SMTP spam filtering, the following needs to be added to /etc/postfix/master.cf:
```
smtp inet n - - - - smtpd -o content_filter=spamassassin
spamassassin unix - n n - - pipe user=debian-spamd argv=/usr/bin/spamc -f -e /usr/sbin/sendmail -oi -f ${sender} ${recipient}
```
Finally, add the following to **/etc/postfix/main.cf** outside of any section to prevent Postfix from expecting SpamAssassin to parse multiple recipients at once (which is not supported).
`spamassassin_destination_recipient_limit = 1`
## Configuring Python SPF policy agent
The next step is to tell the Python SPF policy agent how to behave when checking SPF records. This behavior is determined by adding [configuration parameters](https://manpages.debian.org/stretch/postfix-policyd-spf-python/policyd-spf.conf.5.en.html) to **/etc/postfix-policyd-spf-python/policyd-spf.conf**.
The default configuration of the Python SPF policy agent provides a binary "block" or "don't block" functionality. However, the implementation described in this how to uses SpamAssassin as a post-SMTP spam filter. This means that Postfix should not reject e-mails coming from e-mail servers that are not listed in the SPF record. Instead an SPF header is appended to the e-mail. The information in the header is used by SpamAssassin to weigh whether an incoming e-mail should be considered spam. This specific setup requires the following non-default configuration parameters in **/etc/postfix-policyd-spf-python/policyd-spf.conf**:
```
HELO_reject = False
Mail_From_reject = False
```
## Configuring SpamAssassin
SpamAssassin uses a scoring mechanism in order to determine if an e-mail should be considered spam. By default SpamAssassin considers an e-mail to be spam if the score at least "5". An e-mail starts with a score of 0 and points are added based on the [tests](https://spamassassin.apache.org/old/tests_3_3_x.html) performed. The tests performed can be configured by adding specific [configuration parameters](https://spamassassin.apache.org/full/3.4.x/doc/Mail_SpamAssassin_Conf.html) in **/etc/spamassassin/local.cf**.
Now here's the tricky part. The points added to the score of an incoming e-mail based on the results of a specific test, is at its core a custom job. Many variables can be taken into consideration when scoring an e-mail (which is considered the strength of a post-SMTP spam filter) and the detailed scoring depends on a domain owner's specific wishes. For the sake of this how to, the SPF scoring will be based on the assumption that the domain owner wants to consider an e-mail to be spam if the sending e-mail server's IP-address or host is not in the domain's SPF record.
With SpamAssassin this can be configured by adding the following scoring configuration parameters to **/etc/spamassassin/local.cf**:
