XADM: Empty Notification-Requests Bitstring Causes Conversion Error and NDR

The Microsoft Exchange Server message transfer agent (MTA) fails to handle a legal encoding of the P2 field notification-requests. The content conversion process from P2 to MDBEF fails and a non-delivery report (NDR) is generated.

The following event IDs may be seen:

   message NMI0210: X.400 Service Event, severity 14

             (MTA DISP:FANOUT(15) Proc 112) 10-30-96 02:04:35pm
             Content conversion failed
               Object at fault  06000046
               Conversion error 26
               MTS Identifier   C=AT;A=ADA;L=1905031430101996/A33827/ADA1
               Old content type 56010A00
               New content type 2A864886F7140501

   message NMI0062: X.400 Service Event, severity 12

             (MTA DISP:FANOUT(15) Proc 112) 10-30-96 02:04:35pm
             Delivery failure
               X.400 reason code     unable-to-transfer
               X.400 diagnostic code content-type-not-supported
               Internal qualifier    0
               MTS Identifier C=AT;A=ADA;L=1905031430101996/A33827/ADA1

   message NMI0290: X.400 Service Event, severity 12

             (MTA DISP:RESULT(20) Proc 136) 10-30-96 02:04:36pm
             Generating Non-Delivery report
               Reason code        unable-to-transfer
               Diagnostic code    content-type-not-supported
               Recipient Number   1
               Original recipient C=AT;A=ADA;P=282;S=POSTMASTER;
               Reassigned to      DN:/o=rac/ou=mbm-
   1/cn=Recipients/cn=p�C=AT;A=ADA;P=282;S=POSTMASTER;
               Original MTS identifier
   C=AT;A=ADA;L=1905031430101996/A33827/ADA1
				

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server version 4.0.

A supported fix is now available, but has not been fully regression- tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. Unless you are severely impacted by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Service Pack that contains this fix. Contact Microsoft Technical Support for more information.

The MTA mishandles the element, as marked below in the following example of the P2 data:

       A080     : 0ipdu : IPM
        3180     : 0ihed : IPMessageHeading
         6B80     : 0ipid : IPMIdentifier
          1329     : 0urid : LocalIPMIdentifier
   ="1905031430101996/A33827/ADA1/11AAF3830100"
         0000

         A080     : 0orig : Originator
          6080     : dornm : ORName
           3080     : dsatt : StandardAttributeList
            6180     : dctry : CountryName
             1302     : dcacd : CountryNameISO3166Alpha2      ="AT"
            0000

            6280     : dadmd : AdministrationName
             1303     : dadmp : AdminNamePrintable            ="ADA"

            0000
            8303     : dorgn : OrganisationName              ="RAC"

            A580     : dpers : PersonalName
             8008     : dsurn : SurName                       ="OPER_GEN"

            0000
           0000
          0000
         0000
         A280     : 0prir : PrimaryRecipients
          3180     : 0rcip : Primary Recipient
           A080     : 0ords : ORDescriptor
            6080     : dornm : ORName
             3080     : dsatt : StandardAttributeList
              6180     : dctry : CountryName
               1302     : dcacd : CountryNameISO3166Alpha2      ="AT"
              0000

              6280     : dadmd : AdministrationName
               1303     : dadmp : AdminNamePrintable            ="ADA"

              0000
              A280     : dprmd : PrivateDomainName
               1203     : dprmn : PrivateDomNameNumeric         ="0x323832"

              0000
              A580     : dpers : PersonalName
               800A     : dsurn : SurName
   ="POSTMASTER"

              0000
             0000
            0000
           0000
           8101     : 0repr : ReportRequest              <<<<<Bitstring -
   length 1 indicates zero bits in Bitstring
          0000

         0000
         A880     : 0subj : Subject
          1416     : Ctexs : TeletexString
   ="0x5834303020546573742075656265722054616E64656D"

         0000
         8C01     : 0impt : Importance                 Normal
         8E01     : 0afwd : Autoforwarded              TRUE
        0000

        3080     : 0ibdy : IPMessageBody
         A080     : 0bdyp : BodyPart                        : 0ia5t :
   IA5Tex
          3180     : 0ia5p : Ia5TextParam
           8001     : 0rept : Repertoire                 ia
          000

          1614     : Cia5s : IA5String                     ="Das ist ein
   Test

   "

         0000
        0000
          0000