MX targets must not be CNAMEs

Published September 4, 2026. Updated September 9, 2026.

An MX record must point at a hostname that has address (A/AAAA) records, not at a CNAME alias. Pointing an MX at a CNAME violates the DNS standards (RFC 2181 / RFC 1034) and some mail servers will refuse to deliver.

Why it matters

A mail server looks up your MX, then looks up the address of that target. If the target is a CNAME, the extra indirection is not allowed for MX targets and behaviour becomes inconsistent between senders: some follow it, some do not, and mail can be delayed or lost.

How to fix it

Point the MX at a host that has its own A/AAAA records. If your provider gives you a CNAME for mail, ask for the underlying hostname, or use the provider's documented MX hostnames directly.

# Wrong: mail.example.com is a CNAME
example.com.        MX     10 mail.example.com.
mail.example.com.   CNAME  ghs.example-provider.net.

# Right: MX points at a host with A/AAAA records
example.com.        MX     10 mx.example-provider.net.

How to verify

dig example.com MX +short
dig <mx-target> CNAME +short   # should return nothing
dig <mx-target> A +short       # should return addresses

If the CNAME lookup returns a value, the target is an alias and needs to change.

See also