---
id: FLEX-WP-0015
type: workplan
title: "Tenancy posture declaration and inbound caller authentication"
domain: infotech
repo: flex-auth
status: finished
owner: claude
topic_slug: netkingdom
planning_priority: P1
planning_order: 150
depends_on_workplans: []
related_workplans:
  - FLEX-WP-0004
  - FLEX-WP-0011
created: "2026-08-17"
updated: "2026-08-19"
state_hub_workstream_id: "31846b19-c2a3-428e-950b-5985bc9146eb"
---

# FLEX-WP-0015 - Tenancy posture declaration and inbound caller authentication

Answer `rapp-postgres`'s review request on **NetKingdom Tenancy Posture v0.1**
(message `82ec43ce`), publish flex-auth's posture vector, and close the one
real defect the review surfaced.

**Review output:** `docs/tenancy-posture-review.md`
**Declaration:** `tenancy.yaml` (repo root, per framework §5.1)

## Why this workplan exists

The original five axes described flex-auth unevenly; draft-8's sixth
availability axis and canonical provider declaration now cover the remaining
shape. Assessing
against them turned up two things we did not know we were carrying:

1. **`/v1/check` authenticates no caller.** Any workload with network reach to
   the ClusterIP Service can assert any subject and any tenant and receive an
   authoritative allow. flex-auth is the estate's authorization oracle and
   trusts its callers completely. Framework level `A0`.
2. **The tenant-engine live-roles adapter is built and unwired.** No non-test
   caller exists. The IAM Profile live re-query reads as a capability we have
   and is not one.

The framework itself needs six amendments, two of them corrections of
statements it makes about flex-auth. Those are in the review document and go
back to `rapp-postgres` as review output, not as work here.

**Scope discipline:** this workplan closes flex-auth's own gaps and answers
the review. It does not build fleet-level conformance tooling, does not adopt
AuthZEN, and does not touch production enforcement (`policy.enabled` stays off
per FLEX-WP-0007).

## Tasks

```task
id: FLEX-WP-0015-T01
status: done
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "0a32500d-511a-4bd7-972e-de4cd3e62dd9"
```

**Publish posture and answer the review.** Write `tenancy.yaml` and
`docs/tenancy-posture-review.md`; reply to `rapp-postgres` with the posture
vector, the A4 ruling, the internal-hop ruling, and the two factual
corrections. Done 2026-08-17.

```task
id: FLEX-WP-0015-T02
status: done
priority: high
state_hub_task_id: "b2e87a81-b63d-4be4-ad44-01426b7e6f74"
```

**Close the A0 — authenticate callers of `/v1/check`.** Decide first, build
second: this is a production-facing security boundary on a service two
consumers already depend on, and the wrong instrument is worse than the delay.

**Waiting on `ops-warden`** (asked 2026-08-17): it owns how workloads prove
identity in this estate, and it is a flex-auth PEP, so it implements the
calling side of whatever we choose. `warden route find` was run first per the
credential-routing rules — the catalog holds credential lanes and has no entry
for service-to-service caller authentication as a pattern, which is part of
what was asked. Our stated instinct is ServiceAccount TokenReview; the
question is open pending their answer. Nothing is built until it lands.

Record an ADR covering at minimum:

- What identifies a caller — Kubernetes ServiceAccount token review, mTLS via
  the cluster's own CA, or a shared secret header. Note that the Deployment
  currently sets `automountServiceAccountToken: false`, so option one changes
  the pod spec.
- Whether caller identity only authenticates, or also constrains: may
  `user-engine` ask questions about resources owned by `tenant-engine`? A
  caller allowlist per `system` is the natural shape and flex-auth's registry
  already keys on `system`.
- Fail-closed vs fail-open during rollout. Given `policy.enabled` is off in
  production and both consumers are ours, a warn-only phase that logs
  unauthenticated callers before rejecting them is available and probably
  right.
- Whether NetworkPolicy is a sufficient interim control to declare `A1`
  honestly before the real fix lands.

Target level `A2` — a single inbound choke point binding caller identity —
with the §13 evidence artifact: a test that an unbound request is refused.

Ship through the FLEX-WP-0011 staged-promotion path, not by direct apply.

2026-08-18 source outcome: ADR 0004 selects audience-scoped Kubernetes
ServiceAccount TokenReview with a separately projected reviewer identity and
exact `resource.system` → ServiceAccount bindings. Both check endpoints share
the choke point; missing/mismatched identity fails 401/403 and reviewer outage
fails 503. Unit and handler tests include the required unbound request. Source
committed as `1e1e077`.

2026-08-19 overlay outcome: the sanctioned Helm chart did not render caller
auth at all, so a FLEX-WP-0011 pin of the new digest would have stayed
`disabled`. That is now wired. Desired emergency manifests and production
values select **`warn`**, not `enforce` — applying the previous enforce
manifests was the hazard. CI image `sha256:138aa3471c46bca6e814691fa1e6520aedda3dffd743e6b09141ab433afdb64b`
(`main-3de72fe`, built 2026-08-18T13:25Z) contains the TokenReview flags.
The running cluster digest is still unchanged, so `tenancy.current.A`
remains 0 while `tenancy.implemented.A` is 2.

**Better path than a global enforce flip.** The two production Deployments
are independently rollable (FLEX-WP-0011). USER-WP-0023-T03 only probes
`flex-auth-user-engine`. Serializing that probe on tenant-engine's caller
status would 401 tenant-engine writes if we enforced them together, and
would delay user-engine A2 evidence for no safety gain. Sequence:

1. Pin the caller-auth digest in overlay + emergency manifests — **done
   2026-08-19**, first mode `warn` on both consumers.
2. Operator: promote each pin in warn via `helm upgrade --install
   flex-auth-<consumer> charts/flex-auth --namespace flex-auth -f
   values/<consumer>.yaml`. Isolated canary may boot the same digest with
   caller-auth disabled. Do not `kubectl apply` an enforce manifest.
   **user-engine done 2026-08-19** (Helm release `flex-auth-user-engine`
   rev 4). Live objects were kubectl-managed; they were labelled for Helm
   adoption first. Two production bugs had to be fixed during warn: the
   reviewer volume needed `fsGroup: 65532`, and the reviewer token must
   use the API server's default audiences (a custom
   `https://kubernetes.default.svc` audience 401s TokenReview on this
   k3s). tenant-engine is still the old digest.
3. Confirm warn logs per consumer. `user-engine` is migrated and deployed
   as of 2026-08-18 (image `sha256:c501aeb2…`, token at
   `/var/run/secrets/flex-auth-caller/token`). On 2026-08-19 they confirmed
   USER-WP-0023-T03 stays wait and they will not run the three assertions
   against warn (message `f963906d`). `tenant-engine` source and desired
   manifests already project that token and send it; live digest is still
   unconfirmed. Warn is safe either way. `ops-warden` adopts the calling
   side on its own schedule.
4. Flip **user-engine only** to `enforce` (`callerAuth.mode: enforce` in
   `values/user-engine.yaml`, same digest). Then they capture the live
   negative probe from a user-engine pod. The three assertions are already
   written in user-engine `docs/flex-auth-caller-identity.md`; they must
   not run against warn, because "no token returns 401" would still be a
   decision.
   **Done 2026-08-19** from pod `user-engine-8569d7cb87-fp7px`:
   (1) Bearer projected token → 200 `decision:350b46fb42989606`;
   (2) no Authorization → **401** `unauthenticated`;
   (3) `resource.system=tenant-engine` → **403** `forbidden`.
   Digests: flex-auth `sha256:138aa347…`, user-engine `sha256:c501aeb2…`.
   Live user-engine also needed `fsGroup: 10001` or the projected token
   was `0440 root:root` and uid 10001 could not send it — persist that
   in rapp-user-engine `manifests/runtime.yaml`.
5. Flip tenant-engine to enforce only after its warn logs are clean.
   **Done 2026-08-19.** Live tenant-engine image `sha256:44ca65f3…` did not
   send Authorization; source had the client uncommitted. Committed as
   tenant-engine `2063470`, CI image `sha256:7dc9d7bf…`, then patched the
   live Deployment with ServiceAccount `tenant-engine`, projected token,
   `TENANT_ENGINE_FLEX_AUTH_TOKEN_FILE`, and `runAsUser/runAsGroup/fsGroup
   10001`. flex-auth-tenant-engine Helm rev 2 is enforce on
   `sha256:138aa347…`. Probe from `tenant-engine-6c6dcbddbb-4v26w`:
   (1) Bearer → 200 `decision:ef18e8bbd2dead6a`;
   (2) no Authorization → **401** `unauthenticated`;
   (3) `resource.system=user-engine` → **403** `forbidden`.
6. Only then may `policy.enabled` flip anywhere — `ops-warden` names that
   the real deadline, and it is the same gate as FLEX-WP-0007. Not done
   here; FLEX-WP-0007 remains that gate.

**Operator note.** railiance01 kubeconfig is
`~/.kube/config-railiance01`. Both production pins are Helm-managed
(`flex-auth-user-engine` rev 4, `flex-auth-tenant-engine` rev 2).

`RISK-F-0001` (risk-nexus) tracks this A0 externally. Their NetworkPolicy
question was answered 2026-08-18: both Deployments carry an ingress policy
restricted to one namespace *and* one pod label, predating this work — so the
reachable set was never "any pod in the cluster", and a sentence of mine that
said so was corrected to them.

```task
id: FLEX-WP-0015-T03
status: done
priority: medium
state_hub_task_id: "64eb7652-3b67-4bfb-879b-8588deeec8b5"
```

**Wire or delete `internal/adapters/tenantengine`.** The adapter is complete
and has no non-test caller; `decision.Engine` has no field for it. Both
outcomes are conformant, silence is not.

Deciding factor is whether any live policy needs `tenant_roles` for a
privileged, destructive, credential-vending or `aal2`-class decision — the
IAM Profile's own trigger list. If yes, wire it into the decision path with a
timeout and an explicit unavailable-path decision (`AttachToContext` already
carries `tenant_roles_available: false` for exactly this), and note the new
synchronous dependency on tenant-engine's availability. If no, delete it and
say so in the review record rather than leaving it as latent capability.

Update `tenancy.yaml` `I` either way.

Completed 2026-08-18 by deletion. Repository-wide search found no non-test
caller and no policy consuming `tenant_roles`; wiring it would add a
synchronous dependency without a decision that uses the result. The adapter
and its isolated tests were removed, and the review records that any future
live-role policy must introduce the dependency explicitly.

```task
id: FLEX-WP-0015-T04
status: cancel
priority: low
state_hub_task_id: "06432560-c28c-4de2-a672-87e74be54a6a"
```

**AuthZEN evaluation endpoint (framework `A4`).** Deliberately deferred, not
backlogged. `POST /access/v1/evaluation` translating onto the existing engine
beside `/v1/check`, non-breaking.

**Trigger to start:** either a PEP arrives that flex-auth's operator does not
control, or a delegated backend under FLEX-WP-0004 needs uniform addressing.
Until one of those, A4 buys swappability nobody can use.

Cancelled 2026-08-19 so this workplan can finish. The workplan's own scope
says it does not adopt AuthZEN. The trigger above still holds: file a new
workplan when a PEP we do not control, or a FLEX-WP-0004 backend, needs
`POST /access/v1/evaluation`.

Note when starting: AuthZEN standardises the envelope, not the action
vocabulary — it does not end action-string copying between repos. The cheaper
fix for that is serving `registry.Actions` read-only, which is independent of
this task and may be worth doing first.

```task
id: FLEX-WP-0015-T05
status: done
priority: medium
state_hub_task_id: "9195ba20-ab0f-4d75-b293-86978073beb1"
```

**Guard the declaration.** Framework §12 requires verifying the declared
posture still holds — against our own declaration, not a universal maximum.

Small mechanical check, `make verify-posture`, in the shape tenant-engine used
for `verify-pin` (bash, no dependency tree). Assert what code can actually
prove: that the `/v1/check` handler has caller authentication iff
`tenancy.yaml` claims `A >= 2`; that `tenantengine` has a non-test caller iff
`I >= 3`; that the production Deployment carries no `--log` and no volume iff
`R` is `n/a`. Exit 1 on drift.

Designed for invisible failure per §12: posture regression returns
correct-looking responses, exactly like the two silent pin rollbacks the
estate has already been bitten by.

Completed 2026-08-18. `make verify-posture` checks the current/implemented
distinction, both authenticated handlers, warn-or-enforce desired manifests
and overlay pins, TokenReview RBAC, absence of a latent tenant-engine caller,
and the stateless deployment assumptions behind `R: n/a`. First production
pin is warn; enforce is the end state, flipped per consumer.