The “Received” field in an email header provides a detailed trace of the path that the email took as it passed through various mail servers to reach the recipient. Each time an email passes through a server, that server adds its own “Received” field to the header, resulting in a stack of “Received” fields that document the email’s journey.
Let’s break down the two “Received” fields in your example:
- First “Received” field:
Received: from mail-sor-f41.google.com (mail-sor-f41.google.com. [209.85.220.41])
by mx.google.com with SMTPS id u5-20020a056402175500b005588066c00asor114749edx.11.2024.01.16.05.06.50
for <[email protected]>
(Google Transport Security);
Tue, 16 Jan 2024 05:06:50 -0800 (PST)This field indicates that the email was received from the server “mail-sor-f41.google.com” (with the IP address 209.85.220.41) by the server “mx.google.com”. The email was received using SMTPS (SMTP over SSL), indicating that the transmission was encrypted. The ID “u5-20020a056402175500b005588066c00asor114749edx.11.2024.01.16.05.06.50” is a unique identifier assigned by the receiving server. The email was intended for the recipient “[email protected]”. The email was received on Tuesday, 16th January 2024 at 05:06:50 PST.
- Second “Received” field:
Received: by 2002:a05:6f02:840d:b0:62:70aa:4a86 with SMTP id v13csp1640640rce;
Tue, 16 Jan 2024 05:06:51 -0800 (PST)This field indicates that the email was received by the server with the IP address “2002:a05:6f02:840d:b0:62:70aa:4a86” using SMTP. The ID “v13csp1640640rce” is a unique identifier assigned by the receiving server. The email was received on Tuesday, 16th January 2024 at 05:06:51 PST.
By examining the “Received” fields, you can trace the path an email took from the sender to the recipient. This can be useful for diagnosing delivery issues or investigating potential email spoofing or phishing attempts.
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