Exim allows you to apply access control lists at various points of the SMTP transaction by specifying an ACL to use and defining its conditions in exim.conf.

You could start with the HELO string.

# Specify the ACL to use after HELO
acl_smtp_helo = check_helo

# Conditions for the check_helo ACL:
check_helo:

    deny message = Gave HELO/EHLO as "friend"
    log_message = HELO/EHLO friend
    condition = ${if eq {$sender_helo_name}{friend} {yes}{no}}

    deny message = Gave HELO/EHLO as our IP address
    log_message = HELO/EHLO our IP address
    condition = ${if eq {$sender_helo_name}{$interface_address} {yes}{no}}

    accept

Often spammers send for the HELO argument the name or the IP of your host. Here my own domain is “sharewiz.net” and my own IP is 5.42.134.35.

acl_check_helo:
    accept  
            hosts = +own_hosts

    # If the HELO pretend to be this host
    deny    condition = ${if or { \
              {eq {${lc:$sender_helo_name}}{sharewiz.net}} \
              {eq {${lc:$sender_helo_name}}{5.42.134.35}} \
            } {true}{false} }

    # by default we accept
    accept

Allow connections from our own hosts and a white-list (Some hosts from big internet providers) with no more check. We refuse connections with some hosts.

acl_check_host:
    accept  
            hosts = +own_hosts : /etc/exim4/filters/host_white.list

    deny
            log_message = match host_reject.list
            hosts = /etc/exim4/filters/host_reject.list

    accept

Hosts listed by the dns list sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org are spammers or relays for spams. Often if you refuse the connection for one of these hosts then a new try is done by another relay some seconds later. A better solution is to do the rejection when the RCPT is received. Then the spammer does not try again.

acl_check_rcpt:
 . . . 
    drop
            log_message = match sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org
            dnslists = sbl-xbl.spamhaus.org

To refuse some senders.

acl_check_sender:
    deny    senders = /etc/exim4/filters/sender_reject.list
    accept

You can perform a check on the sender address or remote host. This shows how to do that after the RCPT TO command; if you reject here, as opposed to rejecting after the MAIL FROM, you'll have better data to log, such as who the message was intended for.

# Specify the ACL to use after RCPT TO
acl_smtp_rcpt = check_recipient

# Conditions for the check_recipient ACL
check_recipient:

    # [...]

    drop hosts = /etc/exim_reject_hosts
    drop senders = /etc/exim_reject_senders

    # [ Probably a whole lot more... ]

This example uses two plain text files as blacklists. Add appropriate entries to these files - hostnames/IP addresses to /etc/exim_reject_hosts, addresses to /etc/exim_reject_senders, one entry per line.

(From /usr/share/doc/exim4-doc-html/html/C043.txt.gz):

Deny if the local part contains @ or % or / or | or !. These are rarely found in genuine local parts, but are often tried by people looking to circumvent relaying restrictions.

Also deny if the local part starts with a dot. Empty components aren't strictly legal in RFC 2822, but Exim allows them because this is common. However, actually starting with a dot may cause trouble if the local part is used as a file name (e.g. for a mailing list).

acl_check_rcpt:
 . . . 
    # refuse if the recipient string is a hack, 
    # see exim file example C043.txt.gz
    deny    
            local_parts = ^.*[@%!/|] : ^\\.

I refuse to relay spams:

acl_check_rcpt:
 . . . 
    # For the rest, the domain of the recipient address
    # must be my public domain. (no relay) 
    require
            log_message = no relay.
            domains     = +public_domains

The idea is to send an automatic reply, using “mail” command in a filter, to inform that an email is blocked and that the user must use an other email address. This can be used to change a user email which receive to much spam or to protect a public email address.

In a filter:

### reply for someone@msharewiz.net
if $original_local_part is "someone" then
    seen mail from drop@sharewiz.net subject "Re: $h_subject" file .someone_reponse.txt
    finish
endif

You can publish a sacrified email address in a web page to trap spammers (some spammers crawl other web pages to get emails). When this email address matches then an error is returned and all the message reception is dropped. There are changes that the spammer software will not retry with this recipient removed.

When you write to a suspicious company wich could send you spam or when you write in a newsgroup, you can use a special email, with date (like echant-td-n040531@sharewiz.net) or with an included identifier (like echant-tr-lemonde@sharewiz.net). Then if you receive spam for this email you can put it in the drop list (in this example: /etc/exim4/filters/recipients_drop.list).

acl_check_rcpt:
 . . . 
    drop
            log_message   = match recipients_drop.list.
            recipients = /etc/exim4/filters/recipients_drop.list

I use this script in cron.daily/ to update my emails with a date incorporated. The letter before the date is used to trace the origin (web, news, email).

/etc/cron.daily/email-date-sharewiz

#!/bin/bash
#
# Update my email to include todays date.
set -e
T=$(tempfile)
D=$(date '+%y%m%d')
 
function mod_file {
  EMAIL="$1"
  LETTRE="$2"
  CONF="$3"
  if [ -f "$CONF" -a -r "$CONF" ]; then
      lockfile-create "$CONF"
      sed "s/${EMAIL}-td-${LETTRE}[0-9]\{6\}@sharewiz.net/${EMAIL}-td-${LETTRE}${D}@sharewiz.net/g" <"$CONF" >"$T"
      cp "$T" "$CONF"
      lockfile-remove "$CONF"
  fi
}
 
# The first line will replace echant-td-n040625@sharewiz.net 
# with echant-td-n040626@sharewiz.net
mod_file echant n /home/john/.kde/share/config/knoderc
mod_file echant e /home/john/.sylpheed/accountrc
mod_file echant e /home/john/.initvar
# For apache we should reload but it is done by
# logrotate from time to time.
mod_file echant w /etc/apache-extern/httpd.conf
 
rm $T

It is also possible to perform content scanning using a regex against the body of a message, though obviously this can cause Exim to use more CPU than it otherwise would need to, especially on large messages.

# Specify the ACL to use after DATA
acl_smtp_data = check_message

# Conditions for the check_messages ACL
check_message:

    deny message = "Sorry, Charlie: $regex_match_string"
    regex = ^Subject:: .*Lower your self-esteem by becoming a sysadmin

    accept

Greylisting use the fact that most of the time spammers softwares do not take account tempory errors to retry later. It's very effective. You can use a daemon like greylistd.

When exim send a “temporary error”:

• Not if the host is in a white list of “good” hosts.
• Not if there is no sender: it is a bounce message.
• Not if the HELO argument is well configured and the host name seams owned by the sender.
• if the greylist daemon want to.

The two lines with set acl_m9 are used to send the request to the daemon and get the result. The “/24” is here because some big MTA can be spread over multiple hosts.

######################################################################
#                    MAIN CONFIGURATION SETTINGS                     #
######################################################################
# Mandatory to use  "verify = helo"
helo_try_verify_hosts = !+own_hosts
 . . . 
######################################################################
#                          ACL CONFIGURATION                         #
######################################################################
# ACL "subroutine" used by acl_check_rcpt below. Used to detect 
# hosts which have not their own registered domain-name (probably spammer).
# Return ok if the HELO argument correspond to the connected HOST and 
# if the argument does not contain an IP in decimal or hexa.
# I have created this ACL subroutine because we can't do a list of "or" 
# in ACL (it's a list of "and"), so I use a negation of "and": 
# no (no A and no B) = A or B.
acl_clean_helo:
    accept
            verify     = helo
            condition  = ${if match{$sender_helo_name}{\N(\d{1,3}[.-]\d{1,3}[.-]\d{1,3}[.-]\d{1,3})|([0-9a-f]{8})|([0-9A-F]{8})\N}{false}{true}}


acl_check_rcpt:
 . . . 

     # Greylisting, if the HELO argument seems bad or 
     # a dialin name (with IP included in the name). Some hosts from big
     # providers are in a white list to avoid testing. When there is no
     # sender then it is a bounce message, so no greylist.
     defer
            message = Please try later.
            !hosts      = /etc/exim4/filters/host_white.list
            !senders    = :
            !acl        = acl_clean_helo
            log_message = greylisted.
            set acl_m9  = ${mask:$sender_host_address/24} $sender_address $local_part@$domain
            set acl_m9  = ${readsocket{/var/run/greylistd/socket}{$acl_m9}{5s}{}{}}
            condition   = ${if eq {$acl_m9}{grey}{true}{false}}

It's a very basic anti-virus: every emails with a windows executable as attachment is rejected.

acl_check_data:
 . . . 
    deny    message = This message contains an attachment of a type which we do not accept (.$found_extension) 
            demime = bat:btm:cmd:com:cpl:dll:exe:lnk:msi:pif:prf:reg:scr:vbs:url

######################################################################
#                    MAIN CONFIGURATION SETTINGS                     #
######################################################################
av_scanner = clamd:/var/run/clamd.ctl
 . . . 
######################################################################
#                          ACL CONFIGURATION                         #
######################################################################
acl_check_data:
 . . . 
    deny    message = This message contains a virus or other harmful content ($malware_name)
            demime = * 
            malware = *

anti-spam external detector: spamassassin

We add a “X-SA-Score:” in the header of all emails, a “X-SA-Report:” for all email with spam score >0, we consider it a spam if score >5 (adding “X-SA-Status: Yes” and we don't accept the email if score >7.

Because of the “accept” we must put this acl block at the end of the acl_check_data.

######################################################################
#                    MAIN CONFIGURATION SETTINGS                     #
######################################################################
spamd_address = 127.0.0.1 783
 . . . 
######################################################################
#                          ACL CONFIGURATION                         #
######################################################################
acl_check_data:
 . . . 
    ## spamassassin, spams are never big and spamassassin can die on big emails, so we
    ## limit its use under 500k.
    accept  condition = ${if >={$message_size}{500k}{yes}{no}}
    warn    message = X-SA-Score: $spam_score 
            spam = nobody:true 
    warn    message = X-SA-Report: $spam_report 
            spam = nobody:true
            condition = ${if >{$spam_score_int}{0}{true}{false}}
    warn    message = X-SA-Status: Yes 
            spam = nobody:true
            condition = ${if >{$spam_score_int}{50}{true}{false}}
    deny    message = This message scored $spam_score spam points. 
            spam = nobody:true 
            condition = ${if >{$spam_score_int}{70}{true}{false}}

In your “~/.forward” you can redirect spams (5< score ≤7) in a special inbox:

~/.forward

#   Exim filter   <<== do not edit or remove this line!
if $h_X-SA-Status: matches "^Yes" then
     save $home/.Mailboxes/incoming/spam
     finish
endif

If you have an email published in a whois database (spammers scan these databases) but want emails just from your registrar, you can add this in your “~/.forward” filter:

~/.forward

#   Exim filter   <<== do not edit or remove this line!
if $original_local_part is "sharewiz-tr-myregistrar"
  then
  if $sender_address_domain is "myregistrar.net" then
    deliver john
  else
    save $home/.Mailboxes/incoming/spam
    finish
  endif
endif