SMTP Code Index

1.
1.0.1
1.1.1
2.
2.0.0
2.1.1
2.1.4
2.2.0
2.2.1
2.5.0
2.5.1
2.5.2
3.
3.5.4
4.
4.2.0
4.2.1
4.2.2
4.3.1
4.3.2
4.4.1
4.4.2
4.4.6
4.4.7
4.5.0
4.5.1
4.5.2

4.6.5
4.7.1
5.
5.0.0
5.0.1
5.0.2
5.0.3
5.0.4
5.1.x
5.1.0
5.1.1
5.1.2
5.1.3
5.1.4
5.1.5
5.1.6
5.1.7
5.2.x
5.2.1
5.2.2
5.2.3
5.2.4
5.3.0
5.3.1
5.3.2
5.3.3
5.3.4

5.3.5
5.4.0
5.4.1
5.4.2
5.4.3
5.4.4
5.4.6
5.4.7
5.4.8
5.5.0
5.5.1
5.5.2
5.5.3
5.5.4
5.5.5
5.6.3
5.7.1
5.7.2
5.7.3
5.7.4
5.7.5
5.7.6
5.7.7

SMTP Status Codes Reference Library

Overview
The purpose of this document is to provide our HammerEDD customers with a quick reference to common SMTP
status codes that may be encountered in an undelivered mail report.
These SMTP status codes can be used by HammerEDD product administrators to help troubleshoot the non-delivery
of emails and thus improve the delivery success rate of emails sent to their end-users.
This document serves as a reference only and may not contain sufficient detailed information on the non-delivery of
an email. Further investigation of an end-users environment (connection or network errors such as faulty routers,
firewall problems, DNS problems or SMTP server problems) may be required to resolve a specific SMTP code.

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SMTP Status Code

SMTP Code 1.0.1 : Cannot open connection

Message Description
The sending mail server is unable to start an SMTP session with the receiving mail server.
Typical causes include:

SMTP Code 1.1.1 : Connection refused

An Incorrectly spelt mail server

An IP address that does not exist
An SMTP port that does not exist
The receiving mail server will not accept SMTP connections on the specified port
A process is already using the default SMTP port (25)

The sending mail server is unable to communicate with the receiving mail server
Typical causes include:
A Linux email system software configuration error.
A newly installed or configured firewall preventing connection to the receiving mail
server
Incorrect hostnames and/or IP addresses

SMTP Code 2.0.0 : Nonstandard success response

The sending mail server received a nonstandard success response from the receiving mail
server see rfc876

SMTP Code 2.1.1 : System status message or System help reply

This code prefaces a message about the receiving mail server status or a System help
reply to the user requesting help information

SMTP Code 2.1.4 : Help reply message

This code is in reply to the HELP command. It displays information about the receiving
mail server

SMTP Code 2.2.0 : <Server Name> service is running

This is normally the first message received from the receiving mail server and indicates
that the mail service is running

SMTP Code 2.2.1 : The domain service is closing the transmission channel

The receiving mail server is ending the mail session the conversation with the sending
mail server is ending as there is no more mail to send in the session

SMTP Status Code

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Message Description
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SMTP Status Code

Message Description

SMTP Code 2.5.0 : Requested mail action OK completed

The sending mail server has successfully delivered the message. The message was
accepted and transmitted OK

SMTP Code 2.5.1 : User not local will forward

The email account is not local to the receiving mail server but the server will accept the
mail and will forward it

SMTP Code 2.5.2 : Cannot verify the user

The user account appears to be valid but cannot be verified, however the receiving mail
server will try to deliver the message

SMTP Code 3.5.4 : Start mail input end with <CRLF>.<CRLF>

This code is generated in response to the DATA command. The receiving mail server has
received the From and To information and is now asking for the Message Body.
In response to this code, the sending mail server must send the body of the message to
the receiving mail server and indicate the end of the message body with <CRLF>.<CRLF>

SMTP Code 4.2.0 : Timeout communication problem encountered during

transmission

This is a Novell GroupWise SMTP error generated by the sending mail server when
communications problems occur during the transmission of the actual message between
the sending and receiving mail servers.
Typical causes include:
The receiving mail servers anti-spam firewall does not like the sending mail servers IP
address or HELO command
A physical communication problem with the network, switches, routers, firewall or
internet line

SMTP Code 4.2.1 : Service not available the sending email program should
try again later

The mail transfer service is unavailable because of a transient event.

Typical causes include:
The receiving mail server is currently unavailable but may be available later
Too many concurrent SMTP connections from the sending to the receiving mail server

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SMTP Status Code

SMTP Code 4.2.2 : The recipients mailbox is over its storage limit

Message Description
Typical causes include:
The recipients mailbox is over the storage limit
The message delivery directory on the receiving mail server is currently over a size limit
imposed by the Network Administrator
The email being sent is larger than the incoming email size limit in operation at the
receiving mail server

SMTP Code 4.3.1 : The recipients mail server is experiencing a Disk Full
condition

The receiving mail server is experiencing a Disk Full error condition, or an Out of Memory
error condition

SMTP Code 4.3.2 : The recipients Exchange Server incoming mail queue has
been stopped

This is an SMTP status response specific to Microsoft Exchange Server and indicates that
the receiving mail servers incoming mail queue has been stopped and cannot deliver any
email messages at this time

SMTP Code 4.4.1 : The recipients server is not responding

This code emanates from the sending mail server when the receiving mail server is not
responding. The sending mail server will automatically try again a number of times

SMTP Code 4.4.2 : The connection was dropped during connection

The sending mail server started delivering the message but the connection was broken
during transmission.
Typical causes include:
Any type of network related issue that could result in a connection being broken
between the sending and receiving mail servers

SMTP Code 4.4.6 : The maximum hop count was exceeded for the message

Typical causes include:

The message is looping internally on the sending mail server
The message is looping internally between two local mail servers
The message is looping between the sending and receiving mail servers

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SMTP Status Code

SMTP Code 4.4.7 : Your outgoing message timed out

Message Description
Your outgoing message timed out because of problems with the receiving mail server
that objected to your message
Typical causes include:
There is a problem with the message header such as too many recipients
There is a protocol timeout between the sending and receiving mail servers

SMTP Code 4.4.9 : Bad routing configuration

This code indicates that a temporary routing error occurred or that a bad routing
configuration exists between the sending and receiving mail servers
Typical causes include:
A Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) connector is configured to use DNS without a
smart host and is also configured to use a non-SMTP address space such as an X.400
address space.
A message was sent to a recipient who was identified as a member of a routing group
that was deleted.

SMTP Code 4.5.0 : Requested action not taken the mailbox was unavailable
at the remote end

The receiving mail server could not access the mailbox to deliver the message.
Typical causes include:

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A process on the receiving mail server is tidying up the mailbox

The remote mailbox could be corrupt
The remote mailbox could be stored on another server that is currently offline
The network connection went down whilst sending
The receiving mail server does not want to accept mail from the sending mail server for
some reason (IP address, blacklisting, etc)

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SMTP Status Code

SMTP Code 4.5.1 : Requested action aborted Local error in processing

Message Description
The action has been aborted by the receiving mail server due to some local problem or
error on that server.
Typical causes include:
Overloading on the receiving mail server from too many messages
Error in relaying the message from the sending mail server due to a transient failure,
e.g. DNS, Greylisting
The message has been rejected by the receiving mail server because of anti-spam
measures

SMTP Code 4.5.2 : Requested action not taken insufficient storage

The receiving mail servers disk system has run out of storage space, so the action had to
be cancelled.

SMTP Code 4.6.5 : Code Page unavailable on the recipient server

This is an Exchange Server-specific error code.

Typical causes include:
Conversion of an inbound SMTP failed because the code page that is specified in the
message is not installed on the receiving mail server.
This delivery status notification contains only the original message headers.
None of the original content is provided

SMTP Code 4.7.1 : This is a local error with the sending mail server and is
often followed with Please try again later

Typical causes include:

Anti-spam or virus scanning software on the sending mail server has encountered a
bad automatic update from the manufacturer
A lack of memory on the sending mail server
A hard-disk related problem on the sending mail server

SMTP Code 5.0.0 : Syntax error command not recognized

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The last command sent by the sending mail server was not recognized as a valid SMTP or
ESMTP command or is not formatted in the way the that the receiving mail server
expected

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SMTP Status Code

SMTP Code 5.0.1 : Syntax error in parameters or arguments

Message Description
The command sent by the sending mail server was correct and recognised, but the
parameters (the arguments, e.g. email address) were not valid.
Typical causes include:
An invalid email address
An invalid domain name recipient
A Unix/Linux SEND MAIL command which does not follow the established standards

SMTP Code 5.0.2 : Command not implemented

The command or function issued by the sending mail server is valid but has not been
activated as it is not supported by the receiving mail server

SMTP Code 5.0.3 : Bad sequence of commands or the remote SMTP server
requires authentication

Typical causes include:

The sending mail server has sent commands to the receiving mail server in the wrong
order, e.g. Hello before Mail
The receiving mail server requires authentication to relay a message and the message
was sent without authentication (username + password)

SMTP Code 5.0.4 : Command parameter not implemented

The command and parameter sent by the sending mail server are both valid, but the
parameter is not implemented on the receiving mail server, or a parameter is missing

SMTP Code 5.1.x : Problem with email address

There is an unspecified problem with the recipients email address

SMTP Code 5.1.0 : Bad Email Address

This code indicates a general categorizer-based failure (bad address failure). An e-mail
address or other attribute could not be found in the receiving mail server directory.
Typical causes include:
Email contact entries do not have the targetAddress attribute set and occurs most
frequently when MDAccess receives "object not found" errors from DSAccess when the
Categorizer is doing the homeMDB lookup on a user.
Microsoft Outlook is used to save an e-mail message as a file and someone opens and
replies to this message offline.

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SMTP Status Code

SMTP Code 5.1.1 : Bad destination mailbox address

Message Description
The e-mail account does not exist at the organization the message was sent to.
Typical causes include:
The recipient e-mail address was entered incorrectly by the sender.
No recipient exists in the destination e-mail system.
The recipient mailbox has been moved and the Microsoft Office Outlook recipient
cache on the sender's computer has not updated.
An invalid legacy domain name (DN) exists for the recipient mailbox Active Directory.

SMTP Code 5.1.2 : The host server for the recipients domain name cannot be
found (DNS error)

This code is received when one of the mail servers on the way to the destination is
unable to resolve the domain name of a recipient email address
Typical causes include:
The recipient email address contains an incorrect (misspelt or non-existent) domain
name
The sending or receiving mail server has a DNS problem and cannot resolve domain
names

SMTP Code 5.1.3 : Address type is incorrect or relaying denied or

authentication required

Typical causes include:

The format of the recipient e-mail address is not valid. Valid SMTP e-mail addresses
can contain only letters, numbers, hyphens, periods, and only one @ symbol
The local SMTP server must authenticate to the remote SMTP server before being able
to send a message

SMTP Code 5.1.4 : Destination mailbox address ambiguous

Two or more recipients in the Exchange organization have the same address.
Typical causes include:
This error typically occurs because of a misconfiguration in Active Directory. Possibly
because of replication problems, two recipient objects in Active Directory have the
same SMTP address or Exchange Server (EX) address

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SMTP Status Code

Message Description

SMTP Code 5.1.5 : Destination mailbox address invalid

The recipients mailbox address at the receiving mail server does not exist or is invalid

SMTP Code 5.1.6 : Problem with homeMDB or msExchHomeServerName

The user directory attributes, such as homeMDB or msExchHomeServerName, on the

receiving mail server may be missing or corrupted.

SMTP Code 5.1.7 : Problem with senders mail attribute. Check properties
sheet in ADUC

The sender has a malformed or missing SMTP address, the mail attribute in the directory
service. The mail item cannot be delivered without a valid mail attribute.

SMTP Code 5.2.x : Problem with the large size of the email

Typical causes include:

The recipients mailbox is over the storage limit
The message delivery directory on the Receiving mail server is currently over a size
limit imposed by the Network Administrator
The email being sent is larger than the incoming email size limit in operation at the
receiving mail server

SMTP Code 5.2.1 : The mailbox cannot be accessed.

Typical causes include:

The mailbox may be offline
The mailbox is disabled
The message has been quarantined by a rule.

SMTP Code 5.2.2 : The recipient's mailbox has exceeded its storage quota and Typical causes include:
is no longer able to accept new messages.
The recipient's mailbox storage quota is insufficient and has been exceeded.
The recipient must reduce the size of the mailbox or the administrator must increase
the storage quota before delivery can be successful
SMTP Code 5.2.3 : The message is too large, and the local quota is exceeded

The mailbox storage and the queue storage quota limit on the receiving mail server have
been exceeded.

SMTP Code 5.2.4 : Gatewaying a message into a foreign environment

The recipient is in a misconfigured dynamic distribution list. Either the filter string or the
base DN of the dynamic distribution list is invalid.

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SMTP Status Code

SMTP Code 5.3.0 : Authentication is required or the sending mail server has
been blacklisted or the recipients mailbox does not exist

Message Description
Typical causes include:
The sending mail server requires authentication (username +password) every time a
mail is sent
The sending mail server has been blacklisted by the receiving mail server
The recipients mailbox does not exist at the organization

SMTP Code 5.3.1 : Mail system full. Check recipient server mail store
database size limit

The receiving mail servers mailbox store database size may have reached the 16Gig limit
and will no longer accept mail

SMTP Code 5.3.2 : Remote system not accepting network messages

The receiving mail server is not accepting network messages and is likely due to some
connectivity issue.

SMTP Code 5.3.3 : Remote server has insufficient disk space to hold email.
Check SMTP log.

Typical causes include:

When the receiving mail server reaches capacity of its disk storage to hold mail, it could
respond with this NDR.
This error usually occurs when the sending server is sending mail with an ESMTP BDAT
command. This error also indicates a possible SMTP protocol error.

SMTP Code 5.3.4 : Message too big. Check message size limits in remote
server system policy

Typical causes include:

The message exceeds a size limit configured on a transport or mailbox database and
can't be accepted.
This failure can be generated by either the sending or the receiving mail server.

SMTP Code 5.3.5 : Multiple virtual servers are using the same IP address and
port. Email probably looping

A mail-looping situation was detected on one of the mail servers.

Typical causes include:
An IP address or port configuration on the mail server is causing the server to loop mail
back to itself.

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SMTP Status Code

SMTP Code 5.4.0 : DNS problem.

Message Description
There is no DNS server that can resolve email address.
Typical causes include:
An invalid IP address has been entered for one of the mail servers
One of the mail servers does not have a valid fully qualified domain name (FQDN)
Lookup of one of the mail servers FQDN failed

SMTP Code 5.4.1 : Recipient Address Rejected Access denied

This response is almost always sent back by an anti-spam, intrusion prevention, or mail
filtering appliance / firewall at the receiving server end.

SMTP Code 5.4.2 : Bad connection

The sending mail server cannot establish a connection with the receiving mail server

SMTP Code 5.4.3 : Routing server failure. No available route

The sending mail server cannot route mails to the receiving mail server

SMTP Code 5.4.4 : Cannot find the next hop. Check the routing group
connector

This code occurs if no route exists for message delivery, or if the categorizer could not
determine the next-hop destination.
Typical causes include:
The domain name specified in the email address is invalid
No mail exchanger (MX) records exist for the specified domain name

SMTP Code 5.4.6 : Routing loop detected

A configuration error has caused an e-mail loop

Typical causes include:
This error occurs when the delivery of a message generates another message in
response. That message then generates a third message, and the process is repeated,
creating a loop
Mail loops are typically created because of a configuration error on the sending mail
server, the receiving mail server, or both.
Check the mailbox rules configuration of the recipient and sender to determine
whether automatic message forwarding is enabled.

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SMTP Status Code

Message Description

SMTP Code 5.4.7 : Delivery time-out. Message is taking too long to be

delivered

The message was considered too old by the receiving mail server, either because it
remained on that host too long or because the time-to-live value specified by the sender
of the message was exceeded.

SMTP Code 5.4.8 : Microsoft advise. Check your recipient policy. SMTP
address should be cp.com Not server.cp.com

This code indicates a looping condition.

Typical causes include:
One of the receiving mail server policies includes a local domain that matches the
FQDN of an Exchange server in the organization.
When the Transport Categorizer processes e-mail that is destined for a domain that
matches the FQDN of an Exchange server, an NDR with this code is generated.

SMTP Code 5.5.0 : Requested actions not taken as mailbox is unavailable

Typical causes include:

The recipients mailbox does not exist at the organization
The recipients anti-spam firewall returns this code because the sending mail sever
needs to be whitelisted
The sending mail servers local mail and web filtering appliance returns this code as it
thinks the email is spam or dangerous for the recipient
The recipients mailbox is not local and mail relay is disabled or the sending address is
invalid
The sending mail server requires authentication (username +password) to send emails
The From address contains a domain name that is not hosted by the sender
The receiving mail server is down and cannot receive mail at this time
The recipients mailbox has been suspended or disabled
DNS or MX records not configured correctly for the receiving mail server

SMTP Code 5.5.1 : User not local or invalid address - Relay denied

Typical Causes include:

If the sending or the recipients email address domain names are locally hosted by the
ISPs DNS server then the ISPs mail servers may refuse to relay the message on.
The email address domain names have not been added to the ISPs allowed sender list

SMTP Status Code

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Message Description

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SMTP Status Code

SMTP Code 5.5.2 : Requested mail actions aborted
-

Exceeded storage allocation

Size of the incoming message exceeds the incoming size limit

Message Description
Typical causes include:
The recipients mailbox has reached its maximum allowed size
The size of the incoming message exceeds the incoming size limit of the recipients
mailbox, as specified by the Network Administrator

SMTP Code 5.5.3 : Requested action not taken

Typical causes include:

Mailbox name invalid

Relaying denied from your location

The domain isnt in my list of allowed rcpthosts

There is an invalid email address in the To, CC, or BCC field of the email message
The sending mail server is trying to send through as specific ISPs SMTP server and yet
the sending server is not connected to the internet through that ISP
The email is being sent from a Microsoft Exchange server configured to send directly
via DNS (rather than relaying to an ISPs SMTP server) and there is no public reverse
DNS record pointing back to the public IP of the Exchange server

SMTP Code 5.5.4 : Transaction failed

There was a permanent error trying to complete the mail transaction which will not be
resolved by resending the message in its current form. Some change to the message
and/or destination must be made for successful delivery.
Typical causes include:
The receiving mail server believes that the email being sent is spam or that the IP
Address of the sending mail server has been blacklisted.
The email address does not exist or has been disabled
With IBMs Lotus Domino this is either a Domino bug or a Disk Full error

SMTP Code 5.5.5 : Wrong protocol version

An SMTP command utilised by the sending mail server is not recognised by the receiving
mail server
Typical causes include:
An incompatible SMTP protocol version between the sending/receiving mail servers

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SMTP Status Code

SMTP Code 5.6.3 : More than 250 attachments

Message Description
Typical causes include:
The email message contains more than 250 attachments. More than 250 attachments
cause the MAPI_E_TOO_BIG error.
The email has been sent with a malformed addr822 header.

SMTP Code 5.7.1 : Unable to relay or Delivery not authorized or Client was
not authenticated

The receiving mail server will not relay any mails received from the sending mail server
Typical causes include:

Unable to relay

A third party tries to use a receiving mail server to send spam, and the receiving mail
server rejects the attempt. By the nature of spam, the sender's e-mail address may
have been forged and the resulting NDR could have been sent to the unsuspecting
sender's e-mail address.
A domain name service (DNS) mail exchanger (MX) record for a domain points to a
receiving mail server where that domain is not accepted.
A sending mail server or client that should use the receiving mail server to relay
messages does not have the correct permissions to do this.

Delivery not authorized

This error occurs when the sender tries to send a message to a recipient but the sender
is not authorized to do this. The sender must request permission to send messages to
the recipient.

Client was not authenticated

This error occurs when the receiving mail server must be authenticated before
message submission, and the sending mail server has not authenticated with the
receiving mail server.

SMTP Code 5.7.2 : Service denied, closing transmission channel

Typical causes include:

The maximum number of SMTP connections that the receiving mail server allows from a
sending mail server IP address has been reached

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SMTP Status Code

SMTP Code 5.7.3 : Not authorized

Message Description
Typical causes include:
The sending mail server prohibited reassignment to the alternate recipient.
The external IP address of the ISA server does not match the SMTP publishing rule

SMTP Code 5.7.4 : Unrecognized authentication type

Typical causes include:

The SMTP AUTH LOGIN command sent by the sending mail server is not supported by
the receiving mail server

SMTP Code 5.7.5 : Cryptographic failure. Message signature incorrect

Typical causes include:

If the receiving mail server is capable of verifying the public key of the signer and can
check the signature on the message synchronously with the SMTP session and such
signature is missing or does not verify the mail server may reject the message with an
error such as message signature incorrect

SMTP Code 5.7.6 : Certificate problem.

Typical causes include:

The cryptographic algorithm used to encrypt the email message is not supported by
the receiving mail server
The encryption level used to encrypt the email is too high

SMTP Code 5.7.7 : Message integrity problem

The email cannot be processed because it would violate the security policy in force on
the receiving mail server
Typical causes include:
There is an invalid PTR record that does not match the domain/hostname of the
sending mail server

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