Skip to content
Clinic open · free diagnosis, no appointment needed2,000+ domains monitored

DMARC CNAME points nowhere

CODE RED

DMARC · Critical · costs 40 points · RFC 9989 section 4.5

What it means

_dmarc.example.com is a CNAME to example.net, and nothing resolves there. This is the real reason your DMARC looks missing, the delegation is broken, not the policy.

How to fix it

Fix or remove the CNAME so _dmarc.example.com reaches a valid DMARC TXT record.

Check your own domain

This page describes the condition. To find out whether your domain has it, run the DMARC test or the full checkup, which examines every record at once.

Understand it properly

This page covers one condition. For the whole picture, The DMARC guide, from a first record to enforcement, or start at the Health Library.

Where this comes from

We judge this against RFC 9989 section 4.5. Every finding on this site cites the specification behind it so you can check the work rather than take our word for it.

Other DMARC conditions

DMARC_CNAME_BROKEN

Every fix on this site is yours to implement. If you would rather someone did it, I take this work directly.