Update a blocked email sender

PATCH/accounts/{account_id}/email-security/settings/block_senders/{pattern_id}

Updates an existing blocked sender pattern. Only provided fields will be modified. The pattern will continue blocking emails until deleted.

Security

API Token

The preferred authorization scheme for interacting with the Cloudflare API. Create a token.

Example:Authorization: Bearer Sn3lZJTBX6kkg7OdcBUAxOO963GEIyGQqnFTOFYY

API Email + API Key

The previous authorization scheme for interacting with the Cloudflare API, used in conjunction with a Global API key.

Example:X-Auth-Email: user@example.com

The previous authorization scheme for interacting with the Cloudflare API. When possible, use API tokens instead of Global API keys.

Example:X-Auth-Key: 144c9defac04969c7bfad8efaa8ea194

Accepted Permissions (at least one required)

Cloud Email Security: Write

Path ParametersExpand Collapse

account_id: string

Identifier.

maxLength32

pattern_id: string

Blocked sender pattern identifier.

formatuuid

Body ParametersJSONExpand Collapse

comments: optional string

maxLength1024

is_regex: optional boolean

pattern: optional string

The pattern value to match. The format depends on pattern_type: a valid email address for EMAIL (e.g. user@example.com), a valid domain name for DOMAIN (e.g. example.com), or a plain IPv4 address or IPv4 CIDR block for IP (e.g. 1.2.3.4 or 1.2.3.0/24); the API accepts only globally reachable IP addresses and rejects private, loopback, link-local, and unspecified addresses.

maxLength1024

minLength1

pattern_type: optional "EMAIL" or "DOMAIN" or "IP" or "UNKNOWN"

Type of pattern matching.

EMAIL: matches a full email address (e.g. user@example.com)
DOMAIN: matches a domain name (e.g. example.com)
IP: matches a plain IPv4 address (e.g. 1.2.3.4) or an IPv4 CIDR block (e.g. 1.2.3.0/24). The API accepts only globally reachable addresses.
UNKNOWN: deprecated; you cannot use this when creating or updating policies, but it may appear on existing entries.

One of the following:

"EMAIL"

"DOMAIN"

"IP"

"UNKNOWN"

ReturnsExpand Collapse

errors: array of object { code, message, documentation_url, source }

code: number

minimum1000

message: string

documentation_url: optional string

source: optional object { pointer }

pointer: optional string

messages: array of object { code, message, documentation_url, source }

code: number

minimum1000

message: string

documentation_url: optional string

source: optional object { pointer }

pointer: optional string

success: true

Whether the API call was successful.

result: optional object { id, comments, created_at, 5 more }

A blocked sender pattern.

id: optional string

Blocked sender pattern identifier.

formatuuid

comments: optional string

maxLength1024

created_at: optional string

formatdate-time

is_regex: optional boolean

Deprecatedlast_modified: optional string

Use modified_at instead.

Deprecated, use modified_at instead. End of life: November 1, 2026.

formatdate-time

modified_at: optional string

formatdate-time

pattern: optional string

maxLength1024

minLength1

pattern_type: optional "EMAIL" or "DOMAIN" or "IP" or "UNKNOWN"

Type of pattern matching.

EMAIL: matches a full email address (e.g. user@example.com)
DOMAIN: matches a domain name (e.g. example.com)
IP: matches a plain IPv4 address (e.g. 1.2.3.4) or an IPv4 CIDR block (e.g. 1.2.3.0/24). The API accepts only globally reachable addresses.
UNKNOWN: deprecated; you cannot use this when creating or updating policies, but it may appear on existing entries.

One of the following:

"EMAIL"

"DOMAIN"

"IP"

"UNKNOWN"

Update a blocked email sender

curl https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCOUNT_ID/email-security/settings/block_senders/$PATTERN_ID \
    -X PATCH \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" \
    -d '{
          "comments": "Block sender with email test@example.com",
          "pattern": "test@example.com",
          "pattern_type": "EMAIL"
        }'

{
  "errors": [
    {
      "code": 1000,
      "message": "message",
      "documentation_url": "documentation_url",
      "source": {
        "pointer": "pointer"
      }
    }
  ],
  "messages": [
    {
      "code": 1000,
      "message": "message",
      "documentation_url": "documentation_url",
      "source": {
        "pointer": "pointer"
      }
    }
  ],
  "success": true,
  "result": {
    "id": "f174e90a-fafe-4643-bbbc-4a0ed4fc8415",
    "comments": "Block sender with email test@example.com",
    "created_at": "2014-01-01T05:20:00.12345Z",
    "is_regex": false,
    "last_modified": "2014-01-01T05:20:00.12345Z",
    "modified_at": "2014-01-01T05:20:00.12345Z",
    "pattern": "test@example.com",
    "pattern_type": "EMAIL"
  }
}

Returns Examples

{
  "errors": [
    {
      "code": 1000,
      "message": "message",
      "documentation_url": "documentation_url",
      "source": {
        "pointer": "pointer"
      }
    }
  ],
  "messages": [
    {
      "code": 1000,
      "message": "message",
      "documentation_url": "documentation_url",
      "source": {
        "pointer": "pointer"
      }
    }
  ],
  "success": true,
  "result": {
    "id": "f174e90a-fafe-4643-bbbc-4a0ed4fc8415",
    "comments": "Block sender with email test@example.com",
    "created_at": "2014-01-01T05:20:00.12345Z",
    "is_regex": false,
    "last_modified": "2014-01-01T05:20:00.12345Z",
    "modified_at": "2014-01-01T05:20:00.12345Z",
    "pattern": "test@example.com",
    "pattern_type": "EMAIL"
  }
}