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SpamAssassin 2010 Bug
SEWilco writes "You might want to check your spam folder, as SpamAssassin has a rule which is tending to mark email sent in 2010 as spam. There is some discussion in a bug report. The SpamAssassin Wiki FH_DATE_PAST_20XX page doesn't have discussion, but it was updated today with a different date rule."
Given what memory cost in 1970, I suspect that using 64-bit time would have been an expensive decision.
A lot of gross little hacks look like (and are) great ideas when hardware costs a fortune and you don't yet know how persistent legacy stuff is going to be.
this is also happening on Ubuntu server, running Spamassassin 3.2.5
The linked article references a workaround: /etc/spamassassin/local.cf
add this line to the "local.cf" spamassassin config file, on this system is was
score FH_DATE_PAST_20XX 0.0
If you're running spamassassin as a daemon, you *may* also want to restart spamd
with something like:
sudo /etc/init.d/spamassassin restart
This solution simply removes the rule by setting the score for that rule to 0.
You'll want to undo this once a solution is deployed.
Yes, but it isn't a good way. Check your scores file for the scores associated with the FH_DATE_PAST_20XX. This indicates the number of points added to the spam score of every message that fails this test. Basically, increase your spam threshold by this amount until you can apply this patch.
Good for a quick-n-dirty fix.
I think you missed the "My provider runs spamassassin" part of the parent post.
Karnal
[url]https://issues.apache.org/SpamAssassin/show_bug.cgi?id=5852[/url]
Noticed 14 months ago. Fixed 5 months ago. Released today.
The new rule gets picked up when "sa-update" is run. spamassassin deployments should run sa-update automatically on a regular basis, for example every day via a cronjob. Thus, most deployments will pick up the update automatically tonight if a sysadmin doesn't do it first.
My provider runs spamassassin, and given their track record in updating their other software, I rather doubt that they'll update spamassassin anytime soon. Is there any way around this that doesn't involve root access?
If you have shell access, it should be trivial, although you do have to edit a file.
Add the following to ~/.spamassassin/user_prefs:
score FH_DATE_PAST_20XX 0.0
"You might want to check your spam folder, as SpamAssassin has a rule ...
Thanks for the heads-up. There was a very important e-mail from the Internet Lottery people telling me my e-mail address had been picked as the winner of the EUR 20,000 prize. All I have to do is send them $200 by Western Union to cover the processing fees. And to think I almost missed it!
It's terrible that SpamAssassin flags such important messages as spam.
I hate it when I make a joke and I get modded "+5 insightful". Mod the stupid comments "funny", not "insightful", pleas
Clearly we dropped the ball on this one. As far as I know it's our first big rule screw up in the project's 10 years. If you're going to screw up you might as well do it well.
I posted the following note to the Apache SpamAssassin website (http://spamassassin.apache.org/). Updates are available via sa-update, please run sa-update immediately. It's included in all versions of 3.2.x (the affected version of SpamAssassin). Alternatively zero the rule's score in your local.cf file if you have access to it. If you don't, increase your spam threshold by 3.6 points if your mail provider allows you to do that.
Y2K10 Rule Bug - Update Your Rules Now!
2010-01-01:
Versions of the FH_DATE_PAST_20XX rule released with versions of Apache SpamAssassin 3.2.0 thru 3.2.5 will trigger on most mail with a Date header that includes the year 2010 or later. The rule will add a score of up to 3.6 towards the spam classification of all email. You should take corrective action immediately; there are two easy ways to correct the problem:
* If your system is configured to use sa-update run sa-update now. An update is available that will correct the rule. No further action is necessary (other than restarting spamd or any service that uses SpamAssassin directly).
* Add "score FH_DATE_PAST_20XX 0" without the quotes to the end of your local.cf file to disable the rule.
If you require help updating your rules to correct this issue you are encouraged to ask for assistance on the Apache SpamAssassin Users' list. Users' mailing list info is here.
On behalf of the Apache SpamAssassin project I apologize for this error and the grief it may have caused you.
Regards,
Daryl C. W. O'Shea
VP, Apache SpamAssassin