Changes since v1.0.6

libESMTP v1.1.0 is an interim release, pending some roadmap items currently in development. While libESMTP 1.0.6 has been stable for some time, bit-rot inevitably occurs as the state-of-the-art and system conventions change over time and therefore libESMTP must be updated. It is hoped that these updates will provide a more modern base for future development and improve the quality of the associated documentation.

CVE-2019-19977 is fixed.

A linker map is now used to ensure only libESMTP’s API symbols are made publicly available. This should prevent the possibility that a libESMTP internal symbol collides with an application or other library. Existing interfaces and semantics are unchanged; existing applications should link correctly with the new libESMTP binary, however applications which rely on internal symbols will no longer link.

libESMTP is updated to use the current OpenSSL API. Therefore OpenSSL v1.1.0 or later is now required.

The GNU autotools build has been completely removed and replaced by Meson. Meson builds are easy to maintain and Meson is particularly effective when used in conjunction with Ninja offering dramatically reduced build times.

Open Desktop XDG conventions are now used when searching for files. Currently this affects the name and location of X.509 certificate files. This change should be transparent to applications, however users may need to relocate client certificates. A configuration option allows the legacy layout to be selected at build time.

API documentation is migrated to kernel-doc style comments in source files and Markdown files for non-API sections. Because of this many of the changes to source files look more drastic than they actually are, an impression somewhat amplified by corrections or updates to RFC numbers to match current standards.

The MTA’s canonic hostname is used to check certificate validity, this may differ from the specified hostname if it references a CNAME record in the DNS. The new ‘smtp_get_server_name()’ API may be used to retrieve this.

The ‘application data’ interface has been improved. The updated API accepts a ‘release’ callback argument which libESMTP will call when necessary. This relieves the application from releasing allocated resources and should eliminate one class of potential memory leaks.

The ‘getaddrinfo()’ replacement implementation has been removed since that interface is ubiquitous in modern C and resolver libraries and since the replacement was never a complete implementation.

Summary

  • CVE-2019-19977: avoid potential stack overflow in NTLM authenticator.

  • Migrate build system to Meson

  • Remove GNU libltdl support, assume dlopen() always available.

  • Use a linker map to restrict public symbols to API only.

  • Add sentinel and ‘format printf’ attributes to function declarations.

  • Remove getaddrinfo() implementation.

  • Use strlcpy() for safer string copies, provide implementation for systems that need it.

  • Update ‘application data’ APIs

  • Add ‘smtp_get_server_name()’ API.

  • Collect replacement functions into missing.c

  • Prohibit Resent-Reply-To: header.

  • Use canonic domain name of MTA where known (e.g. due to CNAME record in DNS).

  • Implement rfc2822date() with strftime() if available.

  • add option for XDG file layout convention instead of ~/.authenticate

  • OpenSSL

    • Remove support for OpenSSL versions before v1.1.0

    • Update OpenSSL API calls used for modern versions

    • Require TLS v1 or higher