fix(decision): registry facts win over caller-supplied attributes
secrets-engine's first live request rejected our allow: binding.
request_digest is computed over material they never sent, because we
enrich subject and resource from the registry before hashing. Answering
that meant reading the enrichment path, which had a worse defect in it.
Enrichment was additive-if-absent — addAttribute wrote a registry value
only where the request had no value for that key. So where a caller
supplied a key, the caller's value won and the registry's never applied.
Every registry ceiling and allowlist was advisory. Verified against the
shipped ops-warden package, each one added key on an otherwise-denied
request:
max_ttl_hours: 99 registry says 8 -> allowed a 12h certificate
allowed_principals registry allowlist -> disallowed_principal bypassed
allowed_subjects registry allowlist -> unknown_subject bypassed
The third is the one to read twice: a subject the registry does not know
authorized itself by naming itself in the allowlist it was being checked
against.
Not remotely reachable today — the PEP builds the CheckRequest,
ops-warden sends no resource.attributes, and enforce admits one identity.
It is a defence-in-depth failure: any path that lets attacker-influenced
data into a CheckRequest field became a full policy bypass rather than a
bounded input problem. Callers sending resource.attributes is not
hypothetical; secrets-engine does it on every request.
Registry facts now win, and diagnostics.registry_overrode names every
displaced key, because a registry that silently discards a contradicting
claim hides that a caller asserted authority it did not have.
subject.type is carved out, and the reason is a finding of its own.
Making the registry win there denied every secrets-engine allow: the
registry's type is CARING vocabulary (Human, Agent, Automation, Service)
and the request's is the protected system's actor vocabulary (service,
adm, agt, atm). Two fields sharing a name; substituting one for the other
is translation rather than identity, which GH-DEC-2026-008 ruled against.
Note what surfaced it — the registry's type had been dead data since the
field existed, because the caller's value always won.
Also publishes binding.submitted_request_digest, over the request exactly
as sent. request_digest was published as the consumer replay test and
cannot be one. Nothing is lost hashing the pre-enrichment form:
enrichment is a function of the request and the snapshot, and
registry_snapshot_digest already pins the snapshot.
Existing pins do not move. All three replay fixtures' request_digest and
approval_binding_digest values are byte-identical — those requests
contradict no registry fact. A field to add, not a value to correct.
Regression tests verified failing against the old behaviour before being
kept. FLEX-DEC-2026-012; FLEX-WP-0025 carries the residual, that a policy
still cannot tell a fact from an assertion.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_014aQMM1dPXaPiXVn6DwwtLd
Assistant: claude-code
Assistant-Model: opus
Assistant-Process: 715613@bnt-lap001
Assistant-Session: fabd95c1-4c9e-4080-8849-8707ae025f80
2026-09-07 13:43:33 +02:00
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# Request enrichment
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**Published under `FLEX-DEC-2026-012`.** What the evaluator adds to a request
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before policy sees it, which value wins where the two disagree, and which digest
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a consumer can reproduce.
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Nothing here was previously written down. Both defects the decision record covers
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were consequences of that: a consumer could not compute the digest it was told to
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compute, and a caller could contradict a registry fact and be believed.
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## The evaluator overlays registry facts
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`POST /v1/check` receives a `CheckRequest`. Before policy evaluates it, the
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evaluator resolves the subject and the resource in the registry snapshot and
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overlays what it finds:
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| Target | Keys the registry contributes |
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| --- | --- |
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| `subject` | `type`, `tenant`, and attributes `display_name`, `organization_relation`, `roles`, `groups`, plus every subject claim and metadata key |
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| `resource` | `type`, and attributes `path`, `parent`, `labels`, `trust_zone`, `owner`, plus every manifest attribute |
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Separately, and before either lookup, a non-empty top-level `tenant` propagates
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into `subject.tenant` and `resource.tenant` when those are empty.
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An unregistered subject or resource is enriched with nothing. `diagnostics`
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reports `registry_subject` and `registry_resource` for exactly this reason.
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## The registry wins
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**A registry fact is an authority statement. The same key on the request is the
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caller's proposal about itself.** Where they disagree, the registry's value
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reaches policy and the caller's is discarded.
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This was the other way round until 2026-09-07, and it made every registry ceiling
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and allowlist advisory. Three verified escalations against the shipped
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`ops-warden` package, each a single added key on an otherwise-denied request:
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| Sent by the caller | Registry says | Was | Now |
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| --- | --- | --- | --- |
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| `resource.attributes.max_ttl_hours: 99` | `8` | `allow` a 12h certificate | `deny ttl_out_of_bounds` |
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| `resource.attributes.allowed_principals: [root, …]` | `[platform, root]` | `allow` | `deny disallowed_principal` |
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| `resource.attributes.allowed_subjects: [<caller>]` | `[platform-steward, …]` | `allow` | `deny unknown_subject` |
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The third is the one to read twice: a subject the registry does not know
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authorized itself by naming itself in the allowlist it was being checked against.
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`internal/decision/enrichment_precedence_test.go` asserts the registry value
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reaches policy on a request that contradicts it, against attribute keys real
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packages branch on — a test over an unused key would pass while the escalation
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stayed open.
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### Overrides are reported, not silent
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`diagnostics.registry_overrode` lists the keys whose caller-supplied value was
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displaced, as `subject.<key>` or `resource.<key>`. Empty on an honest request.
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A registry that quietly discards a contradicting claim hides that a caller
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asserted authority it did not have. The decision is correct either way; the
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attempt is worth seeing.
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## The residual: keys the registry does not define
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**A caller-supplied attribute for a key the registry does not define still
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reaches policy.** This is stated rather than fixed.
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So a package branching on an attribute its manifest omits is reading caller
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input, and a manifest that stops declaring a key silently hands that key to the
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caller. Registering the resource is not sufficient — the specific key must be
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present in the manifest.
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The structural fix is that a policy should be able to tell a registry fact from a
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caller assertion at all, which one merged `attributes` map makes impossible.
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`FLEX-WP-0025` carries it. Until then, **a policy that enforces a ceiling or an
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allowlist MUST read a key its manifest declares**, and that is a review
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obligation on every package.
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2026-09-14 04:47:52 +02:00
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## Package attribute-read audit (FLEX-WP-0025-T02)
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Read every `input.{resource,subject}.attributes.<key>` (including
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`object.get`) in the published packages. A ceiling or allowlist must be
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declared on every resource/subject that package can be asked about.
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First-class registry fields that enrichment copies into attributes (`roles`,
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`groups`, `labels`, `trust_zone`, `owner`, `path`, `parent`, plus subject
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`metadata`/`claims`) count as declared.
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Classification: **ceiling/allowlist** must be facts; **caller-proposed** is
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genuinely the request; **ambiguous** is the T01 input.
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| Package | Key | Kind | Role | Declared |
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| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
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| ops-warden | resource.max_ttl_hours | ceiling | ceiling | yes (manifest + snapshots) |
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| ops-warden | resource.allowed_subjects | allowlist | allowlist | yes |
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| ops-warden | resource.allowed_principals | allowlist | allowlist | yes |
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| ops-warden | resource.actor_id | identity | allowlist | yes |
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| ops-warden | resource.actor_type | identity | allowlist | yes |
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| ops-warden | resource.security_zone | posture | ceiling | yes (snapshots; added to `resource_manifest.yaml` 2026-09-14) |
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| ops-warden | resource.security_zone_admission | posture | ceiling | yes |
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| ops-warden | subject.actor_type | identity | allowlist | yes (`metadata.actor_type`, copied into attributes) |
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| railiance-platform | resource.max_ttl_seconds | ceiling | ceiling | yes |
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| railiance-platform | resource.allowed_actor_types | allowlist | allowlist | yes |
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| railiance-platform | resource.allowed_purposes | allowlist | allowlist | yes |
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| railiance-platform | resource.allowed_delivery_modes | allowlist | allowlist | yes |
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| railiance-platform | resource.grant_id | identity | allowlist | yes |
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| secrets-engine | — | — | no attribute reads | — |
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| tenant-engine | — | — | no attribute reads | — |
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| qonto-assistant | — | — | no attribute reads | — |
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| user-engine | subject.roles | allowlist | allowlist | yes (first-class `roles`; snapshot now names a registration-applicant) |
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| user-engine | subject.issuer | allowlist | allowlist | yes (`claims.issuer` on that subject) |
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| markitect (example) | resource.labels | classification | allowlist | yes (first-class `labels`) |
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| markitect (example) | subject.groups | membership | allowlist | yes (first-class `groups`) |
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| markitect (example) | subject.roles | membership | allowlist | yes (first-class `roles`) |
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| informed-decision-t03 (fixture) | subject.assurance, groups, principal_type_source, tenant_source | mixed | see T01 | fixture-only; not a published consumer package |
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No published-package ceiling or allowlist remains unbacked after the two
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declaration fixes above. `ttl_hours`, `purpose`, `requested_ttl_seconds`, and
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`principals` are **context** fields (caller-proposed) and are not in this
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table.
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## Chosen input shape (FLEX-WP-0025-T01)
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**Keep the merged `attributes` map. Add parallel namespaces. Do not break the
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six packages.**
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```text
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input.resource.attributes # merged view (status quo)
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input.resource.registry.* # registry facts only
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input.resource.asserted.* # caller-supplied only
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input.subject.attributes # merged view (status quo)
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input.subject.registry.* # registry facts only
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input.subject.asserted.* # caller-supplied only
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```
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Why not stop merging: three of the six published packages (`secrets-engine`,
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`tenant-engine`, `qonto-assistant`) read no attributes at all; the other three
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already have their ceilings declared. A breaking change across six packages
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buys nothing on day one and invites a silent miss on a package that still
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reads `attributes` by habit. The merged view stays so existing rules keep
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their meaning; a ceiling rule **opts in** to `registry.*`.
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**Vocabulary collision on `subject.type`:** do not overwrite it with the
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CARING registry type (`Human`/`Agent`/`Automation`/`Service`). Packages
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compare against the protected system's actor vocabulary (`service`, `adm`,
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`agt`, `atm`). Put the CARING type at `input.subject.registry.type` (and the
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caller value at `input.subject.asserted.type`). `input.subject.type` remains
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the request's actor vocabulary, filled from the caller, defaulting only when
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empty — the exception already in `enrichSubjectRef`.
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Ambiguous set that T03's validate check must surface, because intent cannot
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be inferred from the key name:
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- `subject.roles` / `subject.groups` — first-class registry facts when the
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subject is registered; caller input when it is not
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- `subject.issuer` — allowlist for public registration; a fact only if the
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directory wrote it
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- `subject.type` — two vocabularies, one field (handled above, not by
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precedence)
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Package changes wait until T03 makes "read a declared registry key" a
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`flex-auth validate` finding rather than a review note.
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fix(decision): registry facts win over caller-supplied attributes
secrets-engine's first live request rejected our allow: binding.
request_digest is computed over material they never sent, because we
enrich subject and resource from the registry before hashing. Answering
that meant reading the enrichment path, which had a worse defect in it.
Enrichment was additive-if-absent — addAttribute wrote a registry value
only where the request had no value for that key. So where a caller
supplied a key, the caller's value won and the registry's never applied.
Every registry ceiling and allowlist was advisory. Verified against the
shipped ops-warden package, each one added key on an otherwise-denied
request:
max_ttl_hours: 99 registry says 8 -> allowed a 12h certificate
allowed_principals registry allowlist -> disallowed_principal bypassed
allowed_subjects registry allowlist -> unknown_subject bypassed
The third is the one to read twice: a subject the registry does not know
authorized itself by naming itself in the allowlist it was being checked
against.
Not remotely reachable today — the PEP builds the CheckRequest,
ops-warden sends no resource.attributes, and enforce admits one identity.
It is a defence-in-depth failure: any path that lets attacker-influenced
data into a CheckRequest field became a full policy bypass rather than a
bounded input problem. Callers sending resource.attributes is not
hypothetical; secrets-engine does it on every request.
Registry facts now win, and diagnostics.registry_overrode names every
displaced key, because a registry that silently discards a contradicting
claim hides that a caller asserted authority it did not have.
subject.type is carved out, and the reason is a finding of its own.
Making the registry win there denied every secrets-engine allow: the
registry's type is CARING vocabulary (Human, Agent, Automation, Service)
and the request's is the protected system's actor vocabulary (service,
adm, agt, atm). Two fields sharing a name; substituting one for the other
is translation rather than identity, which GH-DEC-2026-008 ruled against.
Note what surfaced it — the registry's type had been dead data since the
field existed, because the caller's value always won.
Also publishes binding.submitted_request_digest, over the request exactly
as sent. request_digest was published as the consumer replay test and
cannot be one. Nothing is lost hashing the pre-enrichment form:
enrichment is a function of the request and the snapshot, and
registry_snapshot_digest already pins the snapshot.
Existing pins do not move. All three replay fixtures' request_digest and
approval_binding_digest values are byte-identical — those requests
contradict no registry fact. A field to add, not a value to correct.
Regression tests verified failing against the old behaviour before being
kept. FLEX-DEC-2026-012; FLEX-WP-0025 carries the residual, that a policy
still cannot tell a fact from an assertion.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_014aQMM1dPXaPiXVn6DwwtLd
Assistant: claude-code
Assistant-Model: opus
Assistant-Process: 715613@bnt-lap001
Assistant-Session: fabd95c1-4c9e-4080-8849-8707ae025f80
2026-09-07 13:43:33 +02:00
|
|
|
## Which digest a consumer can reproduce
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| Field | Over | Consumer-computable |
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| --- | --- | --- |
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| `binding.request_digest` | the **enriched** request | **No** |
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| `binding.submitted_request_digest` | the request **exactly as sent** | **Yes** — this is the §6.4.2 replay test |
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| `binding.approval_binding_digest` | the enriched request minus `context.approval` | No, and it does not need to be |
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`request_digest` was published as the replay test for consumers. It is not one:
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the evaluator hashes the enriched request, the registry is flex-auth's, and a
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consumer recomputing over what it sent gets a different value on every request
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whose subject or resource the registry knows. `secrets-engine` found this on its
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first live request.
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**Use `submitted_request_digest` for §6.4 obligation 2.** Nothing is lost.
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Enrichment is a function of the request and the registry snapshot, and
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`provenance.registry_snapshot_digest` already pins the snapshot — so the
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submitted digest together with that digest identifies the evaluated request
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completely. Registry staleness between issue and replay is bounded by the
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decision's own lifetime and by §9.7.2's per-input-class visibility deadline,
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which is the mechanism that already covers it.
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`request_digest` keeps its value and meaning: it pins what the decision was
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actually a function of, and it is what makes a decision replayable **by
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flex-auth** for audit. It is not a consumer check and is now documented as not
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being one.
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`approval_binding_digest` needs no submitted form. It is compared to
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`claim.binding.pdp_digest`, which `approval-engine` recorded from flex-auth's own
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output at issue time — a flex-auth value against a flex-auth value, consistent on
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both sides. **A consumer must not compute either side of that comparison
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itself**; doing so reintroduces exactly this defect on the dual-control path.
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