FEATURE: Add email_encoded parameter to accept inbound base64 encoded emails (#12947)

We have found when receiving and posting inbound emails to the handle_mail route, it is better to POST the payload as a base64 encoded string to avoid strange encoding issues. This introduces a new param of `email_encoded` and maintains the legacy param of email, showing a deprecation warning. Eventually the old param of `email` will be dropped and the new one `email_encoded` will be the only way to handle_mail.

app/controllers/admin/email_controller.rb

@@ -143,14 +143,24 @@ class Admin::EmailController < Admin::AdminController
   end
 
   def handle_mail
-    params.require(:email)
+    deprecated_email_param_used = false
+
+    if params[:email_encoded].present?
+      email_raw = Base64.strict_decode64(params[:email_encoded])
+    elsif params[:email].present?
+      deprecated_email_param_used = true
+      email_raw = params[:email]
+    else
+      raise ActionController::ParameterMissing.new("email_encoded or email")
+    end
+
     retry_count = 0
 
     begin
-      Jobs.enqueue(:process_email, mail: params[:email], retry_on_rate_limit: true, source: :handle_mail)
+      Jobs.enqueue(:process_email, mail: email_raw, retry_on_rate_limit: true, source: :handle_mail)
     rescue JSON::GeneratorError => e
       if retry_count == 0
-        params[:email] = params[:email].force_encoding('iso-8859-1').encode("UTF-8")
+        email_raw = email_raw.force_encoding('iso-8859-1').encode("UTF-8")
         retry_count += 1
         retry
       else
@@ -158,8 +168,14 @@ class Admin::EmailController < Admin::AdminController
       end
     end
 
+    # TODO: 2022-05-01 Remove this route once all sites have migrated over
+    # to using the new email_encoded param.
+    if deprecated_email_param_used
+      render plain: "warning: the email parameter is deprecated. all POST requests to this route should be sent with a base64 strict encoded encoded_email parameter instead. email has been received and is queued for processing"
+    else
       render plain: "email has been received and is queued for processing"
     end
+  end
 
   def raw_email
     params.require(:id)

lib/auth/default_current_user_provider.rb

@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ class Auth::DefaultCurrentUserProvider
       methods: :post,
       actions: "admin/email#handle_mail",
       formats: nil
-    )
+    ),
   ]
 
   # do all current user initialization here

spec/requests/admin/email_controller_spec.rb

@@ -202,10 +202,32 @@ describe Admin::EmailController do
   end
 
   describe '#handle_mail' do
-    it 'should enqueue the right job' do
+    it "returns a bad request if neither email parameter is present" do
-      expect { post "/admin/email/handle_mail.json", params: { email: email('cc') } }
+      post "/admin/email/handle_mail.json"
-        .to change { Jobs::ProcessEmail.jobs.count }.by(1)
+      expect(response.status).to eq(400)
+      expect(response.body).to include("param is missing")
+    end
+
+    it 'should enqueue the right job, and show a deprecation warning (email_encoded param should be used)' do
+      expect_enqueued_with(
+        job: :process_email,
+        args: { mail: email('cc'), retry_on_rate_limit: true, source: :handle_mail }
+      ) do
+        post "/admin/email/handle_mail.json", params: { email: email('cc') }
+      end
       expect(response.status).to eq(200)
+      expect(response.body).to eq("warning: the email parameter is deprecated. all POST requests to this route should be sent with a base64 strict encoded encoded_email parameter instead. email has been received and is queued for processing")
+    end
+
+    it 'should enqueue the right job, decoding the raw email param' do
+      expect_enqueued_with(
+        job: :process_email,
+        args: { mail: email('cc'), retry_on_rate_limit: true, source: :handle_mail }
+      ) do
+        post "/admin/email/handle_mail.json", params: { email_encoded: Base64.strict_encode64(email('cc')) }
+      end
+      expect(response.status).to eq(200)
+      expect(response.body).to eq("email has been received and is queued for processing")
     end
   end