whitehat-security/SCOPE.md

# Scope

## One-liner

`whitehat-security` is NetKingdom's authorization-bound offensive-security
tooling for producing adversarial evidence about security claims.

## Core idea

The repository turns stated security properties into dated, reproducible attack
attempts. It remains separate from the systems it tests, reports findings
without grading their severity, and never treats a passing probe as proof that a
boundary always holds.

## In scope

- Attacker models for tenant isolation, credential confinement, noisy-neighbour
  behavior and erasure verification.
- Differential probes that compare behavior across controlled tenant contexts.
- Known-bad and known-good fixtures that demonstrate every probe can fail.
- Rules of engagement, target authorization, engagement records, abort
  controls and evidence minimization.
- Probe cadence and the resulting assurance/exposure window.
- Delivery of findings and passing-run evidence to `risk-nexus`.

## Out of scope

- Fixing defects in target repositories.
- Assigning severity, disclosure policy or remediation deadlines.
- Replacing mechanical checks owned by a target repository's CI.
- Defining the estate's security model or publishing permanent policy.
- Probing any target without the authorization and engagement records required
  by [the rules of engagement](docs/rules-of-engagement.md).
- Blocking build-mode delivery without a separately recorded decision.

## Safety invariants

- The rules of engagement are accepted, but their acceptance authorizes no live
  target. Without a complete approved engagement record, only documentation
  and non-networked fixture design may proceed.
- No live target is authorized by this scope document.
- Every live run names its authorization, target, owner, window, technique,
  credential lane, rate ceiling, abort contact and finding destination.
- A probe stops at the recorded boundary and never follows an adjacent system.
- Evidence records response shape and counts, never real tenant row values or
  credentials.
- Findings leave this repository; repairs do not enter it.

## Relevant when

- A service claims a Tenancy Posture evidence level that requires adversarial
  rather than mechanical evidence.
- A boundary must be tested using a leaked runtime credential or hostile tenant
  context.
- The estate needs to know when a probe last ran, what attacker it modeled, and
  whether it was proven against a known-bad fixture.

## Not relevant when

- A repository needs unit, schema or provisioning tests for its own code.
- A finding needs triage, severity or disclosure handling; use `risk-nexus`.
- Permanent policy needs publication; use `policy-nexus`.
- The desired activity falls outside an approved engagement boundary.

## Current state

- Repository status: active.
- Layer: Staff (declared in `INTENT.md`, 2026-09-01). `WHITEHAT-IN-0001` is
  closed.
- Finished: `WHITEHAT-WP-0001` through `WHITEHAT-WP-0005`. Residual live
  evidence is owned by `WHITEHAT-WP-0006` and is blocked on authorization.
- `WHITEHAT-WP-0001` T01–T08 are complete for every applicable target.
  `audit-core` has dated E2 pass `WH-ENG-20260822-AUDIT-E2-03`.
  `tenant-engine` E2 and `platform-pg` E3 stay `not_applicable`. `flex-auth`
  E2 and `shared-substrate` P1/P2 stay `pending`. Offline E2, E3 and P1/P2
  harnesses fail known-bad and pass known-good in-process.
- `-01`, `-02` and `-03` are terminal. A later live run needs a new
  engagement ID, plane admission, and the approvals required by the rules of
  engagement. `WHITEHAT-WP-0006` owns that work and authorizes no packet.

## Relationships

- Owner and security canon: `net-kingdom`.
- Finding intake, severity and disclosure: `risk-nexus`.
- Permanent publication: `policy-nexus`.
- Initial proposed target owners: `tenant-engine`, `audit-core` and
  `flex-auth`.

## Getting oriented

1. Read [`INTENT.md`](INTENT.md) for the durable purpose and ownership model.
2. Read [the rules of engagement](docs/rules-of-engagement.md) before any probe
   design or execution.
3. Read [`WHITEHAT-WP-0001`](workplans/WHITEHAT-WP-0001-cross-tenant-evidence.md)
   for the finished applicable-target artifacts, then
   [`WHITEHAT-WP-0006`](workplans/WHITEHAT-WP-0006-authorized-live-residuals.md)
   for unauthorized live residuals.