XFOR: Unexpected Text Attachment in Mail Received from Internet

Last reviewed: September 11, 1997
Article ID: Q153464

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Exchange Server, versions 4.0 and 5.0

SYMPTOMS

When you receive mail by way of the Internet Mail Connector (IMC), there is a file attachment with a name such as ATT00000.txt; the attachment contains only text.

CAUSE

A multipart/mixed MIME document is received that contains more than one text section. Only the first text section appears in the message body; all remaining text sections are interpreted as text file attachments.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange version 4.0. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available. A supported fix is now available, but has not been fully regression-tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. Unless you are severely impacted by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Service Pack that contains this fix. Contact Microsoft Technical Support for more information.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.0. This problem was corrected in the latest Microsoft Exchange 5.0 Server U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

   S E R V P A C K

MORE INFORMATION

This happens most commonly with an Internet mail client that is sending an attachment and also appending an auto-signature. For example, here is a fragment of a multi-part mime message:

   Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
   boundary="=====================_856378041==_"
   Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

This sentence will be seen in the body of the message.

   --=====================_856378041==_
   Content-Type: application/msword; name="WORD.DOC";
   x-mac-type="42494E41"; x-mac-creator="4D535744"
   Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
   Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="WORD.DOC"

   0M8R4KGxGuEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOwADAP7/CQAGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAAQA
      AAAAAAAAA

   <Base64 MIME Encoding - Removed for Brevity>

   /v8JAAYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEAAAABAAAAAAAAAAAQAAACAAA=
   --=====================_856378041==_
   Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

This paragraph will be seen in the text file attachment. Frequently this text contains the auto-signature text sent by Internet mail clients, such as Eudora Light 3.0.

   --=====================_856378041==_--

With the hotfix in place, the Internet Mail Connector will concatenate text sections in the message body, as long as the text sections are not explicitly marked as a file attachment through MIME encoding.

Keywords          : kbbug4.00 kbbug5.00 kbfix5.00.sp1 XFOR kbusage buglist
Version           : 4.0 5.0
Platform          : WINDOWS

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Last reviewed: September 11, 1997
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