---
name: "Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::SPF"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "spamassassin"
version: "4.0.2-3"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::SPF"
---

# Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::SPF(3pm)

perform SPF verification tests

## NAME

Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::SPF - perform SPF verification tests

## SYNOPSIS

```
  loadplugin     Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::SPF
```

## DESCRIPTION

This plugin checks a message against Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records published by the domain owners in DNS to fight email address forgery and make it easier to identify spams.

It's recommended to use MTA filter (pypolicyd-spf / spf-engine etc), so this plugin can reuse the Received-SPF and/or Authentication-Results header results as is. Otherwise throughput could suffer, DNS lookups done by this plugin are not asynchronous. Those headers will also help when SpamAssassin is not able to correctly detect EnvelopeFrom.

## USER SETTINGS

- welcomelist\_from\_spf user@example.com

  Previously whitelist\_from\_spf which will work interchangeably until 4.1.

  Works similarly to welcomelist\_from, except that in addition to matching a sender address, a check against the domain's SPF record must pass.  The first parameter is an address to welcomelist, and the second is a string to match the relay's rDNS.

  Just like welcomelist\_from, multiple addresses per line, separated by spaces, are OK.  Multiple `"welcomelist_from_spf"` lines are also OK.

  The headers checked for welcomelist\_from\_spf addresses are the same headers used for SPF checks (Envelope-From, Return-Path, X-Envelope-From, etc).

  Since this welcomelist requires an SPF check to be made, network tests must be enabled. It is also required that your trust path be correctly configured. See the section on `"trusted_networks"` for more info on trust paths.

  e.g.

  ```
    welcomelist_from_spf joe@example.com fred@example.com
    welcomelist_from_spf *@example.com
  ```

- def\_welcomelist\_from\_spf user@example.com

  Previously def\_whitelist\_from\_spf which will work interchangeably until 4.1.

  Same as `"welcomelist_from_spf"`, but used for the default welcomelist entries in the SpamAssassin distribution.  The welcomelist score is lower, because these are often targets for spammer spoofing.

- unwelcomelist\_from\_spf user@example.com

  Previously unwhitelist\_from\_spf which will work interchangeably until 4.1.

  Used to remove a `"welcomelist_from_spf"` or `"def_welcomelist_from_spf"` entry.  The specified email address has to match exactly the address previously used.

  Useful for removing undesired default entries from a distributed configuration by a local or site-specific configuration or by `"user_prefs"`.

## ADMINISTRATOR SETTINGS

- spf\_timeout n (default: 5)

  How many seconds to wait for an SPF query to complete, before scanning continues without the SPF result. A numeric value is optionally suffixed by a time unit (s, m, h, d, w, indicating seconds (default), minutes, hours, days, weeks).

- ignore\_received\_spf\_header (0\|1) (default: 0)

  By default, to avoid unnecessary DNS lookups, the plugin will try to use the SPF results found in any `"Received-SPF"` headers it finds in the message that could only have been added by an internal relay.

  Set this option to 1 to ignore any `"Received-SPF"` headers present and to have the plugin perform the SPF check itself.

  Note that unless the plugin finds an `"identity=helo"`, or some unsupported identity, it will assume that the result is a mfrom SPF check result.  The only identities supported are `"mfrom"`, `"mailfrom"` and `"helo"`.

- use\_newest\_received\_spf\_header (0\|1) (default: 0)

  By default, when using `"Received-SPF"` headers, the plugin will attempt to use the oldest (bottom most) `"Received-SPF"` headers, that were added by internal relays, that it can parse results from since they are the most likely to be accurate.  This is done so that if you have an incoming mail setup where one of your primary MXes doesn't know about a secondary MX (or your MXes don't know about some sort of forwarding relay that SA considers trusted+internal) but SA is aware of the actual domain boundary (internal\_networks setting) SA will use the results that are most accurate.

  Use this option to start with the newest (top most) `"Received-SPF"` headers, working downwards until results are successfully parsed.

- has\_check\_for\_spf\_errors

  Adds capability check for "if **can()**" for check\_for\_spf\_permerror, check\_for\_spf\_temperror, check\_for\_spf\_helo\_permerror and check\_for\_spf\_helo\_permerror

- has\_check\_spf\_skipped\_noenvfrom

  Adds capability check for "if **can()**" for check\_spf\_skipped\_noenvfrom

  - check\_spf\_skipped\_noenvfrom

    Checks if SPF checks have been skipped because EnvelopeFrom cannot be determined.