XIMS: Exchange Server Internet Mail Service Stops Responding with a Particular Message

ID: Q239816

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Exchange Server, versions 5.5, 5.5 SP1, 5.5 SP2

SYMPTOMS

When a message is sent to a domain whose mail servers are currently unavailable and the message has a subject that includes the substring "%s", the Internet Mail Service may stop responding (crashes) if the SMTP protocol logging is set to Maximum.

The call stack looks similar to:


FramePtr  RetAddr   Param1   Param2   Param3   Function Name
056ba2a0  78027f49  056ba2b8 00b26d11 056bfbec MSVCRT!output+0x4dbd
056ba2d4  0042d5ad  056ba3d4 00b26cb8 056bfbe8 MSVCRT!vsprintf+0x34
056bfbd0  0044b4f9  00b134f0 00b13698 80000103 MSEXCIMC!CProtocolLogger::Log+0x2a5ff(...)
056bfcf4  0044019a  00000001 00000000 056bff34 MSEXCIMC!CDeliveryBatch::ConnectToNextMXHost+0x48d
056bfd94  00402d77  00000004 00000001 00b23960 MSEXCIMC!CDeliveryBatch::ConnectCompleted+0x26ab6
00000001  00000000  00000000 00000000 00000000 MSEXCIMC!CAsyncIO::IoCompleted+0x22b

CAUSE

The crash occurs when the "499 No routing hosts are reachable" error is written into the SMTP log file. The original string to be written is:

"7/5/99 9:31:55 PM : 499 No routing hosts are reachable for test.com. Message subject: ""RE:33%s5%s99"". Rescheduling delivery for later."

The Internet Mail Service fails to determine whether "%s" is a substring or a specification of a substring.

RESOLUTION

A supported fix that corrects this problem is now available from Microsoft, but it has not been fully regression tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. If you are not severely affected by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5 service pack that contains this fix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information on support costs, please go to the following address on the World Wide Web:

http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/overview/overview.asp

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

Component: Internet Mail Service

File name	Version
MSexcimc.exe	5.5.2651.13
Imcmsg.dll	5.5.2651.13

WORKAROUND

Disable SMTP protocol logging.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

Additional query words:

Keywords : exc55 exc55sp1 exc55sp2
Version : winnt:5.5,5.5 SP1,5.5 SP2
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug