Customizing or resetting the X-header text

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You can customize or reset the X-header text by using the Email Security - Server appliance Web UI or CLI:

For details about the default X-headers and the associated verdicts, see About the X-header.

Note

When changing the X-header, be aware of these results:

  • If the X-header is modified after the email is processed with the default X-Header on the Email Security - Server appliance, the email does not contain the new X-header and the verdict when it is released from the quarantine.

  • The X-header feature marks the email headers that are present at the time the email reaches the Email Security - Server appliance. If the X-header title and the header text string are frequently modified, the quarantined emails will show different X-headers for the same verdict depending on the X-header configuration at the time the email reaches the appliance.

  • If a block notice that has the default X-header text string is sent to the Email Security - Server appliance after modifying the X-header (for example, X-Trellix to X-MyCompany), the current X-header text string is also added to the email header and the default X-header text is not changed.

Important

When the Central Management System appliance is used to manage your Email Security - Server appliance, use backslashes (\) to escape double quotation marks if the header text string contains spaces, as shown in the following configuration command examples:

  • cmc execute appliance <appliance_name> command "email-analysis policy xheader mal-att\"This email contains a malicious attachment\""

  • cmc execute group <group_name> command "email-analysis policy xheader mal-att\"This email contains a malicious attachment\""

After you change the X-header, use the email-analysis mta smtp start command in CLI configuration mode to restart the SMTP interface.

Important

Do not change the X-header while the appliance is processing email traffic.

Usage Guidelines

Follow these usage guidelines when you customize the name of the header title and the content of the header message:

  • The name of the custom header title must contain at least three characters and begin with the uppercase character X-.

  • The name of the custom X-header title can contain up to 32 characters. Do not include spaces in the X-header title.

  • The content of the custom X-header message can contain up to 128 characters.

  • Custom X-header text can include letters (a–z, A–Z), numbers, dashes (-), slashes (/), underscores (_), spaces, and commas (,). When specifying an X-header text string that contains spaces, enclose the string in double quotation marks.

  • The custom X-header text string cannot contain a period (.).

Prerequisites