SpamAssassin: SPF_HELO_SOFTFAIL

[bond007]

Hello everyone,

I’m using MiaB v56, and configured multiple domains to send and receive e-mails. That works well.
However, I’m getting a 9.3/10 score on mail-tester.com. The only issue reported is the so called SPF_HELO_SOFTFAIL item in the SpamAssassin group:

On the server, I checked: /etc/postfix/main.cf | grep helo and postconf -n | grep helo. Which resulted in:
smtp_helo_name = $myhostname

How can I improve this HELO softfail issue?
The domain I’m sending from isn’t the domain that is hosting the MiaB instance. I have configured SPF, DKIM and DMARC for all of these external domains I’m using, they all report the same issue.

Thanks in advance!

[openletter]

Does MiaB show report any errors on the Status Checks page?

[bond007]

No, not related to this issue. Only some DNS settings (because the main A/AAAA records do not point to the MiaB server, because it not serves any webpages) and ‘MTA-STS policy is missing: STSFetchResult.NONE’

[openletter]

Is your SPF txt record the default v=spf1 mx -all?

[bond007]

No, it’s: "v=spf1 mx ~all"

[openletter]

If you run the command hostname does the output match the mx record for the domain, or at least resolve to the IP address of the mx record? (I forget exactly how SPF checks verify against HELO/EHLO.)

[bond007]

Yes is does.
The MX-record for the main domain (without the mail. subdomain) equals the output of the command hostname.

[openletter]

I’m not sure what the issue is. If you send a message to Google, do they report this error in the message headers? It would be helpful if mail-tester explained why they believe the test is failing.

I just did the test and passed all of the checks.