antivirus timeout error Alert Message Interpretation

Introduction

This document describes the cause of the antivirus timeout error alert message on the Cisco Email Security Appliance (ESA).

Alert Description

The antivirus timeout error alert is received when the Sophos antivirus engine attempts to scan a message but reaches the configured timeout before the scan can complete. This alert is purely informational and requires no action on most configurations.

MID 123456 antivirus timeout error

Optional Actions

This message is treated with the Unscannable Messages Sophos configuration that was active on this message, which is determined by the Incoming or Outgoing Mail Policy that matched the message.

If these timeout errors are frequent, it might indicate that the system processes large messages often or that it processes a high volume of mail. Although not recommended, you can raise this timeout limit with the antivirusconfig command.