Knowledgebase

Overview

By default, when Amavis rejects an email due to exceeding the configured spam kill level, it returns a generic response:

554 5.7.0 Reject, id=27440-12 - spam (in reply to end of DATA command)

This article provides instructions for customizing this rejection message with a more descriptive policy-based response on supported Linux distributions.

Prerequisites

• Root or sudo access to the mail server
• Amavis installed and actively processing mail

Procedure

To modify the spam rejection response, complete the following steps:

1. Open the appropriate configuration file for your operating system using a text editor:
   • AlmaLinux/CloudLinux/RHEL: /etc/amavisd/warden.conf
   • Debian/Ubuntu: /etc/amavis/conf.d/99-warden
2. Add the following configuration line to the file:

   $smtp_reason_by_ccat{&CC_SPAM} = 'id=%n - rejected for policy reasons';

3. Save and close the configuration file.
4. Restart the Amavis service to apply the changes:
   • AlmaLinux/CloudLinux/RHEL:

     systemctl restart amavisd

   • Debian/Ubuntu:

     systemctl restart amavis

Troubleshooting

If the custom rejection message does not appear after restarting the service, verify the following:

• Confirm that the configuration file was saved correctly and contains no syntax errors.
• Check the Amavis service status to ensure it restarted successfully without errors.