Slaying Spams with both Bogofilter and SpamAssassin embedded in exim
Ads are spam. Good thing with the internet’s ads is that you can set up countermeasures.
(Disclaimer: yes, there is nothing new here, just an example of setup)
I have plenty of email addresses from different providers, some are definitely history. I could go through the websites of all of these and set up forwarding for the one I no longer use but still want to be able to get mail from, just in case. Well, I would do that if I was using my mail client to fetch mails – because otherwise fetching mails would actually take ages.
But, as I have a local home underclocked 
server, I find way easier and potent to, instead, use ESR’s fetchmail to download them all to a single account that is accessed by my mail client through IMAPS. I have a /etc/fetchmailrc like:
poll pop.free.fr with proto POP3
user 'XXX' there with password 'XXX' is 'localuser' here
poll imap.gmail.com with proto IMAP
user 'XXX@gmail.com' there with password 'XXX' is 'localuser' here with ssl
user 'XXZ@gmail.com' there with password 'XXZ' is 'localuser' here with ssl
Fetchmail download mails than then relies on the installed SMTP, which is Exim, to deliver it to end user account mailbox accessible through IMAPS.
What’s so nifty nifty about? Well, mails will also be filtered for spam. As it happens on the local home server, it will be unnoticeable for the end user that is me. We’ll use several anti-spam tools, not caring about redundancy and time-consumption: DNSBLs, Bogofilter, SpamAssassin, razor2.
So, here we go. Note that Exim (exim4) in Debian use the user Debian-exim. localuser is the recipient end-user.
We will create a system group dedicated to spamchecking to easily share bayesian databases:
# addgroup --system spamslayer
# adduser Debian-exim spamslayer
# adduser localuser spamslayer
* Bogofilter is a bayesian spam filter . It is said to be faster and lesser time consuming than the SpamAssassin’s own bayesian filter so will run mails through it first. It is installed with the debian package.
Edit /etc/bogofilter.cf as follows:
bogofilter_dir=/var/lib/bogofilter
db_transaction=yes
The bayes directory must be created by hand:
# mkdir /var/lib/bogofilter
# chgrp spamslayer /var/lib/bogofilter
# chmod 2777 /var/lib/bogofilter
* SpamAssassin is a powerful, at the cost of time-consumption, spam-killer. It is installed with the debian package.
In the following site-wide config /etc/spamassassin/local.cf, I use bayesian filters, razor2, several DNSBLs and I adjust some tests according to my needs:
# Save spam messages as a message/rfc822 MIME attachment instead of
# modifying the original message (0: off, 2: use text/plain instead)
#
report_safe 1
# Set which networks or hosts are considered 'trusted' by your mail
# server (i.e. not spammers)
#
trusted_networks 192.168.1.
# Locales
#
# (I only receive mails in English or French)
ok_locales en fr
# Set the threshold at which a message is considered spam (default: 5.0)
#
required_score 3.3
# Use Bayesian classifier (default: 1)
#
# (I created the relevant directory)
use_bayes 1
bayes_file_mode 0777
bayes_path /var/lib/spamassassin-bayes/bayes
score BAYES_20 0.3
score BAYES_40 0.5
score BAYES_50 0.8
score BAYES_60 1
score BAYES_80 2
score BAYES_95 2.5
score BAYES_99 6
# Bayesian classifier auto-learning (default: 1)
#
# (I may change that, not sure about it)
bayes_auto_learn 1
# Set headers which may provide inappropriate cues to the Bayesian
# classifier
#
bayes_ignore_header X-Bogosity
bayes_ignore_header X-Spam-Flag
bayes_ignore_header X-Spam-Status
# use razor
# (/etc/razor is the standard debian path)
use_razor2 1
razor_config /etc/razor/razor-agent.conf
score RAZOR2_CF_RANGE_51_100 3.2
# some rbl checks are already made by exim, at RCPT time, not all.
skip_rbl_checks 0
rbl_timeout 30
score RCVD_IN_SBL 15
score RCVD_IN_XBL 15
score RCVD_IN_SORBS_HTTP 15
score RCVD_IN_SORBS_SOCKS 15
score RCVD_IN_SORBS_MISC 15
score RCVD_IN_SORBS_SMTP 15
score RCVD_IN_SORBS_ZOMBIE 15
# adjust some tests scores: lower DUL test
score FROM_ENDS_IN_NUMS 0.2
score FROM_HAS_MIXED_NUMS 0.2
score FROM_HAS_MIXED_NUMS3 0.2
score RCVD_IN_NJABL_DUL 0.1
score RCVD_IN_SORBS_DUL 0.1
# lower stupid test
score DNS_FROM_SECURITYSAGE 0.0
# adjust some tests scores
score FAKE_HELO_HOTMAIL 3
score FORGED_HOTMAIL_RCVD 3
score HTML_FONT_BIG 2.4
score NO_REAL_NAME 2
score RCVD_IN_BL_SPAMCOP_NET 3
score SUBJ_ILLEGAL_CHARS 4.8
score EXTRA_MPART_TYPE 2.8
score SUBJ_ALL_CAPS 2.6
# increase all scores related to drugs: what do I care, duh
score DRUGS_ANXIETY 5
score DRUGS_ANXIETY_EREC 5
score DRUGS_ANXIETY_OBFU 5
score DRUGS_DIET 5
score DRUGS_DIET_OBFU 5
score DRUGS_ERECTILE 5
score DRUGS_ERECTILE_OBFU 5
score DRUGS_MANYKINDS 10
score DRUGS_MUSCLE 5
score DRUGS_PAIN 5
score DRUGS_PAIN_OBFU 5
score DRUGS_SLEEP 5
score DRUGS_SLEEP_EREC 5
score DRUGS_SMEAR1 5
# same goes for porn
score AMATEUR_PORN 5
score BEST_PORN 5
score DISGUISE_PORN 5
score DISGUISE_PORN_MUNDANE 5
score FREE_PORN 5
score HARDCORE_PORN 5
score LIVE_PORN 5
score PORN_15 5
score PORN_16 5
score PORN_URL_MISC 5
score PORN_URL_SEX 5
score PORN_URL_SLUT 5
The bayes directory must be created:
# mkdir /var/lib/spamassassin-bayes
# chown Debian-exim /var/lib/spamassassin-bayes
# chmod 0777 /var/lib/spamassassin-bayes
Obviously, it implies that razor2 must be properly installed. We install the debian package then set it up. Remember it must run with user Debian-exim, so we do:
# chown -R Debian-exim:spamslayer /etc/razor
# su Debian-exim
$ razor-admin -home=/etc/razor -register
$ razor-admin -home=/etc/razor -create
$ razor-admin -home=/etc/razor -discover
To save ressources, we start SpamAssassin as a daemon (spamd), that will be called using its specific client (spamc). Before using the initd script, edit as follows /etc/defaut/spamassassin:
# Change to one to enable spamd
ENABLED=1
# SpamAssassin uses a preforking model, so be careful! You need to
# make sure --max-children is not set to anything higher than 5,
# unless you know what you're doing.
OPTIONS="--create-prefs --max-children 5 --helper-home-dir -u Debian-exim -g spamslayer"
# Cronjob
# Set to anything but 0 to enable the cron job to automatically update
# spamassassin's rules on a nightly basis
CRON=1
All that being do, you’ll want to (re)start the daemon with the relevant initd script (/etc/init.d/spamassassin restart here).
* Now we’ll tune Exim to call all by himself first Bogofilter and then SpamAssassin, if necessary only. We use splitted configuration in /etc/exim4/conf.d/. That is debian-specific I think but it does make any difference anyway.
First we define useful transports in /etc/exim4/conf.d/transport/35_spamblock (the name 35_spamblock is arbitrary and the number does not matter here):
spamslay_bogofilter:
driver = pipe
command = /usr/sbin/exim4 -oMr spamslayed-bogofilter -bS
use_bsmtp = true
transport_filter = /usr/bin/bogofilter -l -p -e
home_directory = "/tmp"
current_directory = "/tmp"
# must use a privileged user to set $received_protocol
# on the way back in!
user = Debian-exim
group = spamslayer
log_output = true
return_fail_output = true
return_path_add = false
message_prefix =
message_suffix =
#
spamslay_spamd:
driver = pipe
command = /usr/sbin/exim4 -oMr spamslayed-spamd -bS
use_bsmtp = true
transport_filter = /usr/bin/spamc
home_directory = "/tmp"
current_directory = "/tmp"
# must use a privileged user to set $received_protocol
# on the way back in!
user = Debian-exim
group = spamslayer
log_output = true
return_fail_output = true
return_path_add = false
message_prefix =
message_suffix =
Second we define routers, here in /etc/exim4/conf.d/router/350_spamblock – the order matters, here it is just after 300_exim4-config_real_local and before 400_exim4-config_system_aliases:
# first bogofilter
spamslay_router_bogofilter:
# When to scan a message :
# - it isn't already flagged as spam
# - it has not yet been spamslayed at all
condition = "${if and { {!eqi{$h_X-Spam-Flag:}{yes}} {!eq {$received_protocol}{spamslayed-bogofilter}} {!eq {$received_protocol}{spamslayed-spamd}} }}"
driver = accept
transport = spamslay_bogofilter
#
# second spamd
spamslay_router_spamd:
# When to scan a message :
# - it isn't already flagged as spam
# - it has not yet been spamslayed with SA
condition = "${if and { {!eqi{$h_X-Spam-Flag:}{yes}} {!match{$h_X-Bogosity:}{^Yes}} {!eq {$received_protocol}{spamslayed-spamd}} }}"
driver = accept
transport = spamslay_spamd
#
# This route will send any mail that got here to the devnull alias, that
# should be configured in /etc/aliases to be a real link to /dev/null.
# This route should get only mails that have spam score higher than 14.
# This will affect users mails!
spamslay_killit:
condition = "${if ge{$h_X-Spam-Level:}{\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*} {1}{0} }"
driver = redirect
data = spam
file_transport = address_file
pipe_transport = address_pipe
* Next step, now that spams are flagged, it makes sense to put them apart. I do this with procmail. Here’s the relevant bit /home/localuser/.procmailrc:
IMAPDIR=$HOME/.Maildir/
ISDIR="/"
DOT="."
# tagged by hand, to be learned from by both SpamAssassin and Bogofilter
spam=$IMAPDIR$DOT"Poubelle.Spam"$ISDIR
# by spamd
spamBySA=$IMAPDIR$DOT"Poubelle.SpamSA"$ISDIR
# by bogofilter
spamByBg=$IMAPDIR$DOT"Poubelle.SpamBg"$ISDIR
expirable=$IMAPDIR$DOT"Poubelle.Expirable"$ISDIR
#
:0
* ^X-Spam-Status: Yes
$spamBySA
:0
* ^X-Spam-Flag: YES
$spamBySA
#
:0
* ^X-Bogosity: Yes
$spamByBg
* Training bayesian filters.
Now that spam ended up in a specific mailbox/maildir, both SpamAssassin and Bogofilter bayesians filters can be trained to be effective. We add the following in /etc/cron.d/bayes:
# trains bayesian filters
BASEDIR="/home/localuser/.Maildir"
SPAMDIR_MANUAL="$BASEDIR/.Poubelle.Spam/cur/ $BASEDIR/.Poubelle.Spam/new/ $BASEDIR/.Poubelle.Spam"
SPAMDIR_SA="$BASEDIR/.Poubelle.SpamSA/cur/ $BASEDIR/.Poubelle.SpamSA/new/ $BASEDIR/.Poubelle.SpamSA"
SPAMDIR_BG="$BASEDIR/.Poubelle.SpamBg/cur/ $BASEDIR/.Poubelle.SpamBg/new/ $BASEDIR/.Poubelle.SpamBg"
#
# spamd: can handle easily bogofiltered found spams
25 * * * * localuser /usr/bin/sa-learn --spam $SPAMDIR_MANUAL $SPAMDIR_BG >/dev/null
#
# bogofilter: not sure how it would cope with spamd headers so we'll avoid them
# for now
# (-u was not set as it is discouraged perf-wise in bogofilter's manual)
# Dirty hack to cope with rights issues: running as root - not great
28 * * * * root /usr/bin/bogofilter --register-spam -B $SPAMDIR_MANUAL $SPAMDIR_BG && chown Debian-exim -R /var/lib/bogofilter
Obviously, if you want it to learn from plenty of different users, you’ll have to think of something more elaborate
Anyway, regarding plenty of users, it would actually probably wise to think twice about the whole concept of sharing bayesian filters that may not at all be accurate for very differents users.
I’m not very happy with the handling of bogofilter files read/write access, it remains to be cleaned up. Obviously, one alternative would have been to avoid meddling with Exim and to run both bogofilter and spamd via procmail. Sure, it would not have been site-wide setup but for a few users, ~/.procmailrc can be replicated easily. But actually I enjoy messing with Exim, that’s kind of a hobby. I skipped here the part where we call DNSBLs in Exim (working out-of-the-box anyway). And on a production server, with the SMTP wide opened to the web, it is possible to follow this approach just to shut off spammers at SMTP-time -which induces a huge resources gain- and even ban them.
Syndicated 2010-08-13 14:56:03 from # cd /scratch
