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After upgrading to a version after Thunderbird 38.0.1, sending e-mail always fails

  • 4 replies
  • 2 have this problem
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  • Last reply by Matt

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Last October, after Thunderbird upgraded itself to version 38.1.0, I can no longer send e-mail. Every time I try, I get the following alert:

Sending of the message failed. The message could not be sent using Outgoing server (SMTP) mail.ichaos.com for an unknown reason. Please verify that your Outgoing server (SMTP) settings are correct and try again.

I run my own mail server, and I know it's a bit old and out-dated, but I can't figure out what I need to do to fix the problem. The following is logged on the mail server whenever the above error pops up in Thunderbird:

Apr 13 17:38:14 tiamat2 sendmail-in[2749]: STARTTLS=server, error: accept failed=0, SSL_error=1, timedout=0, errno=0 Apr 13 17:38:14 tiamat2 sendmail-in[2749]: STARTTLS=server: 2749:error:14094417:SSL routines:SSL3_READ_BYTES:sslv3 alert illegal parameter:s3_pkt.c:1052:SSL alert number 47 Apr 13 17:38:14 tiamat2 sendmail-in[2749]: u3DNcDcQ002749: local188.ichaos.com [192.168.2.188] did not issue MAIL/EXPN/VRFY/ETRN during connection to MTA

I find that none of that is helping me get to a solution, and at the time, the solution was to downgrade to 38.0.1 and just disable automatic upgrades. I'm finding now, that more and more clients are starting to not send e-mail through my server and logging the same messages in my syslog file. This includes anything apple (iphone, ipad, MacOS, even any e-mail to/from an apple.com e-mail address such as "forgot my password" e-mail). Now, K-9 for android on Marshmallow is having this problem.

Does anybody know what code changed specifically between Thunderbird 38.0.1 and 38.1.0 that causes issues trying to send mail to a sendmail system using STARTTLS, and what I need to do on the server side to resolve this issue?

Last October, after Thunderbird upgraded itself to version 38.1.0, I can no longer send e-mail. Every time I try, I get the following alert: Sending of the message failed. The message could not be sent using Outgoing server (SMTP) mail.ichaos.com for an unknown reason. Please verify that your Outgoing server (SMTP) settings are correct and try again. I run my own mail server, and I know it's a bit old and out-dated, but I can't figure out what I need to do to fix the problem. The following is logged on the mail server whenever the above error pops up in Thunderbird: Apr 13 17:38:14 tiamat2 sendmail-in[2749]: STARTTLS=server, error: accept failed=0, SSL_error=1, timedout=0, errno=0 Apr 13 17:38:14 tiamat2 sendmail-in[2749]: STARTTLS=server: 2749:error:14094417:SSL routines:SSL3_READ_BYTES:sslv3 alert illegal parameter:s3_pkt.c:1052:SSL alert number 47 Apr 13 17:38:14 tiamat2 sendmail-in[2749]: u3DNcDcQ002749: local188.ichaos.com [192.168.2.188] did not issue MAIL/EXPN/VRFY/ETRN during connection to MTA I find that none of that is helping me get to a solution, and at the time, the solution was to downgrade to 38.0.1 and just disable automatic upgrades. I'm finding now, that more and more clients are starting to not send e-mail through my server and logging the same messages in my syslog file. This includes anything apple (iphone, ipad, MacOS, even any e-mail to/from an apple.com e-mail address such as "forgot my password" e-mail). Now, K-9 for android on Marshmallow is having this problem. Does anybody know what code changed specifically between Thunderbird 38.0.1 and 38.1.0 that causes issues trying to send mail to a sendmail system using STARTTLS, and what I need to do on the server side to resolve this issue?

All Replies (4)

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I think you might be running into SSL/TLS issues. Try changing your connection to not use SSL/TLS and see if that helps.

See my blog post on the subject. Make sure to read the guide I link to, as it actually contains details of how to fix some server installs. of things like Dovecot, Postfix sendmail etc

Link http://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/logjam-and-thunderbird.html

Modified by Matt

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Looks like I need to download a build new sendmail and libssl libraries and see if that fixes things up for me, thanks.

I find it odd how developers of client software are saying they will give people some time to resolve the problem, yet those same people give fairly broad errors that make no mention of SSL or logjam and introduce fixes "silently" that prevent admins like myself from easily determining this is a problem with outdated ssl libs. All I get are "sending e-mail failed" basically after an upgrade, and the release notes have no details whatsoever as to the cause.

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to be really notified there is a problem that I need to fix if the community isn't completely open and honest about these serious issues.

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The problems with logjam are very clear in the error console

The other SSL stuff, Thunderbird developers did not know we were getting it, we inherited the change from Firefox. so at the time it was something of a surprise to us as well, not something we would have preferred in a point release. But Mozilla called it a stability and security fix.. But that is how these things shake out sometimes, and a price we pay for piggy backing their SSL development. But if we did not piggy back, their would be no development in that area and we would have security problems.