SPF record says nothing about servers it does not list
The SPF record on `your domain` never says what to do about a server it does not list, so a server that matches none of the mechanisms in it gets the result `neutral` — which receivers must treat exactly as if no SPF record had been published at all (RFC 7208 §4.7 and §2.6.2).
0% · n=32 · as of 15 September 2026 of sites ShipReady scanned had this, counted across sites where this check completed.
Why it matters
The SPF record on `your domain` never says what to do about a server it does not list, so a server that matches none of the mechanisms in it gets the result `neutral` — which receivers must treat exactly as if no SPF record had been published at all (RFC 7208 §4.7 and §2.6.2). The record therefore authorises your own senders and does nothing whatsoever about anyone else, which is the half of SPF that stops your domain being forged. End the record with `~all` (softfail — the safe default while you confirm every legitimate sender is listed) or `-all` (hardfail, once you are confident). It also matters for DMARC: a neutral SPF result cannot produce an SPF pass, so your DMARC policy ends up resting entirely on DKIM.
How ShipReady detects it
Email-authentication DNS records (DMARC / SPF). Almost every AI-built SaaS sends transactional email — password resets, magic links, receipts — through Resend, SendGrid or Postmark. Setting that up gets the mail delivered; it does not stop anyone else sending mail that claims to come from the same domain. Without a DMARC policy, a receiving server has no instruction to reject a forgery, so an attacker can send "reset your password" from the product's own domain and the message will land in the inbox looking authentic. This check is almost entirely DNS rather than HTTP — one exception is MTA-STS, whose policy is only half-published in DNS; the other half is a file fetched over HTTPS (see _check_mta_sts). Nearly everything else here is the most deterministic kind of check the scanner has: a record either exists or it does not, so there is no heuristic and no false-positive surface. The one place judgement is required is deciding WHICH domain to ask about — see _organizational_domain.
Detection is deterministic. ShipReady reports this only when it observes the condition directly, and prefers to miss a real problem over inventing one. Rule version 1.10.0.
How to fix it
This is the prompt ShipReady puts in your report — written to be pasted straight into Cursor, Claude Code, or whichever assistant built the app.
The SPF record on your domain never says what to do about a server it does not list — it has no `all` mechanism at the end (or ends in `?all`), so anything unmatched evaluates to `neutral`, which receivers must treat as if you had published no SPF record at all (RFC 7208 §4.7). Add a terminal mechanism as the LAST term of the record: `~all` (softfail) is the right default while you confirm every legitimate sender is covered, and `-all` (hardfail) once you are confident. Do not use `+all` or a bare `all` — both authorise the entire internet to send as your domain. Before tightening, list every system that sends mail using your domain (your transactional provider, your team's mailboxes, any CRM or marketing tool, your invoicing tool) and make sure each is covered by an include: or ip4:/ip6: mechanism, then watch your DMARC aggregate reports for a week to catch anything you missed.
Frequently asked questions
- What does "SPF record says nothing about servers it does not list" mean?
- The SPF record on `your domain` never says what to do about a server it does not list, so a server that matches none of the mechanisms in it gets the result `neutral` — which receivers must treat exactly as if no SPF record had been published at all (RFC 7208 §4.7 and §2.6.2).
- How serious is it?
- ShipReady rates this medium. Fix soon. Meaningfully weakens a defence or degrades how the site works.
- How common is this?
- Across the sites ShipReady has scanned where this check completed, 0% · n=32 · as of 15 September 2026.
- How do I fix it?
- Paste the fix prompt on this page into Cursor, Claude Code or your AI editor. It is the same prompt ShipReady puts in your report.
- Can I check my own site?
- Yes — ShipReady scans up to ten pages of any public site for free and reports this alongside every other check. The free report lists every issue it finds and shows full evidence and a fix prompt for the critical and high-severity ones; medium and low findings are counted and unlock on Pro.
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