9. Formal Syntax

RFC 3501 IMAPv4 March 2003

8. Sample IMAP4rev1 connection

The following is a transcript of an IMAP4rev1 connection. A long line in this sample is broken for editorial clarity.

S: * OK IMAP4rev1 Service Ready C: a001 login mrc secret S: a001 OK LOGIN completed C: a002 select inbox S: * 18 EXISTS S: * FLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Seen \Draft) S: * 2 RECENT S: * OK [UNSEEN 17] Message 17 is the first unseen message S: * OK [UIDVALIDITY 3857529045] UIDs valid S: a002 OK [READ-WRITE] SELECT completed C: a003 fetch 12 full S: * 12 FETCH (FLAGS (\Seen) INTERNALDATE "17-Jul-1996 02:44:25 -0700" RFC822.SIZE 4286 ENVELOPE ("Wed, 17 Jul 1996 02:23:25 -0700 (PDT)" "IMAP4rev1 WG mtg summary and minutes" (("Terry Gray" NIL "gray" "cac.washington.edu")) (("Terry Gray" NIL "gray" "cac.washington.edu")) (("Terry Gray" NIL "gray" "cac.washington.edu")) ((NIL NIL "imap" "cac.washington.edu")) ((NIL NIL "minutes" "CNRI.Reston.VA.US") ("John Klensin" NIL "KLENSIN" "MIT.EDU")) NIL NIL "<[email protected]>") BODY ("TEXT" "PLAIN" ("CHARSET" "US-ASCII") NIL NIL "7BIT" 3028 92)) S: a003 OK FETCH completed C: a004 fetch 12 body[header] S: * 12 FETCH (BODY[HEADER] 342 S: Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 02:23:25 -0700 (PDT) S: From: Terry Gray <[email protected]> S: Subject: IMAP4rev1 WG mtg summary and minutes S: To: [email protected] S: cc: [email protected], John Klensin <[email protected]> S: Message-Id: <[email protected]> S: MIME-Version: 1.0 S: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII S: S: ) S: a004 OK FETCH completed C: a005 store 12 +flags \deleted S: * 12 FETCH (FLAGS (\Seen \Deleted)) S: a005 OK +FLAGS completed C: a006 logout S: * BYE IMAP4rev1 server terminating connection S: a006 OK LOGOUT completed

RFC 3501 IMAPv4 March 2003

9. Formal Syntax

The following syntax specification uses the Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF) notation as specified in [ABNF].

In the case of alternative or optional rules in which a later rule overlaps an earlier rule, the rule which is listed earlier MUST take priority. For example, "\Seen" when parsed as a flag is the \Seen flag name and not a flag-extension, even though "\Seen" can be parsed as a flag-extension. Some, but not all, instances of this rule are noted below.

Note: [ABNF] rules MUST be followed strictly; in particular:

(1) Except as noted otherwise, all alphabetic characters are case-insensitive. The use of upper or lower case characters to define token strings is for editorial clarity only. Implementations MUST accept these strings in a case-insensitive fashion.

(2) In all cases, SP refers to exactly one space. It is NOT permitted to substitute TAB, insert additional spaces, or otherwise treat SP as being equivalent to LWSP.

(3) The ASCII NUL character, %x00, MUST NOT be used at any time.

address = "(" addr-name SP addr-adl SP addr-mailbox SP addr-host ")"

addr-adl = nstring ; Holds route from [RFC-2822] route-addr if ; non-NIL

addr-host = nstring ; NIL indicates [RFC-2822] group syntax. ; Otherwise, holds [RFC-2822] domain name

addr-mailbox = nstring ; NIL indicates end of [RFC-2822] group; if ; non-NIL and addr-host is NIL, holds ; [RFC-2822] group name. ; Otherwise, holds [RFC-2822] local-part ; after removing [RFC-2822] quoting

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addr-name = nstring ; If non-NIL, holds phrase from [RFC-2822] ; mailbox after removing [RFC-2822] quoting

append = "APPEND" SP mailbox [SP flag-list] [SP date-time] SP literal

astring = 1*ASTRING-CHAR / string

ASTRING-CHAR = ATOM-CHAR / resp-specials

atom = 1*ATOM-CHAR

ATOM-CHAR = <any CHAR except atom-specials>

atom-specials = "(" / ")" / "{" / SP / CTL / list-wildcards / quoted-specials / resp-specials

authenticate = "AUTHENTICATE" SP auth-type *(CRLF base64)

auth-type = atom ; Defined by [SASL]

base64 = *(4base64-char) [base64-terminal]

base64-char = ALPHA / DIGIT / "+" / "/" ; Case-sensitive

base64-terminal = (2base64-char "==") / (3base64-char "=")

body = "(" (body-type-1part / body-type-mpart) ")"

body-extension = nstring / number / "(" body-extension *(SP body-extension) ")" ; Future expansion. Client implementations ; MUST accept body-extension fields. Server ; implementations MUST NOT generate ; body-extension fields except as defined by ; future standard or standards-track ; revisions of this specification.

body-ext-1part = body-fld-md5 [SP body-fld-dsp [SP body-fld-lang [SP body-fld-loc *(SP body-extension)]]] ; MUST NOT be returned on non-extensible ; "BODY" fetch

RFC 3501 IMAPv4 March 2003

body-ext-mpart = body-fld-param [SP body-fld-dsp [SP body-fld-lang [SP body-fld-loc *(SP body-extension)]]] ; MUST NOT be returned on non-extensible ; "BODY" fetch

body-fields = body-fld-param SP body-fld-id SP body-fld-desc SP body-fld-enc SP body-fld-octets

body-fld-desc = nstring

body-fld-dsp = "(" string SP body-fld-param ")" / nil

body-fld-enc = (DQUOTE ("7BIT" / "8BIT" / "BINARY" / "BASE64"/ "QUOTED-PRINTABLE") DQUOTE) / string

body-fld-id = nstring

body-fld-lang = nstring / "(" string *(SP string) ")"

body-fld-loc = nstring

body-fld-lines = number

body-fld-md5 = nstring

body-fld-octets = number

body-fld-param = "(" string SP string *(SP string SP string) ")" / nil

body-type-1part = (body-type-basic / body-type-msg / body-type-text) [SP body-ext-1part]

body-type-basic = media-basic SP body-fields ; MESSAGE subtype MUST NOT be "RFC822"

body-type-mpart = 1*body SP media-subtype [SP body-ext-mpart]

body-type-msg = media-message SP body-fields SP envelope SP body SP body-fld-lines

body-type-text = media-text SP body-fields SP body-fld-lines

capability = ("AUTH=" auth-type) / atom ; New capabilities MUST begin with "X" or be ; registered with IANA as standard or ; standards-track

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capability-data = "CAPABILITY" *(SP capability) SP "IMAP4rev1" *(SP capability) ; Servers MUST implement the STARTTLS, AUTH=PLAIN, ; and LOGINDISABLED capabilities ; Servers which offer RFC 1730 compatibility MUST ; list "IMAP4" as the first capability.

CHAR8 = %x01-ff ; any OCTET except NUL, %x00

command = tag SP (command-any / command-auth / command-nonauth / command-select) CRLF ; Modal based on state

command-any = "CAPABILITY" / "LOGOUT" / "NOOP" / x-command ; Valid in all states

command-auth = append / create / delete / examine / list / lsub / rename / select / status / subscribe / unsubscribe ; Valid only in Authenticated or Selected state

command-nonauth = login / authenticate / "STARTTLS" ; Valid only when in Not Authenticated state

command-select = "CHECK" / "CLOSE" / "EXPUNGE" / copy / fetch / store / uid / search ; Valid only when in Selected state

continue-req = "+" SP (resp-text / base64) CRLF

copy = "COPY" SP sequence-set SP mailbox

create = "CREATE" SP mailbox ; Use of INBOX gives a NO error

date = date-text / DQUOTE date-text DQUOTE

date-day = 1*2DIGIT ; Day of month

date-day-fixed = (SP DIGIT) / 2DIGIT ; Fixed-format version of date-day

date-month = "Jan" / "Feb" / "Mar" / "Apr" / "May" / "Jun" / "Jul" / "Aug" / "Sep" / "Oct" / "Nov" / "Dec"

date-text = date-day "-" date-month "-" date-year

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date-year = 4DIGIT

date-time = DQUOTE date-day-fixed "-" date-month "-" date-year SP time SP zone DQUOTE

delete = "DELETE" SP mailbox ; Use of INBOX gives a NO error

digit-nz = %x31-39 ; 1-9

envelope = "(" env-date SP env-subject SP env-from SP env-sender SP env-reply-to SP env-to SP env-cc SP env-bcc SP env-in-reply-to SP env-message-id ")"

env-bcc = "(" 1*address ")" / nil

env-cc = "(" 1*address ")" / nil

env-date = nstring

env-from = "(" 1*address ")" / nil

env-in-reply-to = nstring

env-message-id = nstring

env-reply-to = "(" 1*address ")" / nil

env-sender = "(" 1*address ")" / nil

env-subject = nstring

env-to = "(" 1*address ")" / nil

examine = "EXAMINE" SP mailbox

fetch = "FETCH" SP sequence-set SP ("ALL" / "FULL" / "FAST" / fetch-att / "(" fetch-att *(SP fetch-att) ")")

fetch-att = "ENVELOPE" / "FLAGS" / "INTERNALDATE" / "RFC822" [".HEADER" / ".SIZE" / ".TEXT"] / "BODY" ["STRUCTURE"] / "UID" / "BODY" section ["<" number "." nz-number ">"] / "BODY.PEEK" section ["<" number "." nz-number ">"]

RFC 3501 IMAPv4 March 2003

flag = "\Answered" / "\Flagged" / "\Deleted" / "\Seen" / "\Draft" / flag-keyword / flag-extension ; Does not include "\Recent"

flag-extension = "" atom ; Future expansion. Client implementations ; MUST accept flag-extension flags. Server ; implementations MUST NOT generate ; flag-extension flags except as defined by ; future standard or standards-track ; revisions of this specification.

flag-fetch = flag / "\Recent"

flag-keyword = atom

flag-list = "(" [flag *(SP flag)] ")"

flag-perm = flag / "*"

greeting = "*" SP (resp-cond-auth / resp-cond-bye) CRLF

header-fld-name = astring

header-list = "(" header-fld-name *(SP header-fld-name) ")"

list = "LIST" SP mailbox SP list-mailbox

list-mailbox = 1*list-char / string

list-char = ATOM-CHAR / list-wildcards / resp-specials

list-wildcards = "%" / "*"

literal = " number " CRLF *CHAR8 ; Number represents the number of CHAR8s

login = "LOGIN" SP userid SP password

lsub = "LSUB" SP mailbox SP list-mailbox

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mailbox = "INBOX" / astring ; INBOX is case-insensitive. All case variants of ; INBOX (e.g., "iNbOx") MUST be interpreted as INBOX ; not as an astring. An astring which consists of ; the case-insensitive sequence "I" "N" "B" "O" "X" ; is considered to be INBOX and not an astring. ; Refer to section 5.1 for further ; semantic details of mailbox names.

mailbox-data = "FLAGS" SP flag-list / "LIST" SP mailbox-list / "LSUB" SP mailbox-list / "SEARCH" *(SP nz-number) / "STATUS" SP mailbox SP "(" [status-att-list] ")" / number SP "EXISTS" / number SP "RECENT"

mailbox-list = "(" [mbx-list-flags] ")" SP (DQUOTE QUOTED-CHAR DQUOTE / nil) SP mailbox

mbx-list-flags = *(mbx-list-oflag SP) mbx-list-sflag *(SP mbx-list-oflag) / mbx-list-oflag *(SP mbx-list-oflag)

mbx-list-oflag = "\Noinferiors" / flag-extension ; Other flags; multiple possible per LIST response

mbx-list-sflag = "\Noselect" / "\Marked" / "\Unmarked" ; Selectability flags; only one per LIST response

media-basic = ((DQUOTE ("APPLICATION" / "AUDIO" / "IMAGE" / "MESSAGE" / "VIDEO") DQUOTE) / string) SP media-subtype ; Defined in [MIME-IMT]

media-message = DQUOTE "MESSAGE" DQUOTE SP DQUOTE "RFC822" DQUOTE ; Defined in [MIME-IMT]

media-subtype = string ; Defined in [MIME-IMT]

media-text = DQUOTE "TEXT" DQUOTE SP media-subtype ; Defined in [MIME-IMT]

message-data = nz-number SP ("EXPUNGE" / ("FETCH" SP msg-att))

msg-att = "(" (msg-att-dynamic / msg-att-static) *(SP (msg-att-dynamic / msg-att-static)) ")"

msg-att-dynamic = "FLAGS" SP "(" [flag-fetch *(SP flag-fetch)] ")" ; MAY change for a message

RFC 3501 IMAPv4 March 2003

msg-att-static = "ENVELOPE" SP envelope / "INTERNALDATE" SP date-time / "RFC822" [".HEADER" / ".TEXT"] SP nstring / "RFC822.SIZE" SP number / "BODY" ["STRUCTURE"] SP body / "BODY" section ["<" number ">"] SP nstring / "UID" SP uniqueid ; MUST NOT change for a message

nil = "NIL"

nstring = string / nil

number = 1*DIGIT ; Unsigned 32-bit integer ; (0 <= n < 4,294,967,296)

nz-number = digit-nz *DIGIT ; Non-zero unsigned 32-bit integer ; (0 < n < 4,294,967,296)

password = astring

quoted = DQUOTE *QUOTED-CHAR DQUOTE

QUOTED-CHAR = <any TEXT-CHAR except quoted-specials> / "" quoted-specials

quoted-specials = DQUOTE / ""

rename = "RENAME" SP mailbox SP mailbox ; Use of INBOX as a destination gives a NO error

response = *(continue-req / response-data) response-done

response-data = "*" SP (resp-cond-state / resp-cond-bye / mailbox-data / message-data / capability-data) CRLF

response-done = response-tagged / response-fatal

response-fatal = "*" SP resp-cond-bye CRLF ; Server closes connection immediately

response-tagged = tag SP resp-cond-state CRLF

resp-cond-auth = ("OK" / "PREAUTH") SP resp-text ; Authentication condition

RFC 3501 IMAPv4 March 2003

resp-cond-bye = "BYE" SP resp-text

resp-cond-state = ("OK" / "NO" / "BAD") SP resp-text ; Status condition

resp-specials = "]"

resp-text = ["[" resp-text-code "]" SP] text

resp-text-code = "ALERT" / "BADCHARSET" [SP "(" astring *(SP astring) ")" ] / capability-data / "PARSE" / "PERMANENTFLAGS" SP "(" [flag-perm *(SP flag-perm)] ")" / "READ-ONLY" / "READ-WRITE" / "TRYCREATE" / "UIDNEXT" SP nz-number / "UIDVALIDITY" SP nz-number / "UNSEEN" SP nz-number / atom [SP 1*<any TEXT-CHAR except "]">]

search = "SEARCH" [SP "CHARSET" SP astring] 1*(SP search-key) ; CHARSET argument to MUST be registered with IANA

search-key = "ALL" / "ANSWERED" / "BCC" SP astring / "BEFORE" SP date / "BODY" SP astring / "CC" SP astring / "DELETED" / "FLAGGED" / "FROM" SP astring / "KEYWORD" SP flag-keyword / "NEW" / "OLD" / "ON" SP date / "RECENT" / "SEEN" / "SINCE" SP date / "SUBJECT" SP astring / "TEXT" SP astring / "TO" SP astring / "UNANSWERED" / "UNDELETED" / "UNFLAGGED" / "UNKEYWORD" SP flag-keyword / "UNSEEN" / ; Above this line were in [IMAP2] "DRAFT" / "HEADER" SP header-fld-name SP astring / "LARGER" SP number / "NOT" SP search-key / "OR" SP search-key SP search-key / "SENTBEFORE" SP date / "SENTON" SP date / "SENTSINCE" SP date / "SMALLER" SP number / "UID" SP sequence-set / "UNDRAFT" / sequence-set / "(" search-key *(SP search-key) ")"

section = "[" [section-spec] "]"

section-msgtext = "HEADER" / "HEADER.FIELDS" [".NOT"] SP header-list / "TEXT" ; top-level or MESSAGE/RFC822 part

section-part = nz-number *("." nz-number) ; body part nesting

RFC 3501 IMAPv4 March 2003

section-spec = section-msgtext / (section-part ["." section-text])

section-text = section-msgtext / "MIME" ; text other than actual body part (headers, etc.)

select = "SELECT" SP mailbox

seq-number = nz-number / "" ; message sequence number (COPY, FETCH, STORE ; commands) or unique identifier (UID COPY, ; UID FETCH, UID STORE commands). ; * represents the largest number in use. In ; the case of message sequence numbers, it is ; the number of messages in a non-empty mailbox. ; In the case of unique identifiers, it is the ; unique identifier of the last message in the ; mailbox or, if the mailbox is empty, the ; mailbox's current UIDNEXT value. ; The server should respond with a tagged BAD ; response to a command that uses a message ; sequence number greater than the number of ; messages in the selected mailbox. This ; includes "" if the selected mailbox is empty.

seq-range = seq-number ":" seq-number ; two seq-number values and all values between ; these two regardless of order. ; Example: 2:4 and 4:2 are equivalent and indicate ; values 2, 3, and 4. ; Example: a unique identifier sequence range of ; 3291:* includes the UID of the last message in ; the mailbox, even if that value is less than 3291.

sequence-set = (seq-number / seq-range) ("," sequence-set) ; set of seq-number values, regardless of order. ; Servers MAY coalesce overlaps and/or execute the ; sequence in any order. ; Example: a message sequence number set of ; 2,4:7,9,12: for a mailbox with 15 messages is ; equivalent to 2,4,5,6,7,9,12,13,14,15 ; Example: a message sequence number set of *:4,5:7 ; for a mailbox with 10 messages is equivalent to ; 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,5,6,7 and MAY be reordered and ; overlap coalesced to be 4,5,6,7,8,9,10.

status = "STATUS" SP mailbox SP "(" status-att *(SP status-att) ")"

RFC 3501 IMAPv4 March 2003

status-att = "MESSAGES" / "RECENT" / "UIDNEXT" / "UIDVALIDITY" / "UNSEEN"

status-att-list = status-att SP number *(SP status-att SP number)

store = "STORE" SP sequence-set SP store-att-flags

store-att-flags = (["+" / "-"] "FLAGS" [".SILENT"]) SP (flag-list / (flag *(SP flag)))

string = quoted / literal

subscribe = "SUBSCRIBE" SP mailbox

tag = 1*<any ASTRING-CHAR except "+">

text = 1*TEXT-CHAR

TEXT-CHAR = <any CHAR except CR and LF>

time = 2DIGIT ":" 2DIGIT ":" 2DIGIT ; Hours minutes seconds

uid = "UID" SP (copy / fetch / search / store) ; Unique identifiers used instead of message ; sequence numbers

uniqueid = nz-number ; Strictly ascending

unsubscribe = "UNSUBSCRIBE" SP mailbox

userid = astring

x-command = "X" atom <experimental command arguments>

zone = ("+" / "-") 4DIGIT ; Signed four-digit value of hhmm representing ; hours and minutes east of Greenwich (that is, ; the amount that the given time differs from ; Universal Time). Subtracting the timezone ; from the given time will give the UT form. ; The Universal Time zone is "+0000".

RFC 3501 IMAPv4 March 2003

10. Author's Note

This document is a revision or rewrite of earlier documents, and supercedes the protocol specification in those documents: RFC 2060, RFC 1730, unpublished IMAP2bis.TXT document, RFC 1176, and RFC 1064.

11. Security Considerations

IMAP4rev1 protocol transactions, including electronic mail data, are sent in the clear over the network unless protection from snooping is negotiated. This can be accomplished either by the use of STARTTLS, negotiated privacy protection in the AUTHENTICATE command, or some other protection mechanism.

11.1. STARTTLS Security Considerations

The specification of the STARTTLS command and LOGINDISABLED capability in this document replaces that in [IMAP-TLS]. [IMAP-TLS] remains normative for the PLAIN [SASL] authenticator.

IMAP client and server implementations MUST implement the TLS_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_MD5 [TLS] cipher suite, and SHOULD implement the TLS_DHE_DSS_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA [TLS] cipher suite. This is important as it assures that any two compliant implementations can be configured to interoperate. All other cipher suites are OPTIONAL. Note that this is a change from section 2.1 of [IMAP-TLS].

During the [TLS] negotiation, the client MUST check its understanding of the server hostname against the server's identity as presented in the server Certificate message, in order to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks. If the match fails, the client SHOULD either ask for explicit user confirmation, or terminate the connection and indicate that the server's identity is suspect. Matching is performed according to these rules:

The client MUST use the server hostname it used to open the connection as the value to compare against the server name as expressed in the server certificate. The client MUST NOT use any form of the server hostname derived from an insecure remote source (e.g., insecure DNS lookup). CNAME canonicalization is not done.

If a subjectAltName extension of type dNSName is present in the certificate, it SHOULD be used as the source of the server's identity.

Matching is case-insensitive.

RFC 3501 IMAPv4 March 2003

A "*" wildcard character MAY be used as the left-most name component in the certificate. For example, *.example.com would match a.example.com, foo.example.com, etc. but would not match example.com.

If the certificate contains multiple names (e.g., more than one dNSName field), then a match with any one of the fields is considered acceptable.

Both the client and server MUST check the result of the STARTTLS command and subsequent [TLS] negotiation to see whether acceptable authentication or privacy was achieved.

11.2. Other Security Considerations

A server error message for an AUTHENTICATE command which fails due to invalid credentials SHOULD NOT detail why the credentials are invalid.

Use of the LOGIN command sends passwords in the clear. This can be avoided by using the AUTHENTICATE command with a [SASL] mechanism that does not use plaintext passwords, by first negotiating encryption via STARTTLS or some other protection mechanism.

A server implementation MUST implement a configuration that, at the time of authentication, requires: (1) The STARTTLS command has been negotiated. OR (2) Some other mechanism that protects the session from password snooping has been provided. OR (3) The following measures are in place: (a) The LOGINDISABLED capability is advertised, and [SASL] mechanisms (such as PLAIN) using plaintext passwords are NOT advertised in the CAPABILITY list. AND (b) The LOGIN command returns an error even if the password is correct. AND (c) The AUTHENTICATE command returns an error with all [SASL] mechanisms that use plaintext passwords, even if the password is correct.

A server error message for a failing LOGIN command SHOULD NOT specify that the user name, as opposed to the password, is invalid.