Sitecore WFFM SendEmailMessage SMTP Password Authentication Error - sitecore

Question

I am currently running a local Sitecore at version 7.2 rev 140526 and Web Forms for Marketers at 2.4 rev 150619. I am currently experiencing an SMTP failure to authenticate error when using the WFFM SendEmailMessage default save action.
After some investigation, I discovered that this is because WFFM's internal EmailAttributes class that stores the SMTP config (that comes from either the web.config or the Parameters field on the SaveAction itself, as per their documentation) was using an old SMTP password that was changed over a year ago.
That is to say, the values retrieved by the following two lines of code were different despite the fact that the mail server password in the webconfig and Parameters fields specify the same value:
var configPassword = Sitecore.Configuration.Settings.GetSetting("MailServerPassword");
// EmailAttributes.Password
var basePassword = Password;
This old password that is returned when accessing the EmailAttributes.Password field is not present in the web.config in either the solution or the Sitecore/Website directory nor is it present in my local showconfig. Futhermore, the old password is not present in the Parameters field of the default WFFM SendEmailMessage save action and the following Sitecore query executed against Core, Master and Web database yields no results:
fast://*[#Parameters = '%fooBar%']
It is also worth noting that if the value contained in the configPassword variable (which is the correct password) is used to overwrite the value contained in the EmailAttribute's Password field (e.g. Password = configPassword) mail is sent successfully and there is no authentication error with the SMTP server.
We have a custom SendEmail save action that inherits from Sitecore.Form.Submit.SendMessage, overrides the Execute method, manipulates the fields collection and calls base.Execute() and emails are sent successfully.
Also, in WFFM v 2.3.0 rev 130118 there is no SMTP failure to authenticate exception thrown when using the default SendEmailMessage save action provided by WFFM when using the same SMTP configuration in the web.config file and config injected into the Parameters field of the SendEmailMessage save action.
I am at a loss for how/why the EmailAttributes.Password field would be getting a value that is not present in config, not coming from the Paremeters field on the SaveAction in sitecore, and isn't configured manually in the SMTP Email IIS module.
Any insight would be much appreciated!

Answer 1

The issue is most likely due to the way that the WFFM parameters are stored. Unfortunately the save action is not stored as a reference to the original when you add an action to a form. What actually happens is the parameters are copied from the parameters field of the Save Action to the Save Actions field on the form when it is added. Since it is a copy and not a reference, changing the parameters on the original save action does not change any existing forms using that save action.
You can verify this by going to the the form in Content Editor, go to View ribbon and ensure Standard Fields and Raw Values are both checked. Then check the Save Actions field under the Submit section. You should find the password within the XML in the <parameters> node.
There are 2 options to fix this:
Delete the send email save action from your form and add it in again
Edit the XML from the Save Actions field to remove the Password