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-
-
-
-
-
-
-Network Working Group M. Rose
-Request for Comments: 1460 Dover Beach Consulting, Inc.
-Obsoletes: 1225 June 1993
-
-
- Post Office Protocol - Version 3
-
-
-Status of this Memo
-
- This RFC specifies an IAB standards track protocol for the Internet
- community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.
- Please refer to the current edition of the "IAB Official Protocol
- Standards" for the standardization state and status of this protocol.
- Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
-
-Overview
-
- This memo is a revision to RFC 1225, a Draft Standard. It makes the
- following changes from that document:
-
- - the RPOP facility is removed;
-
- - the optional APOP facility is added (which is in interoperable,
- operational use in at least three implementations);
-
- - a typo was corrected with respect to the interaction of LAST
- and RSET;
-
- - section numbers were added; and,
-
- - an acknowledgements section was added.
-
-1. Introduction
-
- On certain types of smaller nodes in the Internet it is often
- impractical to maintain a message transport system (MTS). For
- example, a workstation may not have sufficient resources (cycles,
- disk space) in order to permit a SMTP server [RFC821] and associated
- local mail delivery system to be kept resident and continuously
- running.
-
- Similarly, it may be expensive (or impossible) to keep a personal
- computer interconnected to an IP-style network for long amounts of
- time (the node is lacking the resource known as "connectivity").
-
- Despite this, it is often very useful to be able to manage mail on
- these smaller nodes, and they often support a user agent (UA) to aid
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 1]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
- the tasks of mail handling. To solve this problem, a node which can
- support an MTS entity offers a maildrop service to these less endowed
- nodes. The Post Office Protocol - Version 3 (POP3) is intended to
- permit a workstation to dynamically access a maildrop on a server
- host in a useful fashion. Usually, this means that the POP3 is used
- to allow a workstation to retrieve mail that the server is holding
- for it.
-
- For the remainder of this memo, the term "client host" refers to a
- host making use of the POP3 service, while the term "server host"
- refers to a host which offers the POP3 service.
-
-2. A Short Digression
-
- This memo does not specify how a client host enters mail into the
- transport system, although a method consistent with the philosophy of
- this memo is presented here:
-
- When the user agent on a client host wishes to enter a message
- into the transport system, it establishes an SMTP connection to
- its relay host (this relay host could be, but need not be, the
- POP3 server host for the client host).
-
- If this method is followed, then the client host appears to the MTS
- as a user agent, and should NOT be regarded as a "trusted" MTS entity
- in any sense whatsoever. This concept, along with the role of the
- POP3 as a part of a split-UA model is discussed later in this memo.
-
-3. Basic Operation
-
- Initially, the server host starts the POP3 service by listening on
- TCP port 110. When a client host wishes to make use of the service,
- it establishes a TCP connection with the server host. When the
- connection is established, the POP3 server sends a greeting. The
- client and POP3 server then exchange commands and responses
- (respectively) until the connection is closed or aborted.
-
- Commands in the POP3 consist of a keyword possibly followed by an
- argument. All commands are terminated by a CRLF pair.
-
- Responses in the POP3 consist of a success indicator and a keyword
- possibly followed by additional information. All responses are
- terminated by a CRLF pair. There are currently two success
- indicators: positive ("+OK") and negative ("-ERR").
-
- Responses to certain commands are multi-line. In these cases, which
- are clearly indicated below, after sending the first line of the
- response and a CRLF, any additional lines are sent, each terminated
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 2]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
- by a CRLF pair. When all lines of the response have been sent, a
- final line is sent, consisting of a termination octet (decimal code
- 046, ".") and a CRLF pair. If any line of the multi-line response
- begins with the termination octet, the line is "byte-stuffed" by
- pre-pending the termination octet to that line of the response.
-
- Hence a multi-line response is terminated with the five octets
- "CRLF.CRLF". When examining a multi-line response, the client checks
- to see if the line begins with the termination octet. If so and if
- octets other than CRLF follow, the the first octet of the line (the
- termination octet) is stripped away. If so and if CRLF immediately
- follows the termination character, then the response from the POP
- server is ended and the line containing ".CRLF" is not considered
- part of the multi-line response.
-
- A POP3 session progresses through a number of states during its
- lifetime. Once the TCP connection has been opened and the POP3
- server has sent the greeting, the session enters the AUTHORIZATION
- state. In this state, the client must identify itself to the POP3
- server. Once the client has successfully done this, the server
- acquires resources associated with the client's maildrop, and the
- session enters the TRANSACTION state. In this state, the client
- requests actions on the part of the POP3 server. When the client has
- finished its transactions, the session enters the UPDATE state. In
- this state, the POP3 server releases any resources acquired during
- the TRANSACTION state and says goodbye. The TCP connection is then
- closed.
-
-4. The AUTHORIZATION State
-
- Once the TCP connection has been opened by a POP3 client, the POP3
- server issues a one line greeting. This can be any string terminated
- by CRLF. An example might be:
-
- S. +OK POP3 server ready
-
- Note that this greeting is a POP3 reply. The POP3 server should
- always give a positive response as the greeting.
-
- The POP3 session is now in the AUTHORIZATION state. The client must
- now issue the USER command. If the POP3 server responds with a
- positive success indicator ("+OK"), then the client may issue either
- the PASS command to complete the authorization, or the QUIT command
- to terminate the POP3 session. If the POP3 server responds with a
- negative success indicator ("-ERR") to the USER command, then the
- client may either issue a new USER command or may issue the QUIT
- command.
-
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 3]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
- When the client issues the PASS command, the POP3 server uses the
- argument pair from the USER and PASS commands to determine if the
- client should be given access to the appropriate maildrop. If so,
- the POP3 server then acquires an exclusive-access lock on the
- maildrop. If the lock is successfully acquired, the POP3 server
- parses the maildrop into individual messages (read note below),
- determines the last message (if any) present in the maildrop that was
- referenced by the RETR command, and responds with a positive success
- indicator. The POP3 session now enters the TRANSACTION state. If
- the lock can not be acquired or the client should is denied access to
- the appropriate maildrop or the maildrop can't be parsed for some
- reason, the POP3 server responds with a negative success indicator.
- (If a lock was acquired but the POP3 server intends to respond with a
- negative success indicator, the POP3 server must release the lock
- prior to rejecting the command.) At this point, the client may
- either issue a new USER command and start again, or the client may
- issue the QUIT command.
-
- NOTE: Minimal implementations of the POP3 need only be
- able to break a maildrop into its component messages;
- they need NOT be able to parse individual messages.
- More advanced implementations may wish to have this
- capability, for reasons discussed later.
-
- After the POP3 server has parsed the maildrop into individual
- messages, it assigns a message-id to each message, and notes the size
- of the message in octets. The first message in the maildrop is
- assigned a message-id of "1", the second is assigned "2", and so on,
- so that the n'th message in a maildrop is assigned a message-id of
- "n". In POP3 commands and responses, all message-id's and message
- sizes are expressed in base-10 (i.e., decimal).
-
- It sets the "highest number accessed" to be that of the last message
- referenced by the RETR command.
-
- Here are summaries for the three POP3 commands discussed thus far:
-
- USER name
- Arguments: a server specific user-id (required)
- Restrictions: may only be given in the AUTHORIZATION
- state after the POP3 greeting or after an
- unsuccessful USER or PASS command
- Possible Responses:
- +OK name is welcome here
- -ERR never heard of name
- Examples:
- C: USER mrose
- S: +OK mrose is a real hoopy frood
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 4]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
- ...
- C: USER frated
- S: -ERR sorry, frated doesn't get his mail here
-
- PASS string
- Arguments: a server/user-id specific password (required)
- Restrictions: may only be given in the AUTHORIZATION
- state after a successful USER command
- Possible Responses:
- +OK maildrop locked and ready
- -ERR invalid password
- -ERR unable to lock maildrop
- Examples:
- C: USER mrose
- S: +OK mrose is a real hoopy frood
- C: PASS secret
- S: +OK mrose's maildrop has 2 messages
- (320 octets)
- ...
- C: USER mrose
- S: +OK mrose is a real hoopy frood
- C: PASS secret
- S: -ERR unable to lock mrose's maildrop, file
- already locked
-
- QUIT
- Arguments: none
- Restrictions: none
- Possible Responses:
- +OK
- Examples:
- C: QUIT
- S: +OK dewey POP3 server signing off
-
-5. The TRANSACTION State
-
- Once the client has successfully identified itself to the POP3 server
- and the POP3 server has locked and burst the appropriate maildrop,
- the POP3 session is now in the TRANSACTION state. The client may now
- issue any of the following POP3 commands repeatedly. After each
- command, the POP3 server issues a response. Eventually, the client
- issues the QUIT command and the POP3 session enters the UPDATE state.
-
- Here are the POP3 commands valid in the TRANSACTION state:
-
- STAT
- Arguments: none
- Restrictions: may only be given in the TRANSACTION state.
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 5]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
- Discussion:
-
- The POP3 server issues a positive response with a line
- containing information for the maildrop. This line is
- called a "drop listing" for that maildrop.
-
- In order to simplify parsing, all POP3 servers are
- required to use a certain format for drop listings.
- The first octets present must indicate the number of
- messages in the maildrop. Following this is the size
- of the maildrop in octets. This memo makes no
- requirement on what follows the maildrop size.
- Minimal implementations should just end that line of
- the response with a CRLF pair. More advanced
- implementations may include other information.
-
- NOTE: This memo STRONGLY discourages
- implementations from supplying additional
- information in the drop listing. Other,
- optional, facilities are discussed later on
- which permit the client to parse the messages
- in the maildrop.
-
- Note that messages marked as deleted are not counted in
- either total.
-
- Possible Responses:
- +OK nn mm
- Examples:
- C: STAT
- S: +OK 2 320
-
- LIST [msg]
- Arguments: a message-id (optionally) If a message-id is
- given, it may NOT refer to a message marked as
- deleted.
- Restrictions: may only be given in the TRANSACTION state.
- Discussion:
-
- If an argument was given and the POP3 server issues a
- positive response with a line containing information
- for that message. This line is called a "scan listing"
- for that message.
-
- If no argument was given and the POP3 server issues a
- positive response, then the response given is
- multi-line. After the initial +OK, for each message
- in the maildrop, the POP3 server responds with a line
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 6]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
- containing information for that message. This line
- is called a "scan listing" for that message.
-
- In order to simplify parsing, all POP3 servers are
- required to use a certain format for scan listings.
- The first octets present must be the message-id of
- the message. Following the message-id is the size of
- the message in octets. This memo makes no requirement
- on what follows the message size in the scan listing.
- Minimal implementations should just end that line of
- the response with a CRLF pair. More advanced
- implementations may include other information, as
- parsed from the message.
-
- NOTE: This memo STRONGLY discourages
- implementations from supplying additional
- information in the scan listing. Other, optional,
- facilities are discussed later on which permit
- the client to parse the messages in the maildrop.
-
- Note that messages marked as deleted are not listed.
-
- Possible Responses:
- +OK scan listing follows
- -ERR no such message
- Examples:
- C: LIST
- S: +OK 2 messages (320 octets)
- S: 1 120
- S: 2 200
- S: .
- ...
- C: LIST 2
- S: +OK 2 200
- ...
- C: LIST 3
- S: -ERR no such message, only 2 messages in
- maildrop
-
- RETR msg
- Arguments: a message-id (required) This message-id may
- NOT refer to a message marked as deleted.
- Restrictions: may only be given in the TRANSACTION state.
- Discussion:
-
- If the POP3 server issues a positive response, then the
- response given is multi-line. After the initial +OK,
- the POP3 server sends the message corresponding to the
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 7]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
- given message-id, being careful to byte-stuff the
- termination character (as with all multi-line
- responses).
-
- If the number associated with this message is higher
- than the "highest number accessed" in the maildrop, the
- POP3 server updates the "highest number accessed" to
- the number associated with this message.
-
- Possible Responses:
- +OK message follows
- -ERR no such message
- Examples:
- C: RETR 1
- S: +OK 120 octets
- S: <the POP3 server sends the entire message here>
- S: .
-
- DELE msg
- Arguments: a message-id (required) This message-id
- may NOT refer to a message marked as deleted.
- Restrictions: may only be given in the TRANSACTION state.
- Discussion:
-
- The POP3 server marks the message as deleted. Any
- future reference to the message-id associated with the
- message in a POP3 command generates an error. The POP3
- server does not actually delete the message until the
- POP3 session enters the UPDATE state.
-
- If the number associated with this message is higher
- than the "highest number accessed" in the maildrop,
- the POP3 server updates the "highest number accessed"
- to the number associated with this message.
-
- Possible Responses:
- +OK message deleted
- -ERR no such message
- Examples:
- C: DELE 1
- S: +OK message 1 deleted
- ...
- C: DELE 2
- S: -ERR message 2 already deleted
-
- NOOP
- Arguments: none
- Restrictions: may only be given in the TRANSACTION state.
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 8]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
- Discussion:
-
- The POP3 server does nothing, it merely replies with a
- positive response.
-
- Possible Responses:
- +OK
- Examples:
- C: NOOP
- S: +OK
-
- LAST
- Arguments: none
- Restrictions: may only be issued in the TRANSACTION state.
- Discussion:
-
- The POP3 server issues a positive response with a line
- containing the highest message number which accessed.
- Zero is returned in case no message in the maildrop has
- been accessed during previous transactions. A client
- may thereafter infer that messages, if any, numbered
- greater than the response to the LAST command are
- messages not yet accessed by the client.
-
- Possible Response:
- +OK nn
-
- Examples:
- C: STAT
- S: +OK 4 320
- C: LAST
- S: +OK 1
- C: RETR 3
- S: +OK 120 octets
- S: <the POP3 server sends the entire message
- here>
- S: .
- C: LAST
- S: +OK 3
- C: DELE 2
- S: +OK message 2 deleted
- C: LAST
- S: +OK 3
- C: RSET
- S: +OK
- C: LAST
- S: +OK 0
-
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 9]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
- RSET
- Arguments: none
- Restrictions: may only be given in the TRANSACTION
- state.
- Discussion:
-
- If any messages have been marked as deleted by the POP3
- server, they are unmarked. The POP3 server then
- replies with a positive response. In addition, the
- "highest number accessed" is also reset to zero.
-
- Possible Responses:
- +OK
- Examples:
- C: RSET
- S: +OK maildrop has 2 messages (320 octets)
-
-6. The UPDATE State
-
- When the client issues the QUIT command from the TRANSACTION state,
- the POP3 session enters the UPDATE state. (Note that if the client
- issues the QUIT command from the AUTHORIZATION state, the POP3
- session terminates but does NOT enter the UPDATE state.)
-
- QUIT
- Arguments: none
- Restrictions: none
- Discussion:
-
- The POP3 server removes all messages marked as deleted
- from the maildrop. It then releases the
- exclusive-access lock on the maildrop and replies as
- to the success of these operations. The TCP
- connection is then closed.
-
- Possible Responses:
- +OK
- Examples:
- C: QUIT
- S: +OK dewey POP3 server signing off (maildrop
- empty)
- ...
- C: QUIT
- S: +OK dewey POP3 server signing off (2 messages
- left)
- ...
-
-
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 10]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
-7. Optional POP3 Commands
-
- The POP3 commands discussed above must be supported by all minimal
- implementations of POP3 servers.
-
- The optional POP3 commands described below permit a POP3 client
- greater freedom in message handling, while preserving a simple POP3
- server implementation.
-
- NOTE: This memo STRONGLY encourages implementations to
- support these commands in lieu of developing augmented
- drop and scan listings. In short, the philosophy of
- this memo is to put intelligence in the part of the
- POP3 client and not the POP3 server.
-
- TOP msg n
- Arguments: a message-id (required) and a number. This
- message-id may NOT refer to a message marked as
- deleted.
- Restrictions: may only be given in the TRANSACTION state.
- Discussion:
-
- If the POP3 server issues a positive response, then
- the response given is multi-line. After the initial
- +OK, the POP3 server sends the headers of the message,
- the blank line separating the headers from the body,
- and then the number of lines indicated message's body,
- being careful to byte-stuff the termination character
- (as with all multi-line responses).
-
- Note that if the number of lines requested by the POP3
- client is greater than than the number of lines in the
- body, then the POP3 server sends the entire message.
-
- Possible Responses:
- +OK top of message follows
- -ERR no such message
- Examples:
- C: TOP 10
- S: +OK
- S: <the POP3 server sends the headers of the
- message, a blank line, and the first 10 lines
- of the body of the message>
- S: .
- ...
- C: TOP 100
- S: -ERR no such message
-
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 11]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
- APOP name digest
- Arguments: a server specific user-id and a digest string
- (both required).
- Restrictions: may only be given in the AUTHORIZATION
- state after the POP3 greeting
- Discussion:
-
- Normally, each POP3 session starts with a USER/PASS
- exchange. This results in a server/user-id specific
- password being sent in the clear on the network. For
- intermittent use of POP3, this may not introduce a
- sizable risk. However, many POP3 client
- implementations connect to the POP3 server on a
- regular basis -- to check for new mail. Further the
- interval of session initiation may be on the order of
- five minutes. Hence, the risk of password capture is
- greatly enhanced.
-
- An alternate method of authentication is required
- which provides for both origin authentication and
- replay protection, but which does not involve sending
- a password in the clear over the network. The APOP
- command provides this functionality.
-
- A POP3 server which implements the APOP command will
- include a timestamp in its banner greeting. The
- syntax of the timestamp corresponds to the "msg-id"
- in [RFC822], and MUST be different each time the POP3
- server issues a banner greeting. For example, on a
- UNIX implementation in which a separate UNIX process
- is used for each instance of a POP3 server, the
- syntax of the timestamp might be:
-
- <process-ID.clock@hostname>
-
- where "process-ID" is the decimal value of the
- process's PID, clock is the decimal value of the
- system clock, and hostname is the fully-qualified
- domain-name corresponding to the host where the POP3
- server is running.
-
- The POP3 client makes note of this timestamp, and
- then issues the APOP command. The "name" parameter
- has identical semantics to the "name" parameter of
- the USER command. The "digest" parameter is
- calculated by applying the MD5 algorithm [RFC1321] to
- a string consisting of the timestamp (including
- angle-brackets) followed by a shared secret. This
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 12]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
- shared secret is a string known only to the POP3
- client and server. Great care should be taken to
- prevent unauthorized disclosure of the secret, as
- knowledge of the secret will allow any entity to
- successfully masquerade as the named user. The
- "digest" parameter itself is a 16-octet value which
- is sent in hexadecimal format, using lower-case ASCII
- characters.
-
- When the POP3 server receives the APOP command, it
- verifies the digest provided. If the digest is
- correct, the POP3 server issues a positive response,
- and the POP3 session enters the TRANSACTION state.
- Otherwise, a negative response is issued and the POP3
- session remains in the AUTHORIZATION state.
-
- Possible Responses:
- +OK maildrop locked and ready
- -ERR permission denied
- Examples:
- S: +OK POP3 server ready <1896.697170952@dbc.mtview.ca.us>
- C: APOP mrose c4c9334bac560ecc979e58001b3e22fb
- S: +OK maildrop has 1 message (369 octets)
-
- In this example, the shared secret is the string "tanstaaf".
- Hence, the MD5 algorithm is applied to the string
-
- <1896.697170952@dbc.mtview.ca.us>tanstaaf
-
- which produces a digest value of
-
- c4c9334bac560ecc979e58001b3e22fb
-
-8. POP3 Command Summary
-
- Minimal POP3 Commands:
- USER name valid in the AUTHORIZATION state
- PASS string
- QUIT
-
- STAT valid in the TRANSACTION state
- LIST [msg]
- RETR msg
- DELE msg
- NOOP
- LAST
- RSET
-
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 13]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
- QUIT valid in the UPDATE state
-
- Optional POP3 Commands:
- APOP name digest valid in the AUTHORIZATION state
-
- TOP msg n valid in the TRANSACTION state
-
- POP3 Replies:
- +OK
- -ERR
-
- Note that with the exception of the STAT command, the reply given
- by the POP3 server to any command is significant only to "+OK"
- and "-ERR". Any text occurring after this reply may be ignored
- by the client.
-
-9. Example POP3 Session
-
- S: <wait for connection on TCP port 110>
- ...
- C: <open connection>
- S: +OK POP3 server ready <1896.697170952@dbc.mtview.ca.us>
- C: APOP mrose c4c9334bac560ecc979e58001b3e22fb
- S: +OK mrose's maildrop has 2 messages (320 octets)
- C: STAT
- S: +OK 2 320
- C: LIST
- S: +OK 2 messages (320 octets)
- S: 1 120
- S: 2 200
- S: .
- C: RETR 1
- S: +OK 120 octets
- S: <the POP3 server sends message 1>
- S: .
- C: DELE 1
- S: +OK message 1 deleted
- C: RETR 2
- S: +OK 200 octets
- S: <the POP3 server sends message 2>
- S: .
- C: DELE 2
- S: +OK message 2 deleted
- C: QUIT
- S: +OK dewey POP3 server signing off (maildrop empty)
- C: <close connection>
- S: <wait for next connection>
-
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 14]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
-10. Message Format
-
- All messages transmitted during a POP3 session are assumed to conform
- to the standard for the format of Internet text messages [RFC822].
-
- It is important to note that the byte count for a message on the
- server host may differ from the octet count assigned to that message
- due to local conventions for designating end-of-line. Usually,
- during the AUTHORIZATION state of the POP3 session, the POP3 client
- can calculate the size of each message in octets when it parses the
- maildrop into messages. For example, if the POP3 server host
- internally represents end-of-line as a single character, then the
- POP3 server simply counts each occurrence of this character in a
- message as two octets. Note that lines in the message which start
- with the termination octet need not be counted twice, since the POP3
- client will remove all byte-stuffed termination characters when it
- receives a multi-line response.
-
-11. The POP and the Split-UA model
-
- The underlying paradigm in which the POP3 functions is that of a
- split-UA model. The POP3 client host, being a remote PC based
- workstation, acts solely as a client to the message transport system.
- It does not provide delivery/authentication services to others.
- Hence, it is acting as a UA, on behalf of the person using the
- workstation. Furthermore, the workstation uses SMTP to enter mail
- into the MTS.
-
- In this sense, we have two UA functions which interface to the
- message transport system: Posting (SMTP) and Retrieval (POP3). The
- entity which supports this type of environment is called a split-UA
- (since the user agent is split between two hosts which must
- interoperate to provide these functions).
-
- ASIDE: Others might term this a remote-UA instead.
- There are arguments supporting the use of both terms.
-
- This memo has explicitly referenced TCP as the underlying transport
- agent for the POP3. This need not be the case. In the MZnet split-
- UA, for example, personal micro-computer systems are used which do
- not have IP-style networking capability [MZnet]. To connect to the
- POP3 server host, a PC establishes a terminal connection using some
- simple protocol (PhoneNet). A program on the PC drives the
- connection, first establishing a login session as a normal user. The
- login shell for this pseudo-user is a program which drives the other
- half of the terminal protocol and communicates with one of two
- servers. Although MZnet can support several PCs, a single pseudo-
- user login is present on the server host. The user-id and password
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 15]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
- for this pseudo-user login is known to all members of MZnet. Hence,
- the first action of the login shell, after starting the terminal
- protocol, is to demand a USER/PASS authorization pair from the PC.
- This second level of authorization is used to ascertain who is
- interacting with the MTS. Although the server host is deemed to
- support a "trusted" MTS entity, PCs in MZnet are not. Naturally, the
- USER/PASS authorization pair for a PC is known only to the owner of
- the PC (in theory, at least).
-
- After successfully verifying the identity of the client, a modified
- SMTP server is started, and the PC posts mail with the server host.
- After the QUIT command is given to the SMTP server and it terminates,
- a modified POP3 server is started, and the PC retrieves mail from the
- server host. After the QUIT command is given to the POP3 server and
- it terminates, the login shell for the pseudo-user terminates the
- terminal protocol and logs the job out. The PC then closes the
- terminal connection to the server host.
-
- The SMTP server used by MZnet is modified in the sense that it knows
- that it's talking to a user agent and not a "trusted" entity in the
- message transport system. Hence, it does performs the validation
- activities normally performed by an entity in the MTS when it accepts
- a message from a UA.
-
- The POP3 server used by MZnet is modified in the sense that it does
- not require a USER/PASS combination before entering the TRANSACTION
- state. The reason for this (of course) is that the PC has already
- identified itself during the second-level authorization step
- described above.
-
- NOTE: Truth in advertising laws require that the author
- of this memo state that MZnet has not actually been
- fully implemented. The concepts presented and proven
- by the project led to the notion of the MZnet
- split-slot model. This notion has inspired the
- split-UA concept described in this memo, led to the
- author's interest in the POP, and heavily influenced
- the the description of the POP3 herein.
-
- In fact, some UAs present in the Internet already support the notion
- of posting directly to an SMTP server and retrieving mail directly
- from a POP3 server, even if the POP3 server and client resided on the
- same host!
-
- ASIDE: this discussion raises an issue which this memo
- purposedly avoids: how does SMTP know that it's talking
- to a "trusted" MTS entity?
-
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 16]
-
-RFC 1460 POP3 June 1993
-
-
-12. References
-
- [MZnet] Stefferud, E., Sweet, J., and T. Domae, "MZnet: Mail
- Service for Personal Micro-Computer Systems,:
- Proceedings, IFIP 6.5 International Conference on
- Computer Message Systems, Nottingham, U.K., May 1984.
-
- [RFC821] Postel, J., "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", STD 10,
- RFC 821, USC/Information Sciences Institute, August 1982.
-
- [RFC822] Crocker, D., "Standard for the Format of ARPA-Internet
- Text Messages", STD 11, RFC 822, University of Delaware,
- August 1982.
-
- [RFC1321] Rivest, R. "The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm", MIT
- Laboratory for Computer Science, April 1992.
-
-13. Security Considerations
-
- It is conjectured that use of the APOP command provides origin
- identification and replay protection for a POP3 session.
- Accordingly, a POP3 server which implements both the PASS and APOP
- commands must not allow both methods of access for a given user; that
- is, for a given "USER name" either the PASS or APOP command is
- allowed, but not both.
-
- Otherwise, security issues are not discussed in this memo.
-
-14. Acknowledgements
-
- The POP family has a long and checkered history. Although primarily
- a minor revision to [RFC1225], POP3 is based on the ideas presented
- in RFCs 918, 937, and 1081.
-
- In addition, Alfred Grimstad, Keith McCloghrie, and Neil Ostroff
- provided significant comments on the APOP command.
-
-15. Author's Address
-
- Marshall T. Rose
- Dover Beach Consulting, Inc.
- Mountain View, CA 94043-2186
-
- Phone: +1 415 968 1052
- Fax: +1 415 968 2510
-
- EMail: mrose@dbc.mtview.ca.us
- X.500: rose, dbc, us
-
-
-
-Rose [Page 17]
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