How to fix missing spf on Magento Open Source

Steps for Magento Open Source

1. DNS is managed at your registrar or hosting provider — not inside Magento.
2. Log in to your DNS provider and add a TXT record at '@' with your full SPF value.
3. In Magento admin, go to Stores → Configuration → Advanced → System → Mail Sending Settings to confirm the SMTP host in use, then add that provider's SPF include: directive to your record.
4. Common setups include a server-local sendmail (add your server's IP as 'ip4:x.x.x.x') or a third-party SMTP relay like SendGrid or Mailgun (use their published include: tag).
5. Verify propagation with a free SPF lookup tool.

What is missing spf?

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a DNS record — a single line of text you publish at your domain — that lists every mail server and service allowed to send email from your domain address. When someone receives an email claiming to be from you, their mail server looks up this record and checks whether the sending server is on your approved list. If there is no SPF record at all, there is nothing to check against, and your domain is completely open to impersonation. Think of it as a guest list for who is allowed to send email in your name.

Without an SPF record, criminals can forge your domain in the "From" address of phishing or spam emails — a technique called email spoofing — and your customers, suppliers, or partners may receive fraudulent messages that appear to come from your business. This directly harms customer trust and can expose you to legal liability. Beyond fraud risk, major email providers (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo) now treat domains without SPF as suspicious and are more likely to send your legitimate transactional emails — order confirmations, shipping notices, password resets — straight to spam, costing you sales and customer satisfaction. A missing SPF record also contributes to OWASP A05:2021 Security Misconfiguration findings, which can affect security audits and partner due-diligence reviews.

See the complete Missing spf guide for every platform and the full background.