SPF softfail
The SPF result saying the sending IP address is probably not authorized, a weaker statement than fail, produced by a ~ qualifier such as ~all.
What it means
softfail sits between fail and neutral. The domain believes the host is not authorized but will not make a firm statement. RFC 7208 says receivers should not reject on softfail alone. They may still treat the message with more suspicion, for example by flagging it or by greylisting.
Under DMARC a softfail is simply not a pass, so if DKIM does not align either, the message fails DMARC and the domain's DMARC policy applies.
Softfail on your own mail means the sending server is missing from the record, exactly as with fail.
Related terms
On this site
Sources
What this definition rests on. The wording is ours; the facts are theirs.
- RFC 7208: Sender Policy Framework (SPF), section 2.6.5rfc-editor.org
- RFC 7208: Sender Policy Framework (SPF), section 8.5rfc-editor.org
All 432 terms in the glossaryThe wiki: blocklists and bounce codes