How to add an exception for the "Unscannable for Malware and Content Filtering" policy - Messaging Gateway

Products

• Messaging Gateway

Issue/Introduction

f you are receiving 'Unscannable for Malware and Content Filtering' alerts, this article explains how to manage or add exceptions.

Before creating an exception, it is critical to investigate the root cause—such as scanning timeouts, connectivity issues to the Threat Analysis backend, or file structure limitations—as bypassing the policy might expose your environment to unverified content.

Environment

Messaging Gateway 10.8 10.9

Resolution

Exceptions for Email Malware Policies can be set for internal users only by creating a new Policy Group and enabling Malware Policies with different actions configured for it. There is no possibility to do it for external sender/recipient.

The condition: If a message is unscannable for Malware and Content Filtering for any reason must be assigned to at least one policy, and that policy must be assigned to at least one policy group.

To uncheck this policy group, you must first assign a different policy group to a policy that has the condition: If a message is unscannable for Malware and Content Filtering for any reason.

Important: Do not immediately create an exception. First, verify the verdict in the logs (e.g., 'Unscannable for other reasons'). A common cause is a loss of connectivity between the appliance and backend services like ent-shasta-rrs.symantec.com. Resolving the connectivity issue is often safer than adding an exception.