Parse date in MailCollector GLPI 11.0.1

[jobercavalcante]

Code of Conduct

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Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Version

GLPI 11.0.1 Copyright (C) 2015-2025 Teclib' and contributors

Bug description

🐛 Erro ao processar cabeçalho de e-mail com fuso horário duplicado / Error when processing email header with duplicated timezone

Versão / Version: GLPI 11.0.1 Copyright (C) 2015-2025 Teclib' and contributors
Arquivo / File: src/MailCollector.php
Linha aproximada / Approx. line: 1364
Função / Function: MailCollector->getHeaders()
Tipo de problema / Label suggestion: bug, mailgate, datetime

---

🇬🇧 Description (English)

When running mail collection (cronMailgate), GLPI throws:

Safe\Exceptions\DatetimeException: An error occurred

This happens when the Date: header contains two timezone definitions, for example:

Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:44:56 -0400 (GMT-04:00)

The PHP strtotime() function (used by Safe\strtotime()) cannot parse this format and fails, stopping the entire mail collection.

🧩 Root Cause

The extra (GMT-04:00) at the end of the header creates ambiguity in timezone parsing, resulting in an invalid date.

✅ Suggested Fix

Clean the header before parsing:

$raw_date = $message->getHeader('Date', 'string');
$clean_date = preg_replace('/\s*\(.*\)$/', '', trim($raw_date));
$timestamp = strtotime($clean_date) ?: time();
$date = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $timestamp);

This prevents exceptions and ensures mail collection continues smoothly even with redundant timezone annotations.

---

🧾 Example comparison

Header	Result	Notes
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2025 17:19:22 +0000	✅ Works	Standard RFC 2822 format
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:44:56 -0400 (GMT-04:00)	❌ Fails	Duplicated timezone

---

💡 Additional note

A simple patch in MailCollector.php prevents the error and logs invalid headers for later analysis without breaking the mail collection process.

---

🔧 Optional patch example (.diff)

--- a/src/MailCollector.php
+++ b/src/MailCollector.php
@@ -1360,7 +1360,22 @@
     // Old code
-    $date = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", strtotime($message->getHeader('Date', 'string')));
+    try {
+        $raw_date = $message->getHeader('Date', 'string');
+
+        // Sanitize timezone duplicates like "(GMT-04:00)" or "(AMT)"
+        $clean_date = preg_replace('/\s*\(.*\)$/', '', trim($raw_date));
+
+        // Try to parse the cleaned date
+        $timestamp = @strtotime($clean_date);
+
+        // Fallback if parsing fails
+        if ($timestamp === false) {
+            throw new \Exception("Invalid date header: " . $raw_date);
+        }
+
+        $date = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $timestamp);
+    } catch (\Throwable $e) {
+        $date = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
+        Toolbox::logDebug("MailCollector: Invalid Date header '{$raw_date}' - using current timestamp.");
+    }

Relevant log output

Page URL

No response

Steps To reproduce

No response

Your GLPI setup information

No response

Anything else?

No response

[cconard96]

Which email client is sending these invalid headers?

[jobercavalcante]

I don't know which email client is sending these invalid headers. However, I'm receiving these emails in my inbox and have run several tests to identify the issue. After a *detailed analysis of the email headers*, it was determined that the message *was not sent by a human client* (such as Outlook, Thunderbird, Gmail, or Roundcube), but rather by an *automated government system* known as *SDP* (*Digital Protocol/Service System*), using the following infrastructure: - *SMTP Server:* smtpsistema.[internal-domain] - *Mail Agent:* Postfix - *Mail Library (likely):* JavaMail - *Delivery Gateway:* webmail.[internal-domain] (using *amavis* + *OpenDKIM* for filtering and authentication) In summary, the message was *automatically generated by an internal corporate system*, not by a conventional email client. Thanks, Jober Em qua., 22 de out. de 2025 às 15:12, Curtis Conard < ***@***.***> escreveu:

…

*cconard96* left a comment (glpi-project/glpi#21610) <#21610 (comment)> Which email client is sending these invalid headers? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#21610 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACVGBJKM47OLVQC2B5JDOVL3Y7JLJAVCNFSM6AAAAACJ5QXSZSVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTIMZTHA2TQMRXGI> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

-- Atenciosamente __ *Jober Cavalcante* Desenvolvedor de sistemas +55 67 98401-2248 https://www.linkedin.com/in/jobercavalcante/

[trasher]

Please provide an EML file that can be added to tests suite.

[jobercavalcante]

I can’t share the full .eml file because it contains sensitive data, but here’s the email header with all sensitive information removed: 2025-10-22 13:29:50 ***@***.*** Return-Path: <EMAIL_REDACTED> Received: from IP_REDACTED (LHLO DOMAIN_REDACTED) (IP_REDACTED) by mbox4.DOMAIN_REDACTED with LMTP; Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:48:03 -0400 (AMT) Received: from DOMAIN_REDACTED (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by DOMAIN_REDACTED (Postfix) with ESMTPS id REDACTED; Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:47:17 -0400 (-04) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by DOMAIN_REDACTED (Postfix) with ESMTP id REDACTED; Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:47:17 -0400 (-04) Authentication-Results: DOMAIN_REDACTED (amavis); dkim=pass (KEY_REDACTED) header.d=DOMAIN_REDACTED Received: from DOMAIN_REDACTED ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (DOMAIN_REDACTED [127.0.0.1]) (amavis, port 10026) with ESMTP id REDACTED; Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:47:17 -0400 (-04) Received: from HOST_REDACTED (HOST_REDACTED [IP_REDACTED]) by DOMAIN_REDACTED (Postfix) with ESMTPS id REDACTED; Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:47:17 -0400 (-04) Received: from HOST_REDACTED (HOST_REDACTED [IP_REDACTED]) by HOST_REDACTED (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id REDACTED; Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:44:56 -0400 (-04) DKIM-Filter: OpenDKIM Filter vX.XX.XX HOST_REDACTED REDACTED DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=DOMAIN_REDACTED; s=default; t=TIMESTAMP_REDACTED; bh=HASH_REDACTED; h=Date:From:To:In-Reply-To:Subject:From; b=SIGNATURE_REDACTED Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:44:56 -0400 (GMT-04:00) From: "SENDER_NAME_REDACTED" <EMAIL_REDACTED> To: EMAIL_REDACTED, EMAIL_REDACTED Message-ID: ***@***.***_REDACTED> In-Reply-To: ***@***.***_REDACTED> Subject: SUBJECT_REDACTED MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----=_Part_REDACTED" Sdp-System-Mail: yes Sdp-Instance-Id: INSTANCE_ID_REDACTED Em qui., 23 de out. de 2025 às 03:29, Johan Cwiklinski < ***@***.***> escreveu:

…

*trasher* left a comment (glpi-project/glpi#21610) <#21610 (comment)> Please provide an EML file that can be added to tests suite. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#21610 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACVGBJMYJ6TA7MUCVP6RBBD3ZB7XJAVCNFSM6AAAAACJ5QXSZSVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTIMZVGUZTAMJZG4> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

-- Atenciosamente __ *Jober Cavalcante* Desenvolvedor de sistemas +55 67 98401-2248 https://www.linkedin.com/in/jobercavalcante/

[jobercavalcante]

I did this fiz while in may glpi instance and works well:

The file is glpi/src/MailCollector.php

$raw_date = $message->getHeader('Date', 'string');
try {
    // Sanitiza cabeçalhos que possuem timezone duplicado, ex: "(GMT-04:00)" ou "(AMT)"
    $clean_date = preg_replace('/\s*\(.*\)$/', '', trim($raw_date));

    // Converte para timestamp com segurança
    $timestamp = @strtotime($clean_date);

    // Se ainda falhar, usa a data atual como fallback
    if ($timestamp === false) {
        throw new \Exception("Invalid date header: " . $raw_date);
    }

    $date = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", $timestamp);
} catch (\Throwable $e) {
    // Em caso de erro, loga e segue o baile com a data atual
    $date = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
    Toolbox::logInFile(
        'mailgate.replace_invalid_date',
        sprintf(
            __('Failed to parse date header ("%s"). Using current date as fallback. Error: %s', 'glpi'),
            $raw_date,
            $e->getMessage()
        ) . "\n"
    );
}

The Original code was, line 1364:

$date         = date("Y-m-d H:i:s", strtotime($message->getHeader('date', 'string')));