Duplicate Tickets Being Created from Email Handler

[Christopher Stevens]

I have an issue with duplicate ticket creation that's driving me nuts. It just sort of randomly started and I can't work out what's causing it.

Basically, the process is this - I email a custom email address which is configured properly in JSM as an Email Handler. This catches the email fine (Shows receiving the email in the log only once) and it creates the job correctly and assigns the correct Request Type and moves it to Incidents which is what it's been configured for.

The job says "<Username> has raised this request via Email"

A Signature detection block is in place and detects the Signatures fine using custom values to detect it. In the created job, it has collapsed/obfuscated the signature correctly. 

There is then an Automation Process to strip the attachments from the Job - this also runs perfectly and deletes all the attachments via Regex query, so it's looking great and far less messy.

That all works fine, but within about 5 seconds suddenly another Ticket suddenly appears that's a duplicate of the one just made.  

Things to note - The duplicate job that is created does not have any request type associated with it. It also reads differently at the top "<Username> has raised this request via Jira". The duplicate job also does not have its attachments stripped, OR its signatures obfuscated.

This would suggest to me that the job had been duplicated / created in the Portal which is not remotely accurate. Is there some hidden function I'm missing here?

I have tried disabling the Automations, same issue. So its not the Automations.. I have created a policy in Defender ATP to Disable Safe Attachments on that specific mailbox so that Dynamic Delivery doesnt affect it either.. Still the same

Thoughts Guru's?

[Christopher Stevens · Accepted solution]

Just for confirmation - This is now resolved. I had to get support onto it in the end. 

Differences between Jira Core mail handler and JSM mail handler | Jira | Atlassian Documentation

How does Jira Service Management process email requests? | Jira Service Management Cloud | Atlassian Support

The issue I had is i didn't realise that I had the mail setup in Jira Core/Software as well as JSM - and this is why it was double handling it. Rookie mistake! (Albeit in all fairness nothing really differentiates the two..) Deleted it from the Core Handlers and it processed fine! :)

[Walter Buggenhout]

Hi @Christopher Stevens,

Very difficult to diagnose without access to your setup. But from your description, its seems pretty clear that the duplicate issue is created before your cleanup actions occur (otherwise, the signature and attachments would not be there).

For me that suggests that an automation (not yours, but another rule) is somehow kicking in. In your scenario, the part about "... and moves it to incidents ..." triggers my attention, but that may be only because I don't understand what you mean by this 'move'.

Anyway, if an automation is at play here, you should be able to see that by looking at the duplicate issue, on the automations field present on the issue. The most recent automation rule(s) that have run against the issue are displayed there. Also look at the issue history at the bottom of the issue, where you should be able to find out who created the issue and at what time.

One more step on the automation theory: you should be looking for an automation rule either in your project or configured globally (running across multiple projects) that responds to the issue created trigger.

If the cause is not an automation rule, you may also want to check any post functions in the created transition of your issue workflow or any scripting apps you may have in your instance.

Happy investigation! Hope this helps! 

[Christopher Stevens]

Hiya @Walter Buggenhout 

I would normally agree, its just that the duplicate is appearing around 5-6 seconds after the original though.. and the original has had the cleanup actions already applied. Its almost as if the Process is saying, 'im going to do what you ask, but im going to make a duplicate of the job as a backup just in case'. Also the number is sequentially after so its <key>-266 and <key>-267 for example.

When I say move it to Incident's, I have assigned the Email Request channel directly to the Incidents category so anything received by email will appear in Incidents using that template/workflow.

Good call on global automations, i'll double check those. As well as transitions.. Its a new instance so I haven't created any but there may be something lurking from my predecessor.. 

Interestingly in the Audit Log it does try to parse the Automation to strip the attachments over both the original (success) and the one duplicated after (fail). Multiple tests its done this. It also doesn't show the duplicate in the customer portal.. just in the main console