Post Office Protocol - Version 3
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for
the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the
"Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is
unlimited.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ................................................
2
2. A Short Digression ..........................................
2
3. Basic Operation .............................................
3
4. The AUTHORIZATION State .....................................
4
QUIT Command
................................................ 5
5. The TRANSACTION State .......................................
5
STAT Command
................................................ 6
LIST Command
................................................ 6
RETR Command
................................................ 8
DELE Command
................................................ 8
NOOP Command
................................................ 9
RSET Command
................................................ 9
6. The UPDATE State ............................................
10
QUIT Command
................................................ 10
7. Optional POP3 Commands ......................................
11
TOP Command
................................................. 11
UIDL Command
................................................ 12
USER Command
................................................ 13
PASS Command
................................................ 14
APOP Command
................................................ 15
8. Scaling and Operational Considerations ......................
16
9. POP3 Command Summary ........................................
18
10. Example POP3 Session .......................................
19
11. Message Format .............................................
19
12. References .................................................
20
13. Security Considerations ....................................
20
14. Acknowledgements ...........................................
20
15. Authors' Addresses .........................................
21
Appendix A. Differences from RFC 1725 ..........................
22
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Appendix B. Command Index ......................................
23
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
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
protocol
is used to allow a workstation to retrieve mail that the server is
holding for it.
POP3 is not intended to provide extensive manipulation operations
of
mail on the server; normally, mail is downloaded and then deleted.
A
more advanced (and complex) protocol, IMAP4, is discussed in
[RFC1730].
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 and sends all mail to it.
This relay host could
be, but need not be, the POP3 server host for the
client host. Of
course, the relay host must accept mail for
delivery to arbitrary
recipient addresses, that functionality is not
required of all
SMTP servers.
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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 case-insensitive keyword,
possibly
followed by one or more arguments. All commands are
terminated by a
CRLF pair. Keywords and arguments consist of printable ASCII
characters. Keywords and arguments are each separated by a
single
SPACE character. Keywords are three or four characters long.
Each
argument may be up to 40 characters long.
Responses in the POP3 consist of a status indicator and a keyword
possibly followed by additional information. All responses
are
terminated by a CRLF pair. Responses may be up to 512
characters
long, including the terminating CRLF. There are currently two
status
indicators: positive ("+OK") and negative ("-ERR"). Servers
MUST
send the "+OK" and "-ERR" in upper case.
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
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 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
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issued the QUIT command, 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.
A server MUST respond to an unrecognized, unimplemented, or
syntactically invalid command by responding with a negative status
indicator. A server MUST respond to a command issued when the
session is in an incorrect state by responding with a negative
status
indicator. There is no general method for a client to
distinguish
between a server which does not implement an optional command and a
server which is unwilling or unable to process the command.
A POP3 server MAY have an inactivity autologout timer. Such a
timer
MUST be of at least 10 minutes' duration. The receipt of any
command
from the client during that interval should suffice to reset the
autologout timer. When the timer expires, the session does
NOT enter
the UPDATE state--the server should close the TCP connection
without
removing any messages or sending any response to the client.
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 positive
response. An example might be:
S: +OK POP3 server ready
The POP3 session is now in the AUTHORIZATION state. The
client must
now identify and authenticate itself to the POP3 server. Two
possible mechanisms for doing this are described in this document,
the USER and PASS command combination and the APOP command.
Both
mechanisms are described later in this document. Additional
authentication mechanisms are described in [RFC1734]. While
there is
no single authentication mechanism that is required of all POP3
servers, a POP3 server must of course support at least one
authentication mechanism.
Once the POP3 server has determined through the use of any
authentication command that the client should be given access to
the
appropriate maildrop, the POP3 server then acquires an exclusive-
access lock on the maildrop, as necessary to prevent messages from
being modified or removed before the session enters the UPDATE
state.
If the lock is successfully acquired, the POP3 server responds with
a
positive status indicator. The POP3 session now enters the
TRANSACTION state, with no messages marked as deleted. If the
maildrop cannot be opened for some reason (for example, a lock can
not be acquired, the client is denied access to the appropriate
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maildrop, or the maildrop cannot be parsed), the POP3 server
responds
with a negative status indicator. (If a lock was acquired but
the
POP3 server intends to respond with a negative status indicator,
the
POP3 server must release the lock prior to rejecting the command.)
After returning a negative status indicator, the server may close
the
connection. If the server does not close the connection, the
client
may either issue a new authentication command and start again, or
the
client may issue the QUIT command.
After the POP3 server has opened the maildrop, it assigns a
message-
number to each message, and notes the size of each message in
octets.
The first message in the maildrop is assigned a message-number of
"1", the second is assigned "2", and so on, so that the nth message
in a maildrop is assigned a message-number of "n". In POP3
commands
and responses, all message-numbers and message sizes are expressed
in
base-10 (i.e., decimal).
Here is the summary for the QUIT command when used in the
AUTHORIZATION state:
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 opened 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.
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Here are the POP3 commands valid in the TRANSACTION state:
STAT
Arguments: none
Restrictions:
may
only be given in the TRANSACTION state
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
positive response consists of "+OK" followed by a single
space,
the number of messages in the maildrop, a single
space,
and 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-number (optional), which, if present, may NOT
refer
to a message marked as deleted
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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 containing
information for that message. This line is also called a
"scan
listing" for that message. If there are no
messages in the maildrop, then the POP3 server responds
with no
scan listings--it issues a positive response
followed by a line containing a termination octet and a
CRLF
pair.
In
order to simplify parsing, all POP3 servers are
required to use a certain format for scan listings. A
scan
listing consists of the message-number of the
message, followed by a single space and the exact size of
the
message in octets. Methods for calculating the exact
size of
the message are described in the "Message Format"
section
below. 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
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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-number (required) which 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 given
message-number, being careful to byte-stuff the termination
character (as with all multi-line responses).
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-number (required) which may NOT refer to a
message
marked as deleted
Restrictions:
may
only be given in the TRANSACTION state
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Discussion:
The
POP3 server marks the message as deleted. Any future
reference to the message-number 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.
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
Discussion:
The
POP3 server does nothing, it merely replies with a
positive response.
Possible Responses:
+OK
Examples:
C: NOOP
S: +OK
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
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with a
positive response.
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.)
If a session terminates for some reason other than a client-issued
QUIT command, the POP3 session does NOT enter the UPDATE state and
MUST not remove any messages from the maildrop.
QUIT
Arguments: none
Restrictions: none
Discussion:
The
POP3 server removes all messages marked as deleted
from
the maildrop and replies as to the status of this
operation. If there is an error, such as a resource
shortage, encountered while removing messages, the
maildrop may result in having some or none of the messages
marked
as deleted be removed. In no case may the server
remove
any messages not marked as deleted.
Whether
the removal was successful or not, the server
then
releases any exclusive-access lock on the maildrop
and
closes the TCP connection.
Possible Responses:
+OK
-ERR
some deleted messages not removed
Examples:
C: QUIT
S: +OK
dewey POP3 server signing off (maildrop empty)
...
C: QUIT
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S: +OK
dewey POP3 server signing off (2 messages left)
...
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-number (required) which may NOT refer to to a
message
marked as deleted, and a non-negative number
of
lines (required)
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 of the 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
1 10
S: +OK
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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 3
S: -ERR
no such message
UIDL [msg]
Arguments:
a message-number
(optional), which, if present, 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
"unique-id 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
containing information for that message.
This line is called a
"unique-id listing" for that message.
In order to simplify
parsing, all POP3 servers are required to
use a certain format for
unique-id listings. A unique-id
listing consists of the
message-number of the message,
followed by a single
space and the unique-id of the message.
No information follows
the unique-id in the unique-id listing.
The unique-id of a
message is an arbitrary server-determined
string, consisting of one
to 70 characters in the range 0x21
to 0x7E, which uniquely
identifies a message within a
maildrop and which
persists across sessions. This
persistence is required
even if a session ends without
entering the UPDATE
state. The server should never reuse an
unique-id in a given
maildrop, for as long as the entity
using the unique-id
exists.
Note that messages marked
as deleted are not listed.
While it is generally
preferable for server implementations
to store arbitrarily
assigned unique-ids in the maildrop,
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this specification is
intended to permit unique-ids to be
calculated as a hash of
the message. Clients should be able
to handle a situation
where two identical copies of a
message in a maildrop
have the same unique-id.
Possible Responses:
+OK unique-id listing
follows
-ERR no such message
Examples:
C: UIDL
S: +OK
S: 1
whqtswO00WBw418f9t5JxYwZ
S: 2 QhdPYR:00WBw1Ph7x7
S: .
...
C: UIDL 2
S: +OK 2
QhdPYR:00WBw1Ph7x7
...
C: UIDL 3
S: -ERR no such message,
only 2 messages in maildrop
USER name
Arguments:
a
string identifying a mailbox (required), which is of
significance ONLY to the server
Restrictions:
may
only be given in the AUTHORIZATION state after the POP3
greeting or after an unsuccessful USER or PASS command
Discussion:
To
authenticate using the USER and PASS command
combination, the client must first issue the USER
command. If the POP3 server responds with a positive
status
indicator ("+OK"), then the client may issue
either
the PASS command to complete the authentication,
or the
QUIT command to terminate the POP3 session. If
the
POP3 server responds with a negative status indicator
("-ERR") to the USER command, then the client may either
issue a
new authentication command or may issue the QUIT
command.
The
server may return a positive response even though no
such
mailbox exists. The server may return a negative
response if mailbox exists, but does not permit plaintext
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password authentication.
Possible Responses:
+OK
name is a valid mailbox
-ERR
never heard of mailbox name
Examples:
C: USER
frated
S: -ERR
sorry, no mailbox for frated here
...
C: USER
mrose
S: +OK
mrose is a real hoopy frood
PASS string
Arguments:
a
server/mailbox-specific password (required)
Restrictions:
may
only be given in the AUTHORIZATION state immediately
after a
successful USER command
Discussion:
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.
Since
the PASS command has exactly one argument, a POP3
server
may treat spaces in the argument as part of the
password, instead of as argument separators.
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: -ERR
maildrop already locked
...
C: USER
mrose
S: +OK
mrose is a real hoopy frood
C: PASS
secret
S: +OK
mrose's maildrop has 2 messages (320 octets)
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APOP name digest
Arguments:
a
string identifying a mailbox and a MD5 digest string
(both
required)
Restrictions:
may
only be given in the AUTHORIZATION state after the POP3
greeting or after an unsuccessful USER or PASS command
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
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secret.
This 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.
Note
that as the length of the shared secret increases, so
does
the difficulty of deriving it. As such, shared
secrets
should be long strings (considerably longer than
the
8-character example shown below).
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 `tan-
staaf'.
Hence, the MD5 algorithm is applied to the string
<1896.697170952@dbc.mtview.ca.us>tanstaaf
which
produces a digest value of
c4c9334bac560ecc979e58001b3e22fb
8. Scaling and Operational Considerations
Since some of the optional features described above were added to
the
POP3 protocol, experience has accumulated in using them in large-
scale commercial post office operations where most of the users are
unrelated to each other. In these situations and others,
users and
vendors of POP3 clients have discovered that the combination of
using
the UIDL command and not issuing the DELE command can provide a
weak
version of the "maildrop as semi-permanent repository"
functionality
normally associated with IMAP. Of course the other
capabilities of
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IMAP, such as polling an existing connection for newly arrived
messages and supporting multiple folders on the server, are not
present in POP3.
When these facilities are used in this way by casual users, there
has
been a tendency for already-read messages to accumulate on the
server
without bound. This is clearly an undesirable behavior
pattern from
the standpoint of the server operator. This situation is
aggravated
by the fact that the limited capabilities of the POP3 do not permit
efficient handling of maildrops which have hundreds or thousands of
messages.
Consequently, it is recommended that operators of large-scale
multi-
user servers, especially ones in which the user's only access to
the
maildrop is via POP3, consider such options as:
* Imposing a per-user maildrop storage quota or the like.
A disadvantage to this option is that
accumulation of messages may
result in the user's inability to receive new
ones into the
maildrop. Sites which choose this option
should be sure to inform
users of impending or current exhaustion of
quota, perhaps by
inserting an appropriate message into the user's
maildrop.
* Enforce a site policy regarding mail retention on the
server.
Sites are free to establish local policy
regarding the storage and
retention of messages on the server, both read
and unread. For
example, a site might delete unread messages from
the server after
60 days and delete read messages after 7 days.
Such message
deletions are outside the scope of the POP3
protocol and are not
considered a protocol violation.
Server operators enforcing message deletion
policies should take
care to make all users aware of the policies in
force.
Clients must not assume that a site policy will
automate message
deletions, and should continue to explicitly
delete messages using
the DELE command when appropriate.
It should be noted that enforcing site message
deletion policies
may be confusing to the user community, since
their POP3 client
may contain configuration options to leave mail
on the server
which will not in fact be supported by the
server.
One special case of a site policy is that
messages may only be
downloaded once from the server, and are deleted
after this has
been accomplished. This could be
implemented in POP3 server
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software by the following mechanism: "following a
POP3 login by a
client which was ended by a QUIT, delete all
messages downloaded
during the session with the RETR command".
It is important not to
delete messages in the event of abnormal
connection termination
(ie, if no QUIT was received from the client)
because the client
may not have successfully received or stored the
messages.
Servers implementing a download-and-delete policy
may also wish to
disable or limit the optional TOP command, since
it could be used
as an alternate mechanism to download entire
messages.
9. 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
RSET
QUIT
Optional POP3 Commands:
APOP name digest
valid in the AUTHORIZATION state
TOP msg n
valid in the TRANSACTION state
UIDL [msg]
POP3 Replies:
+OK
-ERR
Note that with the exception of the STAT, LIST,
and UIDL commands,
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.
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10. 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>
11. 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 octet 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 server
can calculate the size of each message in octets when it opens the
maildrop. 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 (and must not) be counted twice, since the POP3 client will
remove all byte-stuffed termination characters when it receives a
multi-line response.
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12. References
[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", RFC 1321,
MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, April
1992.
[RFC1730] Crispin, M., "Internet Message Access Protocol - Version
4", RFC 1730, University of Washington,
December 1994.
[RFC1734] Myers, J., "POP3 AUTHentication command", RFC 1734,
Carnegie Mellon, December 1994.
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 should not allow both methods of access for a given user;
that is, for a given mailbox name, either the USER/PASS command
sequence or the APOP command is allowed, but not both.
Further, note that as the length of the shared secret increases, so
does the difficulty of deriving it.
Servers that answer -ERR to the USER command are giving potential
attackers clues about which names are valid.
Use of the PASS command sends passwords in the clear over the
network.
Use of the RETR and TOP commands sends mail in the clear over the
network.
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 RFC 1460, 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.
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15. Authors' Addresses
John G. Myers
Carnegie-Mellon University
5000 Forbes Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
EMail: jgm+@cmu.edu
Marshall T. Rose
Dover Beach Consulting, Inc.
420 Whisman Court
Mountain View, CA 94043-2186
EMail: mrose@dbc.mtview.ca.us
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Appendix A. Differences from RFC 1725
This memo is a revision to RFC 1725, a Draft Standard. It
makes the
following changes from that document:
- clarifies that command keywords are case
insensitive.
- specifies that servers must send "+OK" and
"-ERR" in
upper case.
- specifies that the initial greeting is a
positive response,
instead of any string which should be
a positive response.
- clarifies behavior for unimplemented commands.
- makes the USER and PASS commands optional.
- clarified the set of possible responses to the
USER command.
- reverses the order of the examples in the USER
and PASS
commands, to reduce confusion.
- clarifies that the PASS command may only be
given immediately
after a successful USER command.
- clarified the persistence requirements of UIDs
and added some
implementation notes.
- specifies a UID length limitation of one to 70
octets.
- specifies a status indicator length limitation
of 512 octets, including the CRLF.
- clarifies that LIST with no arguments on an
empty mailbox
returns success.
- adds a reference from the LIST command to the
Message Format
section
- clarifies the behavior of QUIT upon failure
- clarifies the security section to not imply the
use of the
USER command with the APOP command.
- adds references to RFCs 1730 and 1734
- clarifies the method by which a UA may enter
mail into the
transport system.
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- clarifies that the second argument to the TOP
command is a
number of lines.
- changes the suggestion in the Security
Considerations section
for a server to not accept both PASS
and APOP for a given user
from a "must" to a "should".
- adds a section on scaling and operational
considerations
Appendix B. Command Index
APOP
....................................................... 15
DELE
....................................................... 8
LIST
....................................................... 6
NOOP
....................................................... 9
PASS
....................................................... 14
QUIT
....................................................... 5
QUIT
....................................................... 10
RETR
....................................................... 8
RSET
....................................................... 9
STAT
....................................................... 6
TOP
........................................................ 11
UIDL
....................................................... 12
USER
....................................................... 13
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a server to not accept both PASS and APOP for a given user
from a "must" to a "should".
- adds a section on scaling and operational
considerations
Appendix B. Command Index
APOP
....................................................... 15
DELE
....................................................... 8
LIST
....................................................... 6
NOOP
....................................................... 9
PASS
....................................................... 14
QUIT
....................................................... 5
QUIT
....................................................... 10
RETR
....................................................... 8
RSET
....................................................... 9
STAT
....................................................... 6
TOP
........................................................ 11
UIDL
....................................................... 12
USER
....................................................... 13
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