Mail sent from root is sent as postmaster

A couple of days ago a weird thing happened: every mail sent by root (from console, from cron, etc) is sent with “postmaster” in the “From” field, and not from root.

Moreover, every mail sent gives an error, but then the mail is correctly delivered.

I’ve tried everything, but now I don’t know what to do.

Here is the content of the /var/log/maillog file until two days ago (the correct one)

/var/log/maillog

Apr 27 04:02:03 vps-fra-01 sendmail[13558]: t3R822mG013558: from=root, size=27844, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=201504270802.t3R822mG013558@vps-fra-01.xxxxx.yyyyy, relay=root@localhost Apr 27 04:02:03 vps-fra-01 sendmail[13812]: t3R8237o013812: from=root@vps-fra-01.xxxxx.yyyyy, size=28152, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=201504270802.t3R822mG013558@vps-fra-01.xxxxx.yyyyy, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1] Apr 27 04:02:03 vps-fra-01 sendmail[13558]: t3R822mG013558: to=root, ctladdr=root (0/0), delay=00:00:01, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=57844, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (t3R8237o013812 Message accepted for delivery) Apr 27 04:02:05 vps-fra-01 sendmail[13813]: t3R8237o013812: to=network@zzzzz.com, ctladdr=root@vps-fra-01.xxxxx.yyyyy (0/0), delay=00:00:02, xdelay=00:00:02, mailer=esmtp, pri=58407, relay=ilp-m3.danisoft.net. [194.69.193.213], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (OK <15042708-7992-0000-0000-0000017C1150>)

But today, if I try to send an email to root from the console:

[root@vps-fra-01 log]# mail root Subject: Test Mail This is the mail body . Cc: Who are you?: Permission denied [root@vps-fra-01 log]#

As you can see this is the error I get: “Who are you?: Permission denied”. Moreover, in the log file there is another error: “makeconnection: service ‘smtp’ unknown”.

/var/log/maillog (mail sent to postmaster ?!?)

May 3 09:48:54 vps-fra-01 sendmail[7417]: t437msGK007417: SYSERR(UID0): Who are you?: Permission denied May 3 09:48:54 vps-fra-01 sendmail[7417]: t437msGK007417: from=postmaster, size=51, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=201505030748.t437msGK007417@vps-fra-01.xxxxx.yyyyy, relay=root@localhost May 3 09:48:54 vps-fra-01 sendmail[7417]: makeconnection: service “smtp” unknown May 3 09:48:54 vps-fra-01 sendmail[7419]: t437msZM007419: from=postmaster@vps-fra-01.xxxxx.yyyyy, size=382, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=201505030748.t437msGK007417@vps-fra-01.xxxxx.yyyyy, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1] May 3 09:48:54 vps-fra-01 sendmail[7417]: t437msGK007417: to=root, delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=30051, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (t437msZM007419 Message accepted for delivery) May 3 09:48:55 vps-fra-01 sendmail[7420]: t437msZM007419: to=network@zzzzz.com, delay=00:00:01, xdelay=00:00:01, mailer=relay, pri=30623, relay=ilp-m3.danisoft.net. [194.69.193.213], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (OK <15050307-7992-0000-0000-0000017D0B8F>)

Here is my /etc/aliases file

/etc/aliases

mailer-daemon: postmaster postmaster: root

bin: root daemon: root adm: root lp: root sync: root shutdown: root halt: root mail: root news: root uucp: root operator: root games: root gopher: root ftp: root nobody: root radiusd: root nut: root dbus: root vcsa: root canna: root wnn: root rpm: root nscd: root pcap: root apache: root webalizer: root dovecot: root fax: root quagga: root radvd: root pvm: root amanda: root privoxy: root ident: root named: root xfs: root gdm: root mailnull: root postgres: root sshd: root smmsp: root postfix: root netdump: root ldap: root squid: root ntp: root mysql: root desktop: root rpcuser: root rpc: root nfsnobody: root

ingres: root system: root toor: root manager: root dumper: root abuse: root

newsadm: news newsadmin: news usenet: news ftpadm: ftp ftpadmin: ftp ftp-adm: ftp ftp-admin: ftp www: webmaster webmaster: root noc: root security: root hostmaster: root info: postmaster marketing: postmaster sales: postmaster support: postmaster

decode: root

root: network@zzzzz.com

I’ve tried everything, and now I’m out of ideas. Can someone help me?