flex-auth/examples/tenant-engine/policy_package.md
tegwick 8e127e50f7 Authorize tenant-engine lifecycle actions (FLEX-WP-0010)
Extend the tenant-engine write-API policy package with tenant.update,
tenant.retire, and tenant.reactivate, the three actions TEN-WP-0005
introduced. Until now every lifecycle mutation resolved to deny
unknown_action, blocking TEN-WP-0005-T05 production rollout.

- policy_package.md: three actions in valid_actions and frontmatter;
  CARING capabilities extended with EditAny/Archive/Restore
- protected_system_manifest.yaml, subject_manifest.yaml, and the rebuilt
  registry_snapshot.json carry all seven actions
- docs/tenant-engine-action-vocabulary.md documents the HTTP surfaces
- 8 new fixture pairs and 5 new Rego tests, including action-drift
  guards (tenant.retired, tenant_update -> unknown_action)

T02 decision, recorded in policy_package.md: tenant.retire does NOT get
stricter authorization yet. With one service subject and no assurance
claim in the CheckRequest there is nothing stricter to check, and a
condition the sole caller always satisfies would falsely read as
separate control. Retirement is reversible and non-destructive. Revisit
on KEY-WP-0005 assurance claims or a second operator subject.

Verified: 11/11 Rego tests, 16/16 fixtures, go test ./... green, gofmt
and go vet clean. End-to-end against a live serve with a real
tenant-engine through the unmodified FlexAuthWriteAuthorizer: update
6176c39c2f4d7b15, retire 8a801b8ee8455080, reactivate c64cf3713cecd970
all allow; unregistered actor denied unknown_subject
(59d3e99c6416be89, 403 write_denied).

Handoff revision for TEN-WP-0005-T05: package
tenant-engine.write-api.mutate v1 (ready, caring-0.4.0-rc2).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-10 20:52:10 +02:00

8.2 KiB

id name namespace version status package actions owner fixtures caring activation metadata
tenant-engine.write-api.mutate tenant-engine Write API authorization tenant-engine:tenant v1 ready flexauth.tenant_engine.write_api
tenant.create
tenant.role.grant
tenant.role.revoke
tenant.plan.assign
tenant.update
tenant.retire
tenant.reactivate
team:platform-security
policy_fixtures.yaml
profile enforce canonical_roles organization_relations scopes planes capabilities exposure_modes conditions restrictions
caring-0.4.0-rc2 false
Operator
ServiceProvider
level id tenant
Platform platform:tenant-engine tenant:platform
Identity
Policy
Audit
Create
Grant
Revoke
Bind
EditAny
Archive
Restore
Audit
Metadata
Logged
PrivilegeEscalationBlocked
mode
local
source flex_auth_contract
examples/tenant-engine/policy_package.md protected-system-v0

tenant-engine Write API authorization

This package authorizes tenant-engine's write API (TEN-WP-0003's authz.FlexAuthWriteAuthorizer). tenant-engine keeps custody of tenant records, role-grant audit trails, and plan assignments; flex-auth decides whether a specific write is allowed now.

Scope note: this policy governs who may call tenant-engine's admin API (an operator/service-identity question) — it does not evaluate a tenant's capability roles (PLTF/IAM/VEN/CUS, ADR-0014). Those are tenant state a different protected system's policy might consult via tenant-engine's live-lookup endpoint (FLEX-WP-0008-T03); conflating the two would authorize the wrong thing.

Lifecycle actions (FLEX-WP-0010)

tenant.update, tenant.retire, and tenant.reactivate gate tenant-engine's lifecycle endpoints (PATCH /tenants/{id}, POST /tenants/{id}/retire, POST /tenants/{id}/reactivate). The action strings are the exact values authz.FlexAuthWriteAuthorizer sends; they are coordinated between the two repos, not independently chosen here.

They are three actions rather than one tenant.write because tenant-engine deliberately separated them so policy can one day permit renaming a tenant without permitting retiring it. Under the current model that separation is a seam, not a difference — see the decision below.

Decision: tenant.retire does not require stricter authorization yet

Decision (FLEX-WP-0010-T02, 2026-08-10): no. tenant.retire is authorized by the same rule as the other six actions.

Reasoning:

  1. There is nothing stricter to check. The subject set is exactly one service identity (tenant-engine), there is no second operator to distinguish from, and requests carry no assurance claim — the CheckRequest shape from FLEX-WP-0008 has no field that could differentiate retirement from an update. A "stricter" rule today could only be stricter in name.
  2. A rule that cannot fail is worse than no rule. Adding a condition that the single known caller always satisfies would read, to a later reviewer, as though retirement were separately controlled when it is not. That is a false assurance in a policy package whose job is to be inspectable.
  3. The blast radius is recoverable. Retirement is reversible by design via tenant.reactivate, and tenant-engine hard-deletes nothing. A wrongly allowed retirement suspends new grants and plan changes until reactivated; it does not destroy tenant state.
  4. The seam is already cut. Because the three actions are distinct strings in valid_actions, tightening tenant.retire later is an additive change to this package — no consumer change, no request-shape change, no coordination round with tenant-engine.

Revisit when KEY-WP-0005 gives callers an assurance-bearing identity, or when a second operator subject is registered against system: "tenant-engine" — whichever comes first. At that point the honest options are an assurance floor on tenant.retire or a distinct group:tenant-engine-lifecycle membership requirement; both are one rule in allowed plus a first_denial branch.

Rules

import future.keywords.contains
import future.keywords.if
import future.keywords.in

valid_actions := {
  "tenant.create",
  "tenant.role.grant",
  "tenant.role.revoke",
  "tenant.plan.assign",
  "tenant.update",
  "tenant.retire",
  "tenant.reactivate",
}

known_operators := {"tenant-engine"}

decision := {"effect": "allow", "reason": "write_api_policy_matched"} if {
  allowed
} else := {"effect": "deny", "reason": first_denial} if {
  true
}

allowed if {
  input.resource.system == "tenant-engine"
  input.action in valid_actions
  input.subject.type == "service"
  input.subject.id in known_operators
}

default first_denial := "no_matching_rule"

first_denial := "wrong_system" if {
  input.resource.system != "tenant-engine"
} else := "unknown_action" if {
  not input.action in valid_actions
} else := "wrong_subject_type" if {
  input.subject.type != "service"
} else := "unknown_subject" if {
  not input.subject.id in known_operators
}

Tests

package flexauth.tenant_engine.write_api_test

import future.keywords.if
import data.flexauth.tenant_engine.write_api

base_request := {
  "id": "check:tenant-engine-create",
  "tenant": "tenant:friendly:binky",
  "subject": {"id": "tenant-engine", "type": "service"},
  "action": "tenant.create",
  "resource": {"id": "t-1", "type": "tenant", "system": "tenant-engine"}
}

test_known_operator_create_allowed if {
  write_api.decision.effect == "allow" with input as base_request
}

test_role_grant_allowed if {
  write_api.decision.effect == "allow" with input as {
    "subject": {"id": "tenant-engine", "type": "service"},
    "action": "tenant.role.grant",
    "resource": {"id": "t-1", "type": "role-grant", "system": "tenant-engine"}
  }
}

test_tenant_update_allowed if {
  write_api.decision.effect == "allow" with input as {
    "subject": {"id": "tenant-engine", "type": "service"},
    "action": "tenant.update",
    "resource": {"id": "t-1", "type": "tenant", "system": "tenant-engine"}
  }
}

test_tenant_retire_allowed if {
  write_api.decision.effect == "allow" with input as {
    "subject": {"id": "tenant-engine", "type": "service"},
    "action": "tenant.retire",
    "resource": {"id": "t-1", "type": "tenant", "system": "tenant-engine"}
  }
}

test_tenant_reactivate_allowed if {
  write_api.decision.effect == "allow" with input as {
    "subject": {"id": "tenant-engine", "type": "service"},
    "action": "tenant.reactivate",
    "resource": {"id": "t-1", "type": "tenant", "system": "tenant-engine"}
  }
}

test_misspelled_lifecycle_action_denied if {
  write_api.decision.reason == "unknown_action" with input as {
    "subject": {"id": "tenant-engine", "type": "service"},
    "action": "tenant.retired",
    "resource": {"id": "t-1", "type": "tenant", "system": "tenant-engine"}
  }
}

test_unknown_subject_retire_denied if {
  write_api.decision.reason == "unknown_subject" with input as {
    "subject": {"id": "some-other-service", "type": "service"},
    "action": "tenant.retire",
    "resource": {"id": "t-1", "type": "tenant", "system": "tenant-engine"}
  }
}

test_unknown_subject_denied if {
  write_api.decision.reason == "unknown_subject" with input as {
    "subject": {"id": "some-other-service", "type": "service"},
    "action": "tenant.create",
    "resource": {"id": "t-1", "type": "tenant", "system": "tenant-engine"}
  }
}

test_wrong_system_denied if {
  write_api.decision.reason == "wrong_system" with input as {
    "subject": {"id": "tenant-engine", "type": "service"},
    "action": "tenant.create",
    "resource": {"id": "t-1", "type": "tenant", "system": "some-other-system"}
  }
}

test_unknown_action_denied if {
  write_api.decision.reason == "unknown_action" with input as {
    "subject": {"id": "tenant-engine", "type": "service"},
    "action": "tenant.delete",
    "resource": {"id": "t-1", "type": "tenant", "system": "tenant-engine"}
  }
}

test_wrong_subject_type_denied if {
  write_api.decision.reason == "wrong_subject_type" with input as {
    "subject": {"id": "tenant-engine", "type": "human"},
    "action": "tenant.create",
    "resource": {"id": "t-1", "type": "tenant", "system": "tenant-engine"}
  }
}