Message size exceeds fixed maximum message size

Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.

Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.

*Except Fisheye and Crucible

Symptoms

Sending email with attachments in some cases fail.

The following appears in the atlassian-jira.log:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 2012-08-13 17:41:13,477 ERROR [Issuetrack Mailhandler] QuartzWorker-0 ServiceRunner Mail Handler[10000]: Exception: com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPSendFailedException: 552 4.3.1 Message size exceeds fixed maximum message size com.atlassian.mail.MailException: com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPSendFailedException: 552 4.3.1 Message size exceeds fixed maximum message size at com.atlassian.mail.server.impl.SMTPMailServerImpl.send(SMTPMailServerImpl.java:193) at com.atlassian.jira.service.services.mail.MailFetcherService$ErrorEmailForwarderImpl.sendMail(MailFetcherService.java:545) at com.atlassian.jira.service.services.mail.MailFetcherService$ErrorEmailForwarderImpl.forwardEmail(MailFetcherService.java:507) at com.atlassian.jira.service.services.mail.MailFetcherService$1.process(MailFetcherService.java:368) at com.atlassian.jira.service.services.mail.MailFetcherService$MessageProviderImpl.getAndProcessMail(MailFetcherService.java:264) at com.atlassian.jira.service.services.mail.MailFetcherService.runImpl(MailFetcherService.java:349) at com.atlassian.jira.service.services.file.AbstractMessageHandlingService.run(AbstractMessageHandlingService.java:250) at com.atlassian.jira.service.JiraServiceContainerImpl.run(JiraServiceContainerImpl.java:61) at com.atlassian.jira.service.ServiceRunner.execute(ServiceRunner.java:47) at org.quartz.core.JobRunShell.run(JobRunShell.java:195) at com.atlassian.multitenant.quartz.MultiTenantThreadPool$MultiTenantRunnable.run(MultiTenantThreadPool.java:72) at org.quartz.simpl.SimpleThreadPool$WorkerThread.run(SimpleThreadPool.java:520) Caused by: com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPSendFailedException: 552 4.3.1 Message size exceeds fixed maximum message size at com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.issueSendCommand(SMTPTransport.java:2114) at com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.finishData(SMTPTransport.java:1900) at com.sun.mail.smtp.SMTPTransport.sendMessage(SMTPTransport.java:1122) at com.atlassian.mail.server.impl.SMTPMailServerImpl.send(SMTPMailServerImpl.java:166) ... 11 more

Diagnosis

Your SMTP server settings might not allow messages with attachments over a certain size. The error message can show up when processing incoming mail as well. This scenario in the case would be that the message is not able to upload correctly so an error log to the forwardemail will be sent. Since the message is too large for the SMTP server to handle, the mail stays in the mailbox and errors like the above will be printed in logs.

Resolution

Change your Exchange mailbox settings to allow larger pieces of mail to be sent.

Updated on April 8, 2025

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