Detections
Analytics

EX16-MB-000210 - Exchange Internet-facing Send connectors must specify a Smart Host.

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This audit has been deprecated and will be removed in a future update.

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Information

When identifying a 'Smart Host' for the email environment, a logical Send connector is the preferred method.

A Smart Host acts as an Internet-facing concentrator for other email servers. Appropriate hardening can be applied to the Smart Host, rather than at multiple locations throughout the enterprise.

Failure to identify a Smart Host could default to each email server performing its own lookups (potentially through protective firewalls). Exchange servers should not be Internet facing and should therefore not perform any Smart Host functions. When the Exchange servers are Internet facing, they must be configured to identify the Internet-facing server that is performing the Smart Host function.

Solution

Open the Exchange Management Shell and enter the following command:

Set-SendConnector -Identity <'IdentityName'> -SmartHosts <'IP Address of Smart Host'> -DNSRoutingEnabled $false

Note: The <IdentityName> and <IP Address of Smart Host> values must be in single quotes.

Repeat the procedure for each Send connector.

See Also

https://dl.dod.cyber.mil/wp-content/uploads/stigs/zip/U_MS_Exchange_2016_Y22M07_STIG.zip

Item Details

References: CAT|II, CCI|CCI-001178, Rule-ID|SV-228374r612748_rule, STIG-ID|EX16-MB-000210, STIG-Legacy|SV-95373, STIG-Legacy|V-80663, Vuln-ID|V-228374

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: 30e0e49140b5a2dc16d2bff4dfff3c5de20b0fdd1cc550501dddb1cb3f9071a1