Microsoft 365 Alert – Service Degradation – Exchange Online – Users may be able to load email messages using the ‘FindItems’ method in Exchange Online and may encounter an error – RESOLVED

Announcements Sourav Nandi

01/11/2024 09:20:00 AM

NHSmail Reference: INC46617269

Microsoft Reference: EX921969

Issue Status: RESOLVED

Issue Description: Users may be able to load email messages using the ‘FindItems’ method in Exchange Online and may encounter an error.

More info: Affected users are unable to use the Exchange Web Services (EWS) ”FindItems” method to load email messages, particularly calendar invite email notifications. When running Kusto queries, the function ”Get_AppointmentState()” returns the error “An internal server error occurred. The operation failed.” While users may still be able to retrieve the subject of the affected email messages, errors are encountered upon attempting to load the message body.

For users utilizing a third-party email application that leverages EWS to retrieve email content, users may be prevented from accessing email messages and calendar invites.

Final Update: 08/11/2024 09:55:00 AM – Microsoft have determined that our fix deployment has reached all affected users and our service telemetry confirms that this issue is resolved.

Scope of impact: Any user leveraging the EWS ”Find Items” method to load email messages in Exchange Online may be impacted.

Root cause: A recent change intended to optimize the XML flow for certain EWS methods is resulting in impact.

Next steps: Microsoft are reviewing their validation and updating procedures to better detect and prevent issues like this prior to deployment in the future.