Updated · Volt Ghost team
Where mail for the four Mail.ru domains goes
Snapshot taken on 12 November 2026 through Cloudflare's DNS-over-HTTPS service.
| Address domain | Preference | Receiving host |
|---|---|---|
mail.ru | 10 | mxs.mail.ru |
inbox.ru | 10 | mxs.mail.ru |
list.ru | 10 | mxs.mail.ru |
bk.ru | 10 | mxs.mail.ru |
Unlike Gmail's five-step ladder, Mail.ru publishes one MX name and spreads load behind it: mxs.mail.ru returned 94.100.180.31 and 217.69.139.150. Both belong to AS47764 according to Team Cymru's lookup service, registered to LLC VK in Russia. No IPv6 address was published for the host.
SPF, DMARC and TLS policy at Mail.ru
| Check | DNS name | What it said (12 Nov 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| SPF | TXT on all four domains | v=spf1 redirect=_spf.mail.ru |
| SPF list | _spf.mail.ru TXT | About 40 ip4: ranges (for example 94.100.176.0/20 and 217.69.128.0/20), ending ~all |
| DMARC | _dmarc.mail.ru (same on the other three) | v=DMARC1;p=reject;rua=mailto:[email protected]; |
| MTA-STS | _mta-sts.mail.ru and mta-sts.mail.ru policy | id=20260715T120000, policy mode: testing, max_age: 86400 |
| TLS reporting | _smtp._tls.mail.ru TXT | v=TLSRPTv1;rua=mailto:[email protected] |
- SPF by IP range: where WEB.DE lists servers by name, Mail.ru lists raw address blocks in one long record split across many strings.
- DMARC reject: the strictest policy, shared by all four domains, so spoofed mail that fails alignment should be refused.
- MTA-STS names more hosts than MX: the policy file allows
mxs.mail.ru,emx.mail.ruandmx2.corp.mail.ru, but only the first appears in public MX. The policy ID dates from 15 July 2026 and it still says testing. - A wildcard TXT: mail.ru answers TXT queries for made-up names under it with an SPF string, so tools that probe for BIMI or DKIM keys there can see a false hit. We left BIMI out of this table for that reason.
When Mail.ru's records matter
Bounces from mxs.mail.ru come from Mail.ru's receiving side, and with DMARC at reject a sender with broken alignment is refused outright rather than filtered to spam. Because inbox.ru, list.ru and bk.ru share the same server, an allow-list or block rule written for mail.ru's MX catches all four. Paste any of the four domains into our email host lookup and it reports Mail.ru.
Is a Mail.ru address treated as temp mail?
No. Sign-up forms that compare MX hosts against known throwaway servers see VK's own infrastructure here, so a bk.ru or inbox.ru address is accepted like any long-lived mailbox. Our guide to how sites detect disposable email lists the other signals forms use, and you can test a single domain in the disposable email checker. For a one-time code you don't want tied to your real inbox, a temporary address is the lighter option.
Questions
What is the MX record for mail.ru?
mail.ru has a single MX record, mxs.mail.ru at priority 10. That one name returned two IPv4 addresses on 12 November 2026, so the load is shared at the DNS level.
Do inbox.ru, list.ru and bk.ru use the same mail server?
Yes. All four domains point their only MX record at mxs.mail.ru and use the same SPF redirect, DMARC policy and MTA-STS ID.
Does Mail.ru use DMARC?
Yes. Every one of the four domains publishes p=reject, so receivers are asked to refuse mail that claims to be from them and fails alignment.
Do sites block mail.ru addresses as disposable?
They shouldn't on that basis: mail.ru, inbox.ru, list.ru and bk.ru are permanent VK mailboxes and are absent from the open-source throwaway-domain list behind our checker.
