AWS Port 25 Unblock Request Denied Without Justification – Seeking Clarity and Escalation

Hi AWS Community,

I recently raised a request to remove Port 25 restrictions for an EC2 instance in the ap-south-1 (Mumbai) region.

The instance hosts a secure, non-commercial mail server for my domain nagraja.com, used only for transactional emails such as user registration, password resets, and account notifications. The setup is fully hardened and follows all AWS and general mail best practices, including:

• SPF Record: v=spf1 ip4:************* a mx -all
• DKIM: Implemented and verified via OpenDKIM (***********)
• DMARC: v=DMARC1; p=quarantine; ************
• TLS/SSL: Managed through Let’s Encrypt with automatic renewal
• Firewall: Configured with UFW; only essential ports open
• Security Tools: Fail2ban, SpamAssassin, ClamAV, Amavis, and Postfix/Dovecot with MySQL authentication
• Strict Mail Policy: No bulk, promotional, or unsolicited mails — only system notifications from verified users

Despite clearly explaining this legitimate use case, AWS denied the Port 25 unblocking request without providing a technical explanation or any actionable guidance.

This is frustrating because:

1. There are no prior spam or abuse issues with my account.
2. I have been an AWS customer for almost a decade, primarily for learning, PoCs, and recent production deployments.
3. The use case fully aligns with AWS’ guidelines for responsible email practices.

I’m seeking clarity on:

• Why such requests are denied without context even when the configuration is fully compliant.
• Whether AWS still allows authenticated, secure outbound SMTP via Port 25 for verified transactional use cases.
• What options (if any) exist beyond SES if the goal is to maintain self-managed infrastructure for learning and production-grade deployments.

I understand AWS discourages open SMTP to prevent abuse, but it’s disheartening to see responsible users penalized for legitimate setups.

Would appreciate if an AWS representative or community expert could provide guidance or help escalate this for review.

Thank you,

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Admin – **********

#ec2 #email #postfix #dovecot #smtp #port-25 #aws-support #networking #spam-prevention