SPF Validation Error: Causes and Solutions
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Last Updated: Reading Time: 10 min
Key Takeaways
- SPF validation errors happen when a receiving server can’t correctly evaluate your SPF TXT record, most often due to syntax mistakes, missing/incorrect includes, or exceeding the 10 DNS lookup limit.
- SPF checks commonly return results like temperror, permerror, softfail (~all), and fail (-all). These outcomes inform risk, but each receiving system decides whether to deliver, quarantine, or reject.
- The most frequent root causes are invalid SPF syntax, multiple SPF records on the same domain, nested includes that push lookups over 10, and publishing SPF using deprecated record types instead of TXT.
- You can detect SPF issues faster by combining DMARC reports, an SPF checker/validator (for syntax + lookup count), and email header inspection (Authentication-Results / Received-SPF) to confirm the real SPF result.
- To prevent repeat failures, maintain one SPF record per domain, keep lookups ≤10, use change control when adding email vendors, and revalidate SPF after DNS/provider migrations or new sending services.
An SPF validation error is your domain’s way of saying: “My email setup is broken.” If your SPF record is misconfigured, inbox providers can’t verify legitimate senders, and that’s when deliverability drops, spoofing risk goes up, and troubleshooting starts eating your time. Here’s how to identify SPF errors and resolve them fast.
What is an SPF Validation Error?
SPF validation refers to the process of verifying whether a sender is authorized (allowed) to send emails on behalf of the domain. SPF validation errors may occur when your TXT record containing SPF information has syntax or configuration errors. A domain’s SPF record is made up of several tags, technically known as SPF mechanisms and modifiers. Trying to create an SPF record manually can often lead to syntax errors, which during SPF evaluation can result in a validation error.
During SPF validation errors, domain owners may receive a 550 SPF check failed message such as:
“Error 550 – Message refused due to a failed SPF check.”
Simplify SPF with PowerDMARC!
Common SPF Validation Error Messages and Their Meanings
Understanding SPF error messages helps you diagnose configuration issues quickly and take the right corrective action. While wording may vary by mail provider, the following messages reflect the most common SPF-related outcomes seen during email authentication checks.
| Error Message | What It Means | Recommended Action |
|---|---|---|
| “SPF validation failed” | The receiving server could not successfully evaluate the SPF record | Check SPF record syntax, DNS availability, and lookup limits |
| “Warning: SPF validation failed” | A weak SPF result (often softfail) that may still allow delivery | Review authorized senders and tighten the SPF policy |
| “SPF check failed (mode: normal)” | SPF evaluation returned a failure result | Fix the SPF record or authorize the sending source |
| “Message refused due to a failed SPF check” | The message was rejected because the sender was not authorized | Update the SPF record to include the sending IP or service |
Important: Exact error wording is not standardized and may differ across providers, mail servers, and logging systems. These examples represent commonly observed patterns rather than guaranteed messages.
SPF Validation Error Scenarios in Popular Email Platforms
Email platforms surface SPF validation failures in different ways, depending on their policies and logging formats. Below are typical examples, not fixed or universal strings.
- Gmail
Bounce or delivery notifications may indicate that a message was blocked or marked suspicious due to SPF policy evaluation issues.
- Microsoft 365 / Outlook
Delivery reports commonly reference 5.7.x SMTP status codes (such as 550 5.7.1) when SPF checks fail or the sender is not authorized.
- Yahoo Mail
Rejections may note that the message was not accepted due to SPF validation or sender authentication failure.
| How to interpret these results: SPF itself returns standardized results such as pass, fail, softfail, neutral, temperror, or permerror. Each receiving system then decides whether to deliver, quarantine, or reject the message based on its own policy and overall authentication context. |
Types of SPF Validation Errors
SPF checks can return different result types depending on what the receiving server finds during evaluation. Here are the most common SPF outcomes you’ll see during SPF validation:
- Temperror: This might be a validation error caused by a momentary issue such as a DNS timeout or similar issues during the SPF validation procedure. It does not imply that the SPF record is invalid, unavailable, or has failed the SPF record validation procedure. You shouldn’t be concerned if you only receive an SPF temperror from one mail server. However, you should double-check your SPF record if you start receiving such notifications regularly.
Example: A DNS server is temporarily unavailable during SPF lookup, causing a timeout.
- Permerror: When the mail servers can’t check the SPF records correctly, they issue these SPF Permerror messages. These problems are usually caused by typos or SPF syntax issues. Permerror is also caused when SPF records exceed the 10 DNS lookup limit.
Example: An SPF record contains “v=spf2” instead of “v=spf1”, or includes 12 DNS lookups when the limit is 10.
- Softail: The sender is authorized or not authorized to send email from the domain. The host may be ‘probably not approved’ if the domain hasn’t established a clear and aggressive policy that results in a ‘fail.’ It works by attaching an “all” mechanism to the SPF record. Any IP address will provide an ‘SPF Softfail result on assessment. The SPF Soft fail result is, in fact, a weak statement.
The DMARC reads the SPF Softfail result as a ‘Pass’ or ‘Fail,’ depending on the email server settings, much like the SPF Neutral result.
Example: An SPF record ends with “~all” and an unauthorized sender attempts to send email, resulting in a soft failure.
- Fail: The ‘SPF Fail’ declaration, in contrast to ‘SPF Softfail,’ is an explicit or definitive claim that the host is not permitted to use the domain. This condition is implemented in the SPF record using the ‘-all’ technique.
If any IP address is used, it will produce an ‘SPF Fail‘ result when the SPF authentication check is performed. This situation is treated the same by all domains with DMARC implemented and is interpreted as ‘Fail.’
Example: An SPF record ends with “-all” and a completely unauthorized IP attempts to send email, resulting in a hard failure and email rejection.
Common Causes of SPF Validation Errors
SPF validation errors usually stem from a small set of configuration issues. Understanding these root causes helps you fix errors quickly and prevent them from recurring.
1. Incorrect SPF DNS Record Syntax
A common reason for an SPF validation error is an incorrect SPF DNS record. Extra spaces, wrong formatting, and incorrect punctuation can lead to validation errors for SPF and invalidate your record. Additionally, DNS vulnerabilities, such as dangling DNS records, may create loopholes that attackers can exploit, further complicating your email authentication setup.
Common syntax issues include:
- Using an invalid version (for example, v=spf2 instead of v=spf1)
- Missing the mandatory all mechanism (~all or -all)
- Adding unsupported separators or formatting errors
Example:
| Invalid SPF Record | Issue | Corrected Version |
|---|---|---|
| v=spf2 include:_spf.google.com ~all | Invalid SPF version | v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all |
| v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com | Missing all mechanism | v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all |
2. Multiple SPF Records for the Same Domain
A domain must have only one SPF record. Publishing multiple SPF TXT records causes SPF evaluation to fail because receiving servers cannot determine which record to apply.
This commonly happens when:
- Multiple email services are added independently
- SPF records are created by different teams or vendors
- Old SPF records are not removed during migrations
Result: SPF evaluation may return a permerror, causing legitimate emails to fail authentication.
3) Exceeding the SPF DNS Lookup Limit
SPF allows a maximum of 10 DNS lookups during evaluation. If this limit is exceeded, SPF validation fails with a permerror.
DNS lookups are triggered by mechanisms such as:
- include
- a
- mx
- ptr
- exists
- redirect
Real-world scenario: A SaaS company uses Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, a marketing platform, and a transactional email service. Each adds multiple include statements, and nested includes silently push SPF evaluation beyond the 10-lookup limit, causing email failures despite “correct-looking” records.
4. Using Deprecated SPF Record Type
The SPF record type 99 (SPF) was deprecated as mentioned in RFC 7208, section 3.1 due to it being not much of use. It has the same format as the RR Type TXT which is the recommended resource type for SPF records. Using the deprecated record type may lead to SPF errors.
Key takeaway: Most SPF validation errors are caused by syntax mistakes, multiple SPF records, or exceeding the 10 DNS lookup limit, not by mail server outages or recipient-side issues.
How to Find SPF Validation Errors?
Before you fix SPF validation errors, you need to identify where they’re happening: in your DNS record, during SPF evaluation (lookups/syntax), or in real delivery attempts.
Step-by-Step SPF Error Detection Checklist
- Check DMARC reports → look for SPF failures and error patterns
- Validate your SPF record → confirm syntax and DNS lookup count
- Inspect email headers → confirm the SPF result returned by the receiver
- Review bounce messages → identify rejection codes tied to SPF
- Verify DNS publishing → confirm there’s exactly one SPF TXT record for the domain
1. Use DMARC Reports
You can detect SPF validation errors by monitoring your DMARC reports. DMARC reports provide a wealth of information about your email traffic, sender, and SPF and DKIM authentication results. If there is a validation error with your SPF record, chances are, it will be highlighted in your DMARC report. Using a DMARC report analyzer tool can help you in this process by making complex XML reports much easier to read and understand.
2. Use Online SPF Validation Tools
Only SPF validation tools like SPF checkers can help you easily and instantly detect validation errors. These online tools are usually free of cost and can quickly inspect your SPF record to highlight syntax and configuration errors. Some advanced tools also tell you whether your SPF is exceeding the 10 DNS lookup limit.
Try PowerDMARC’s free SPF checker tool.
3. Check Email Headers
Finally, you can always check for SPF validation errors by manually investigating your email headers. Simply open the email. Click “more” and select “Show original”. A new tab will appear that displays the summary of your original message and a detailed raw overview of your email header. You can also use an email header analyzer tool which will provide extensive insights into your email header information – but in a comprehensive and readable format.
Step-by-step header analysis: Look for lines starting with “Received-SPF:” or “Authentication-Results:” to find SPF validation results. Common results include “pass,” “fail,” “softfail,” “neutral,” “temperror,” or “permerror.”
How to Prevent SPF Validation Errors
To prevent SPF validation errors:
- Double-check your SPF record to ensure you’ve updated it or disabled it if it’s no longer used by emailing your domain’s owner.
- Suppose you recently switched to another email provider (for example, Gmail), or a change in the domain name servers was made. In that case, your SPF can break because Google can’t match the sender’s address with any existing records. If you have recently made any of these changes to your domain, please make sure that your SPF records are updated by contacting your web host or email provider.
- Ensure that your DNS hosting provider is reliable and that they have good web hosting options. This can help to ensure that your SPF record is always available and can be easily accessed by receiving servers, reducing the chances of an SPF validation error.
- It’s important to choose a trustworthy DNS hosting provider and to regularly check that your SPF record is accurate and up-to-date to avoid any potential issues.
For MSPs and enterprises: Implement automated SPF monitoring and establish change management processes to prevent configuration drift across multiple domains and clients.
How to Fix SPF Validation Errors
Domain owners can fix errors by taking a few simple measures given below:
1. Check SPF Record Syntax
Verify your SPF syntax to confirm that it is error-free. An error-free SPF record may look something like this: v=spf1 include:spf.domain.com ~all. The version type (v) and the SPF all mechanism are mandatory fields that must be included in your record syntax. Also, you must make sure you are not adding additional spaces, semicolons, or other special characters not supported by SPF.
For SaaS businesses: When integrating multiple email services (marketing automation, transactional emails, support systems), ensure each service’s SPF requirements are properly included without exceeding lookup limits.
2. Limit DNS Lookups
To prevent SPF validation errors and permanent errors, it is crucial to limit DNS lookups for SPF to a maximum of 10. While there are traditional flattening methods to achieve these, a more modern and effective way to resolve this issue is using SPF Macros. Macros help you stay under both DNS lookup and length limits.
3. Consolidate SPF Records
To prevent publishing multiple records for SPF that can lead to validation errors, merge SPF records by using the include: mechanism. SPF “includes” can help consolidate several records into one, by simple adding your authorized domain one after another as shown below:
v=spf1 include:spf.domain.com include:spf.example.com include:spf.company.com ~all
4. Include Mechanism Adjustments
Overlooking your third-party sending sources and email vendors like Google, Microsoft Office 365, Zoho Mail, etc can lead to validation errors. Adjust the SPF “include” mechanism to authorize all your third-party vendors, ensuring an error-free setup.
Read more about vendor source configuration.
Take Control of Your Domain Security
SPF authentication is required for email integrity and spam prevention. A fake email can readily enter a recipient’s mailbox because of an SPF validation error. It can harm the legitimate domain owner’s reputation by spamming or phishing the receiver.
Though the SPF authentication method is intended to prevent unwanted emails from overwhelming one’s inbox, real emails might occasionally be recorded as an authentication failure owing to a configuration error or a faulty SPF record. As a result, an email administrator must understand what causes SPF failures, and what he can do to improve his email deliverability.
At PowerDMARC, we understand the critical importance of email security for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re protecting a growing SaaS platform, managing compliance for a regulated industry, or overseeing email security for multiple clients as an MSP, we’re here to help you succeed.
Next Steps
Ready to eliminate SPF validation errors and secure your email infrastructure? Here’s what you can do next:
- Test your current SPF record with our free SPF checker
- Generate a new SPF record using our SPF record generator
- Analyze your DMARC reports to identify ongoing SPF issues
- Start your free trial for comprehensive email authentication management
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What causes an SPF failure?
SPF failures are typically caused by incorrect DNS records, syntax errors, exceeding the 10 DNS lookup limit, multiple SPF records for the same domain, or using deprecated SPF record types. Temporary DNS issues can also cause SPF temperrors.
2. How do I fix SPF validation errors?
To fix SPF validation errors: 1) Check and correct SPF record syntax, 2) Ensure only one SPF record exists per domain, 3) Limit DNS lookups to 10 or fewer, 4) Include all authorized email sources, and 5) Use TXT record type instead of deprecated SPF record type.
3. What does “rejected due to SPF validation” mean?
“Rejected due to SPF validation” means the receiving email server checked your domain’s SPF record and determined that the sending server is not authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain. This results in the email being rejected or marked as spam.
4. How long does it take for SPF record changes to take effect?
SPF record changes typically take effect within a few minutes to 48 hours, depending on your DNS provider’s TTL (Time To Live) settings. Most changes propagate within 1-4 hours globally.
5. Can I have multiple SPF records for subdomains?
Yes, you can have separate SPF records for different subdomains, but each individual domain or subdomain should have only one SPF record. For example, you can have one SPF record for example.com and a different one for mail.example.com.
Domain & Email Security Expert at PowerDMARC
Yunes is an Operations Team Lead at PowerDMARC with expert knowledge in email authentication and security. Yunes is a Microsoft-certified Azure Administrator Associate with certifications in CompTIA A+ and many more.
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