SPF record ends with +all — why this is worse than no SPF at all
The terminal all mechanism decides what happens to senders not matched by anything earlier in the record. +all means "pass" — an explicit statement that every host on the internet is authorized to send mail using your domain.
This is not a weak configuration, it is an anti-configuration: it hands spammers a valid SPF pass. It is nearly always the result of copying an example or misreading the qualifier syntax.
Change it immediately. There is no legitimate use of +all on a domain that sends mail.
How to fix it
- 1Replace the trailing +all with ~all (softfail) as an immediate stopgap.
- 2Confirm every legitimate sender is listed in the record.
- 3Tighten to -all (hardfail) once you have verified nothing legitimate is missing.
Check whether your domain has this problem
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Related guides
- DKIM record with empty p= — a revoked key still in use
- SPF include points at a domain with no SPF record — a silent PermError
- DMARC record syntax errors that make receivers skip your policy
- DMARC external destination not authorized — why you receive no reports
- Two DMARC records at _dmarc — why your policy is being ignored