Problem with SMTP authentication in PHP using PHPMailer, with Pear Mail works

Question

I´m having trouble sending a e-mail with the PHPMailer class, but it works with PEAR Mail::factory.

I guess the problem is with the SMTP authentication, but I couldn´t find the problem.

The code with problem is:

<?php
require("class.phpmailer.php");

$mail = new PHPMailer();

$mail->IsSMTP();       // set mailer to use SMTP
$mail->Host = 'mail.xxx.com.br';  // my host here
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;     // turn on SMTP authentication
$mail->Username = 'xxx@xxx.com.br';  // a valid email here
$mail->Password = '***';  // the password from email
$mail->From = 'from@xxx.com.br';
$mail->SMTPDebug = true;
$mail->AddReplyTo('from@xxx.com.br', 'Test');

$mail->FromName = 'Test SMTP';
$mail->AddAddress('teste@xxx.com.br', 'teste@xxx.com.br');

$mail->Subject = 'Test SMTP';
$mail->IsHTML(true);
$mail->Body = '<b>Teste</b><br><h1>teste 2</h1>';   
//$mail->Send();

if(!$mail->Send())
{
   echo "Message could not be sent. <p>";
   echo "Mailer Error: " . $mail->ErrorInfo;
   exit;
}

?>

The code with PEAR that works is:

<?php
include('Mail.php');
include('Mail/mime.php');

$text = 'Versao em texto';
$html = '<html><body>Versao de email em <b>HTML</b></body></html>';
$crlf = "\n";
$hdrs = array(
              'From'    => 'from@xxx.com.br',
              'Subject' => 'Test  - mail.php'
              );

$mime = new Mail_mime($crlf);

$mime->setTXTBody($text);
$mime->setHTMLBody($html);

$body = $mime->get();
$hdrs = $mime->headers($hdrs);

$mail = Mail::factory('smtp',
  array ('host' => 'mail.xxx.com.br',
    'debug'=> true,
    'auth' => true,
    'username' => 'xxx@xxx.com.br',
    'password' => '***'));

$mail->send('teste@xxx.com.br', $hdrs, $body);
?>

When I run the code with problem with debug activated (SMTPDebug = True) I got:

SMTP -> FROM SERVER:

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data was ""

SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "220-orion.bommtempo.net.br ESMTP Exim 4.69 #1 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:00:48 -0300 

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "220-orion.bommtempo.net.br ESMTP Exim 4.69 #1 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:00:48 -0300 

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data was "220-orion.bommtempo.net.br ESMTP Exim 4.69 #1 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:00:48 -0300 

"
SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "220-We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited, 
"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "220-orion.bommtempo.net.br ESMTP Exim 4.69 #1 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:00:48 -0300 

220-We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited, 

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data was "220-orion.bommtempo.net.br ESMTP Exim 4.69 #1 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:00:48 -0300 

220-We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited, 

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "220 and/or bulk e-mail.

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "220-orion.bommtempo.net.br ESMTP Exim 4.69 #1 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:00:48 -0300 

220-We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited, 

220 and/or bulk e-mail.

"

SMTP -> FROM SERVER: 

220-orion.bommtempo.net.br ESMTP Exim 4.69 #1 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:00:48 -0300 

220-We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited, 

220 and/or bulk e-mail.

SMTP -> ERROR: EHLO not accepted from server: 220-orion.bommtempo.net.br ESMTP Exim 4.69 #1 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:00:48 -0300 

220-We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited, 

220 and/or bulk e-mail.


SMTP -> get_lines(): $data was ""

SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data was "250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-SIZE 20971520

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]
250-SIZE 20971520

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data was "250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]
250-SIZE 20971520

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-PIPELINING

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]

250-SIZE 20971520

250-PIPELINING

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data was "250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]

250-SIZE 20971520

250-PIPELINING

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]

250-SIZE 20971520

250-PIPELINING

250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data was "250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]

250-SIZE 20971520

250-PIPELINING

250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250-STARTTLS

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]

250-SIZE 20971520

250-PIPELINING

250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

250-STARTTLS

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data was "250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]

250-SIZE 20971520

250-PIPELINING

250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

250-STARTTLS

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250 HELP

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]

250-SIZE 20971520

250-PIPELINING

250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

250-STARTTLS

250 HELP

"

SMTP -> FROM SERVER: 

250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]

250-SIZE 20971520

250-PIPELINING

250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

250-STARTTLS

250 HELP

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data was ""

SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "250 orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "250 orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]

"

SMTP -> ERROR: AUTH not accepted from server: 250 orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]


SMTP -> get_lines(): $data was ""

SMTP -> get_lines(): $str is "503 AUTH command used when not advertised

"

SMTP -> get_lines(): $data is "503 AUTH command used when not advertised

"

SMTP -> FROM SERVER:

503 AUTH command used when not advertised

SMTP -> ERROR: RSET failed: 503 AUTH command used when not advertised


Message could not be sent. <p>Mailer Error: SMTP Error: Could not connect to SMTP host.

And the debug result of the PEAR Mail code is:

DEBUG: Recv: 220-orion.bommtempo.net.br ESMTP Exim 4.69 #1 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:37:10 -0300 

DEBUG: Recv: 220-We do not authorize the use of this system to transport unsolicited, 

DEBUG: Recv: 220 and/or bulk e-mail.

DEBUG: Send: EHLO localhost


DEBUG: Recv: 250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello localhost [200.155.129.6]

DEBUG: Recv: 250-SIZE 20971520

DEBUG: Recv: 250-PIPELINING

DEBUG: Recv: 250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

DEBUG: Recv: 250-STARTTLS

DEBUG: Recv: 250 HELP

DEBUG: Send: STARTTLS


DEBUG: Recv: 220 TLS go ahead

DEBUG: Send: EHLO localhost


DEBUG: Recv: 250-orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello localhost [200.155.129.6]

DEBUG: Recv: 250-SIZE 20971520

DEBUG: Recv: 250-PIPELINING

DEBUG: Recv: 250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

DEBUG: Recv: 250 HELP

DEBUG: Send: AUTH LOGIN


DEBUG: Recv: 334 VXNlcm5hbWU6

DEBUG: Send: c2lzdGVtYWFkbWluQGJvbW10ZW1wby5jb20uYnI=


DEBUG: Recv: 334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6

DEBUG: Send: RVkyYVM4YnpMNU5k


DEBUG: Recv: 235 Authentication succeeded

DEBUG: Send: MAIL FROM:


DEBUG: Recv: 250 OK

DEBUG: Send: RCPT TO:


DEBUG: Recv: 250 Accepted

DEBUG: Send: DATA


DEBUG: Recv: 354 Enter message, ending with "." on a line by itself

DEBUG: Send: MIME-Version: 1.0

From: sistemaadmin@bommtempo.com.br

Subject: Teste de mail - mail.php

Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
    boundary="=_b3c5407ccf494306d78fbb35800efe65"


--=_b3c5407ccf494306d78fbb35800efe65

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"


Versao em texto

--=_b3c5407ccf494306d78fbb35800efe65

Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Content-Type: text/html; charset="ISO-8859-1"


Versao de email em HTML--=_b3c5407ccf494306d78fbb35800efe65--

.

DEBUG: Recv: 250 OK id=1MYSd4-0005Ky-Jw

DEBUG: Send: QUIT

score 45 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 13 '12 at 16:16

45

strange issue that i solved by comment this line

//$mail->IsSmtp();

whit the last phpmailer version (5.2)

answered Sep 13 '12 at 16:16

maurox

1,134
1
15
32

3

commenting the line generates the output as if the email were sent but actually no such email is sent. – Istiaque Ahmed Nov 03 '13 at 13:32
not for me...i know it's strange, but this code is in my production environment and all emails are sent...(but my phpmailer is 1 year old) – maurox Nov 04 '13 at 14:07
1

This happens when comment that line: Could not instantiate mail function. Mailer Error: Could not instantiate mail function. – a77icu5 Dec 18 '13 at 19:49
2

When commenting out the line `$mail->IsSmtp();` the mail will not be sent using SMTP. – Macke Mar 21 '14 at 04:06
1

it use localhost instead SMTP maybe ? – Mike Castro Demaria Jan 05 '15 at 21:13
Yes indeed, quite strange. Another person was pleased by this answer! – Wesley Brian Lachenal Nov 15 '16 at 09:31
As of 14th March 2020 this thing worked for me, I was getting the exact same error and now it works. I tried sending it to a Gmail address from my GoDaddy hosting email and it worked perfectly. Can someone explain why? – YaddyVirus Mar 14 '20 at 10:39
It worked for me too. Is there any disadvantage of doing this? Why does this work? – David Kariuki Dec 05 '20 at 01:32

Carlos Lima · Answer 2 · 2009-11-09T03:43:07.830

18

Try adding this:

$mail->SMTPAuth   = true;
$mail->SMTPSecure = "tls";

By looking at your debug logs, you can notice that the failing PhpMailer log shows this:

(..snip..)
SMTP -> ERROR: AUTH not accepted from server: 250 orion.bommtempo.net.br Hello admin-teste.bommtempo.com.br [200.155.129.6]
(..snip..)
503 AUTH command used when not advertised
(..snip..)

While your successful PEAR log shows this:

DEBUG: Send: STARTTLS
DEBUG: Recv: 220 TLS go ahead

My guess is that explicitly asking PHPMailer to use TLS will put it on the right track.
Also, make sure you're using the latest versin of PHPMailer.

edited Nov 09 '09 at 03:43

answered Nov 09 '09 at 03:26

Carlos Lima

4,012
27
31

1

this answer solved my problem. My hosting company told me not to put SSL, but then I suppose TLS was required and they forgot to tell me :p – Sebas May 07 '14 at 14:01

Dushan Savich · Answer 3 · 2016-08-28T22:46:58.737

This happened to me as well. For me, Postfix was located at the same server as the PHP script, and the error was happening when I would be using SMTP authentication and smtp.domain.com instead of localhost.

So when I commented out these lines:

~~$mail->SMTPAuth = true;~~
~~$mail->SMTPSecure = "tls";~~

and set the host to

$mail->Host = "localhost";

instead

~~$mail->Host = 'smtp.mydomainiuse.com'~~

and it worked :)

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 19 '13 at 08:43

2

Check if you have set restrict outgoing SMTP to only some system users (root, MTA, mailman...). That restriction may prevent the spammers, but will redirect outgoing SMTP connections to the local mail server.

answered Apr 19 '13 at 08:43

Pedro Correia Sardinha

21
1

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 05 '09 at 14:17

0

that the OpenSSL extension enabled and the directory languages with "br"? first checks the data.

answered Aug 05 '09 at 14:17

andres descalzo

14,451
12
60
105

In the phpinfo() I have: ... OpenSSL support enabled OpenSSL Version OpenSSL 0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 01 Jul 2008 What drive me nuts it´s that with PEAR it works. – Evandro Aug 05 '09 at 14:29

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 28 '09 at 16:47

0

Exim 4 requires that AUTH command only be sent after the client issued EHLO - attempts to authenticate without EHLO would be rejected. Some mailservers require that EHLO be issued twice. PHPMailer apparently fails to do so. If PHPMailer does not allow you to force EHLO initiation, you really should switch to SwiftMailer 4.

answered Dec 28 '09 at 16:47

mst

247
1
5

Just for the record, PHPMailer does the right thing automatically and resends EHLO after STARTTLS. – Synchro Jul 04 '14 at 15:49

score -1 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 27 '20 at 01:31

-1

This isn't on the code parter it's on the server side Contact your Server Manager or fix it from server if you own it If you use CPANEL/WHM GO TO WHM/SMTP RESTRICTIONS AND DISABLE IT

answered Nov 27 '20 at 01:31

Soufiane Ilmi

1

Problem with SMTP authentication in PHP using PHPMailer, with Pear Mail works

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