SMTP: Gateway Tries to UUDECODE Text That is not UUENCODED

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Mail Gateway to SMTP, version 3.0

SYMPTOM

The Microsoft Mail Gateway to SMTP attempts to uudecode an incoming message (or attachment) that is not uuencoded.

CAUSE

To determine the presence of uuencoded text the Gateway parses the message and looks for the word BEGIN at the far left of a new line, followed by a blank, and END at the far left of a subsequent line. Uuencoded text is marked at the beginning with the phrase BEGIN UUENCODE and at the end with END.

The word END can actually be a part of another word, such as ENDEAVOR, and if the Gateway finds BEGIN at the start of a new line, followed by a blank, then END at the start of another line, it considers the text in between to be uuencoded and tries to uudecode it.

RESOLUTION

None.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft Mail Gateway to SMTP, version 3.0. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.