auth-bundle-1 Phase 13: docs (rbac.md + threat model + migration guide + security.md update)

Closes the last Phase before the Bundle 1 Exit gate. Operators
now have authoritative reference + threat model + migration guide
covering every behavior change Bundles 0-12 introduced.

# New docs

* docs/operator/rbac.md (340 lines) — operator how-to:
  - Mental model (actors / roles / permissions / scopes)
  - 7 default roles seeded by migration 000029 + the 5
    admin-only fine-grained perms seeded by 000030
  - Permission catalogue table by namespace
  - Scope semantics (global beats specific) + the Bundle-2
    deferral on scope_id FK enforcement
  - Granting / revoking access from GUI + CLI + HTTP API + MCP
  - The auditor pattern (audit-only, no resource read)
  - Day-0 bootstrap flow (CERTCTL_BOOTSTRAP_TOKEN → curl →
    HTTP 410 thereafter)
  - Demo-mode (CERTCTL_AUTH_TYPE=none) caveat for production

* docs/operator/auth-threat-model.md (180 lines) — what the
  controls defend against:
  - 5 threat actors (external, wrong-role, compromised key,
    insider operator, compromised auditor)
  - Per-defense walk-through (API-key auth, RBAC, bootstrap,
    approval workflow + Phase 9 closure, audit trail,
    protocol-endpoint allowlist)
  - 9 explicit deferrals (OIDC, sessions, local accounts,
    JIT elevation, MFA, etc.) — Bundle 2 / future scope
  - Compliance mapping (SOC 2 CC6.1/CC6.3, HIPAA §164.312(b),
    NIST SSDF PO.5.2, FedRAMP AU-9, PCI-DSS §10)
  - 5 operator-runnable sanity checks (e.g.,
    'SELECT FROM audit_events WHERE actor=system-bypass' MUST
    return 0 in production)

* docs/migration/api-keys-to-rbac.md (200 lines) — v2.0.x →
  v2.1.0 upgrade flow:
  - The SECURITY: AUDIT YOUR API KEYS callout
  - Migration list (000029-000033) + what each does
  - 4-mode scope-down flow (interactive / non-interactive
    JSON / --suggest / --suggest --apply)
  - What changes for code that called auth.IsAdmin
  - Helm-specific upgrade flow with example post-upgrade Job
  - Docker Compose upgrade flow + the 5 examples folders
    that ride demo mode unchanged
  - Verification queries + rollback flow

# Updated docs

* docs/operator/security.md — Last-reviewed bumped to
  2026-05-09; existing Authentication-surface section
  extended to call out the Bundle 1 RBAC primitive,
  day-0 bootstrap path, and approval-bypass closure with
  cross-references to the new docs.

* docs/reference/profiles.md — Last-reviewed header
  formatting fixed (added the > blockquote prefix used
  consistently across the docs tree).

# docs/README.md navigation

* Operator section gains 2 new rows (RBAC + auth-threat-model)
  and Approval-workflow row updated to mention Phase 9
  closure.
* Reference section gains the Profiles row.
* Migration section gains the api-keys-to-rbac row with the
  AUDIT YOUR API KEYS callout in the link description.

# CHANGELOG.md v2.1.0 section refreshed

The Phase 7 commit landed the SECURITY: AUDIT YOUR API KEYS
callout. This commit appends the missing Phase 9-12 highlights:

  - Approval-bypass closure (profile-edit gate + flip-flop
    loophole + ErrApproveBySameActor invariant)
  - GUI: Roles / API Keys / Auth Settings / Approvals queue
  - 12 new MCP RBAC tools
  - Coverage gates on internal/auth + internal/service/auth
  - Protocol-endpoint allowlist pinned at 3 layers

Trailing cross-reference block now points at all 4 new docs.

# Verifications

* Every internal link in the 4 new/modified docs validated by
  shell sweep (find broken links → 0 hits).
* Every new doc carries 'Last reviewed: 2026-05-09' header
  with the > blockquote prefix matching the docs-tree
  convention.
* go vet ./... clean.
* staticcheck across every Bundle-1-touched Go package clean.
* gofmt -l clean repo-wide.
* go test -short -count=1 green across internal/auth (incl.
  bootstrap), internal/api/handler, internal/api/router,
  internal/cli, internal/service (incl. auth),
  internal/domain/auth, internal/mcp, cmd/cli (cmd/server
  has 1 environmental failure on the sandbox virtiofs-tmp:
  TestPreflightSCEPRACertKey_KeyWorldReadable_Refuses depends
  on tmpfs file-mode semantics that virtiofs propagates
  differently — pre-existing, unrelated to Bundle 1).
* Frontend: 19 Vitest tests across src/pages/auth/ +
  AuditPage all pass; tsc --noEmit clean.
This commit is contained in:
shankar0123
2026-05-10 00:10:15 +00:00
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# Authentication & authorization threat model
> Last reviewed: 2026-05-09
This document describes the attack surface around authentication and
authorization in certctl after Bundle 1 (the RBAC primitive) lands.
It complements [`rbac.md`](rbac.md) — that doc explains how to use
the controls; this one explains what those controls defend against
and which threats they explicitly do NOT close.
For Bundle 2's OIDC + sessions extensions, this document will be
updated. The Bundle 1 boundary is "API-key auth + RBAC primitive +
day-0 bootstrap"; OIDC-federated humans, session cookies,
revocation lists, WebAuthn, and break-glass local accounts are
Bundle 2 scope.
## Threat actors
1. **External attacker with no credential** — probing the public
HTTP surface. The default trust boundary for everything except
the protocol-level endpoints (ACME / SCEP / EST / OCSP / CRL,
which authenticate via embedded credentials per their own RFCs).
2. **Authenticated caller with the wrong role** — has a valid API
key but the role doesn't grant the requested operation. The
primary RBAC threat model.
3. **Compromised API key** — attacker holds a valid Bearer token
that an honest operator originally provisioned. The key may
carry any role.
4. **Insider operator** — legitimate access; potentially trying
to escalate privilege or bypass the approval workflow.
5. **Compromised audit reviewer (auditor role)** — read-only
access to audit events but otherwise untrusted.
## Defenses Bundle 1 ships
### API-key authentication
- API keys live in `CERTCTL_API_KEYS_NAMED` (env-var) or
`api_keys` (DB row, written by Bundle 1 Phase 6 bootstrap and
the future role-management API). Keys hash via SHA-256; the
middleware compares hashes via `crypto/subtle.ConstantTimeCompare`
to defeat timing attacks.
- The auth middleware populates `ActorIDKey` / `ActorTypeKey` /
`TenantIDKey` on every authenticated request context. Audit rows
attribute every action to the named-key actor instead of the
pre-Bundle-1 hardcoded `api-key-user` placeholder.
- Demo mode (`CERTCTL_AUTH_TYPE=none`) injects the synthetic
`actor-demo-anon` actor with admin grants. Production deploys
MUST NOT use demo mode.
### Authorization (RBAC)
- Every gated handler routes through `auth.RequirePermission` (or
the router-level `rbacGate` wrap from Phase 3.5). The middleware
resolves the actor's effective permissions via the
`Authorizer.CheckPermission` service-layer call; on miss, the
handler returns HTTP 403 BEFORE the body runs. This is the
load-bearing gate.
- The five admin-only fine-grained perms (`cert.bulk_revoke` /
`crl.admin` / `scep.admin` / `est.admin` /
`ca.hierarchy.manage`) are seeded into `r-admin` only. To
delegate one, an operator creates a custom role with the
specific perm and grants it to the right actor.
- The auditor split: `r-auditor` holds only `audit.read` +
`audit.export`. Pinned by the
`internal/domain/auth/auditor_test.go` invariants. A regulator
with the auditor key cannot read certificates, profiles,
issuers, or any mutating surface.
- The privilege-escalation guard: granting or revoking a role
requires the caller to hold `auth.role.assign` (enforced in
`internal/service/auth/actor_role_service.go`). A non-admin
cannot self-grant admin.
- The reserved-actor guard: mutations against `actor-demo-anon`
return HTTP 409 from the service layer
(`ErrAuthReservedActor`). The synthetic actor is operator-
inaccessible.
### Day-0 bootstrap
- `CERTCTL_BOOTSTRAP_TOKEN` is constant-time-compared by
`EnvTokenStrategy.Validate`. The strategy is one-shot via
`sync.Mutex`-guarded `consumed` bool; the second call returns
`ErrDisabled` (HTTP 410), not `ErrInvalidToken` (HTTP 401), so
a probing attacker cannot distinguish "wrong token, retry"
from "already consumed".
- The strategy also re-probes admin existence on every Validate.
If an admin actor lands during the gap between Available and
Validate, the second caller still gets HTTP 410.
- The minted plaintext key is written to the response body once.
It is NEVER logged. The token-leak hygiene test in
`internal/api/handler/auth_bootstrap_test.go` redirects
`slog.Default` to a buffer and grep-asserts that neither the
bootstrap token nor the minted key appears in any log line,
audit row, or HTTP header.
- The minted key is hashed before persistence. Lost key →
rotate via the regular RBAC API; the plaintext is not
recoverable from the DB.
### Approval workflow + Phase 9 loophole closure
- `CertificateProfile.RequiresApproval=true` gates two surfaces:
(a) issuance + renewal of every cert pointing at the profile,
(b) edits to the profile itself (Bundle 1 Phase 9). The Phase 9
closure prevents the flip-flop bypass where an admin disables
approval, mutates, re-enables.
- Same-actor self-approve is rejected at the service layer with
`ErrApproveBySameActor` for both `cert_issuance` and
`profile_edit` kinds. Two-person integrity is the load-bearing
invariant; pinned by tests in
`internal/service/approval_test.go`.
### Audit trail
- Every mutating operation flows through `AuditService.RecordEvent`
or `RecordEventWithCategory`. Bundle 1 Phase 8 added the
`event_category` column with a `CHECK` constraint enforcing
the closed enum (`cert_lifecycle` / `auth` / `config`); the
category surfaces the auth-mutation slice to the auditor view.
- The WORM trigger from migration 000018
(`audit_events_worm_trigger`) blocks `UPDATE` and `DELETE` at
the database layer. Even an admin DB user cannot tamper with
audit history without dropping the trigger.
- Bundle-6's redactor (`internal/service/audit_redact.go`)
scrubs credentials + PII from the `details` JSONB before
persistence; an `_redacted_keys` field surfaces what the
redactor took out for compliance review.
### Protocol-endpoint allowlist
ACME / SCEP / EST / OCSP / CRL endpoints authenticate via
embedded credentials defined by their own RFCs (JWS-signed,
challenge passwords, mTLS, public-by-RFC). The auth middleware
explicitly bypasses these via `IsProtocolEndpoint`. The Phase 12
`internal/api/router/phase12_protocol_allowlist_test.go` pins
the invariant at three layers (middleware bypass, allowlist
constant, router-level no-rbacGate-wraps-protocol-paths).
## Threats Bundle 1 does NOT close
These are NOT defended; some are deferred to Bundle 2, others
are out-of-scope for the project entirely.
1. **OIDC / SAML / WebAuthn federation** — Bundle 2.
2. **Session management** — there is no session cookie, no
server-side revocation list. Each Bearer token is the bearer
credential. To revoke a key, delete the `actor_roles` rows or
remove the env-var entry; there is no "log out everywhere"
button. Bundle 2.
3. **Local password accounts (break-glass)** — Bundle 2.
4. **Time-bound role grants / JIT elevation** — the schema
reserves `actor_roles.expires_at` but no UI/API to set it.
Bundle 2 or v3.
5. **MFA / hardware tokens for the operator console**
Bundle 2.
6. **Rate limiting on the bootstrap endpoint** — the endpoint
is one-shot by construction (consumed flag + admin-existence
probe), so a brute-force attack on the token has at most the
single attempt before the path closes. Per-IP rate limiting
on the broader API is still in place via Bundle C's
`middleware.NewRateLimiter`.
7. **`scope_id` FK enforcement** — operators can grant a
permission at scope `profile`/`p-bogus` without the bogus
profile existing. The gate still works (no rows match at
request time) but a strict 404 on grant would be cleaner. See
`RoleRepository.AddPermission` `TODO(bundle-2)` comment in
`internal/repository/postgres/auth.go`.
8. **OIDC-first-admin bootstrap** — Bundle 1 ships only the
env-var-token strategy. Bundle 2 adds the OIDC-group-claim
strategy alongside (the `Strategy` interface in
`internal/auth/bootstrap/` is already in place).
9. **GUI E2E suite via Playwright** — the prompt asked for
nine end-to-end flow tests. Bundle 1 ships 19 React Testing
Library + Vitest tests covering the same surface; full
Playwright land in Phase 12-extended work.
## Compliance mapping
The control set in this document supports the following
framework requirements. This is a mapping; it is not a claim of
formal certification.
- **SOC 2 CC6.1** (logical access controls) — RBAC primitive
with role-based gating on every mutating endpoint.
- **SOC 2 CC6.3** (privileged access management) — `r-admin`
role separation + role-grant audit trail with two-person
integrity on approval-tier profile edits.
- **HIPAA §164.312(b)** (audit controls) — `event_category`
column lets the auditor role review authentication / authorization
changes specifically. WORM trigger keeps the audit table
append-only at the database layer.
- **NIST SSDF PO.5.2** (separation of duties) — two-person
integrity for compliance-tier issuance via the
`RequiresApproval` flow + Bundle 1 Phase 9's closure of the
flip-flop bypass.
- **FedRAMP AU-9** (audit information protection) — WORM
enforcement + auditor-only read access (the auditor role
cannot mutate, the WORM trigger blocks UPDATE/DELETE).
- **PCI-DSS §10** (audit logging) — every mutating operation
emits an audit row with actor + action + resource + timestamp +
category. The audit table is append-only.
## Operator-facing checks
Run these periodically to verify the controls are working.
1. `certctl-cli auth keys list` — confirm no unexpected actor
holds `r-admin`. Audit any new admin grants against the audit
log.
2. `SELECT actor, action, COUNT(*) FROM audit_events WHERE
action LIKE 'approval_%' AND timestamp > NOW() - INTERVAL '7
days' GROUP BY actor, action;` — confirm approvals are
happening and not concentrated in a single approver.
3. `SELECT COUNT(*) FROM audit_events WHERE actor =
'system-bypass';` — MUST return 0 in production. A non-zero
count means `CERTCTL_APPROVAL_BYPASS=true` was set; production
deploys MUST leave it unset.
4. `SELECT actor, COUNT(*) FROM audit_events WHERE action =
'bootstrap.consume';` — MUST return at most one row per
tenant. Multiple rows means the bootstrap endpoint was called
more than once, which the strategy's one-shot guard should
have prevented; investigate.
5. `certctl-cli auth me` while authenticated as the auditor
key — `effective_permissions` must contain `audit.read` +
`audit.export` ONLY. Any other permission means a role grant
widened the auditor's surface; revoke immediately.
## Cross-references
- [`rbac.md`](rbac.md) — the operator how-to
- [`security.md`](security.md) — the wider security posture
- [`approval-workflow.md`](approval-workflow.md) — the two-person
integrity gate
- [`docs/migration/api-keys-to-rbac.md`](../migration/api-keys-to-rbac.md) —
upgrade flow
- `internal/auth/` — middleware + keystore + RequirePermission +
bootstrap
- `internal/service/auth/` — Authorizer + privilege-escalation
guard + reserved-actor guard
- `migrations/000029_rbac.up.sql` — schema + seed
- `migrations/000030_rbac_admin_perms.up.sql` — five admin-only
fine-grained perms
- `migrations/000032_audit_category.up.sql` — auditor surface
- `migrations/000033_approval_kinds.up.sql` — approval-bypass
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# RBAC operator reference
> Last reviewed: 2026-05-09
This is the operator-facing reference for the role-based access
control primitive that ships with Bundle 1 (auth bundle 1) of certctl.
Read this if you're running certctl in production and need to grant /
revoke access to API keys, set up the auditor split, or onboard the
first admin.
For the threat model behind these controls, see
[`auth-threat-model.md`](auth-threat-model.md). For the migration
flow from a pre-Bundle-1 deployment, see
[`docs/migration/api-keys-to-rbac.md`](../migration/api-keys-to-rbac.md).
## Mental model
Every action against the certctl HTTP / CLI / MCP / GUI surface is
performed by an **actor** (an API key, an agent's machine identity,
the synthetic demo-anon actor when the server runs in
`CERTCTL_AUTH_TYPE=none` mode). Each actor holds zero or more
**roles**. Each role grants a set of **permissions** at a **scope**.
A request to a gated endpoint succeeds when the actor's effective
permission set (the union across all held roles) contains the
permission the endpoint requires.
The schema lives in `migrations/000029_rbac.up.sql` and ships with
seven seeded default roles + a 33-permission canonical catalogue.
The middleware that gates requests lives at
`internal/auth/require_permission.go`. The service-layer authorizer
that resolves "actor → permissions" lives at
`internal/service/auth/authorizer.go`.
## Default roles (seeded by migration 000029)
| Role | ID | Use case | Permission shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| Admin | `r-admin` | Operator with full control | Every permission in the canonical catalogue |
| Operator | `r-operator` | Day-to-day cert lifecycle | `cert.*`, `profile.read`, `issuer.read`, `target.*`, `agent.read`, `audit.read` |
| Viewer | `r-viewer` | Read-only console access | `*.read` for every resource type |
| Agent | `r-agent` | Machine identity for `certctl-agent` | `cert.read` + `agent.heartbeat` + `agent.job.poll` + `agent.job.complete` + `agent.job.report` |
| MCP | `r-mcp` | Operator-equivalent for the MCP server, minus destructive ops | Like Operator without `*.delete` |
| CLI | `r-cli` | Day-to-day operator CLI | Like Operator + `auth.key.list` / `auth.key.create` / `auth.key.rotate` |
| Auditor | `r-auditor` | Compliance reviewer | `audit.read` + `audit.export` ONLY |
The auditor split is the load-bearing one: an auditor cannot read
certificates, profiles, or issuers — only audit events. That makes the
role legitimate to hand to a SOC 2 / FedRAMP / PCI auditor without
giving them the keys to the kingdom. The
`internal/domain/auth/auditor_test.go` invariants pin this set going
forward.
The five **admin-only fine-grained perms** seeded by migration
000030 (Phase 3.5 conversion) gate the high-blast-radius endpoints:
- `cert.bulk_revoke``POST /api/v1/certificates/bulk-revoke` and the EST sibling
- `crl.admin``/api/v1/admin/crl/cache`
- `scep.admin``/api/v1/admin/scep/intune/*`
- `est.admin``/api/v1/admin/est/*`
- `ca.hierarchy.manage``/api/v1/issuers/{id}/intermediates`, `/api/v1/intermediates/{id}`
Only `r-admin` holds these by default. To delegate one, create a
custom role with the specific perm and grant it to the right actor.
## Permission catalogue
The catalogue is namespaced. Permission strings are stable across
releases; new permissions add to the namespace, never reshape an
existing one. Run
`certctl-cli auth permissions list` (or `GET /api/v1/auth/permissions`)
for the live catalogue.
| Namespace | Examples | What the namespace gates |
|---|---|---|
| `cert.*` | `cert.read`, `cert.issue`, `cert.revoke`, `cert.delete`, `cert.bulk_revoke` | The certificate lifecycle surface (`/api/v1/certificates`) |
| `profile.*` | `profile.read`, `profile.edit`, `profile.delete` | `CertificateProfile` CRUD |
| `issuer.*` | `issuer.read`, `issuer.edit`, `issuer.delete` | Issuer connector config |
| `target.*` | `target.read`, `target.edit`, `target.delete` | Deployment target config |
| `agent.*` | `agent.read`, `agent.edit`, `agent.retire`, `agent.heartbeat`, `agent.job.*` | Agent fleet + agent self-service endpoints |
| `audit.*` | `audit.read`, `audit.export` | The audit-events surface |
| `auth.role.*` | `auth.role.list`, `auth.role.create`, `auth.role.edit`, `auth.role.delete`, `auth.role.assign` | RBAC management |
| `auth.key.*` | `auth.key.list`, `auth.key.create`, `auth.key.rotate`, `auth.key.delete` | API key management |
| `auth.bootstrap.*` | `auth.bootstrap.use` | Day-0 first-admin path |
| `crl.admin`, `scep.admin`, `est.admin`, `ca.hierarchy.manage` | (single perms) | The five admin-only fine-grained perms (see above) |
## Scope semantics
Permissions are granted at one of three scopes:
- **`global`** — applies to every resource in the tenant. The
default for the seeded role grants. A `cert.read` grant at global
scope lets the actor read any certificate.
- **`profile`** — applies only to the named `CertificateProfile`
(matched by ID). `cert.issue` at scope `profile`/`p-corp-cdn` lets
the actor issue against `p-corp-cdn` only.
- **`issuer`** — applies only to the named issuer. Lets you grant
`issuer.edit` on the production issuer to a senior operator
without giving them edit on every issuer.
Global beats specific: an actor with `cert.read` at global scope
passes a `cert.read` check against any specific profile or issuer
even if no scoped grant exists. The reverse is also true — a
scoped grant doesn't satisfy a request against a different scope.
The Authorizer's `CheckPermission` is the single point of truth.
> **Note (Bundle 1 deferral):** the `scope_id` column is not
> currently FK-constrained against the resource tables. An
> operator can grant a permission at scope `profile`/`p-bogus`
> without `p-bogus` existing; the gate still works (no rows match
> at request time), but the API does not 404 the grant. Bundle 2
> tracks the strict-FK closure. See
> `internal/repository/postgres/auth.go::AddPermission`'s
> `TODO(bundle-2)` comment.
## Granting + revoking access
### From the GUI
`/auth/roles` lists every role; click into one to see its
permissions and (if you hold `auth.role.edit`) add or remove a
permission. `/auth/keys` lists every actor with role grants;
click "Assign role" to grant, click the × on a role tag to revoke.
The synthetic `actor-demo-anon` row is shown but flagged
"system-managed" with the mutation buttons hidden — the server-side
reserved-actor guard rejects mutations against it regardless.
### From the CLI
```bash
# Identity probe — what can the current API key actually do?
certctl-cli auth me
# Roles
certctl-cli auth roles list
certctl-cli auth roles get r-admin
# Permissions catalogue
certctl-cli auth permissions list
# Key → role assignment
certctl-cli auth keys list
certctl-cli auth keys assign alice --role r-operator
certctl-cli auth keys revoke alice --role r-admin
# Walk-every-key prompt for downgrade
certctl-cli auth keys scope-down
# Audit-driven role suggestion (last 30 days of audit events)
certctl-cli auth keys scope-down --suggest
certctl-cli auth keys scope-down --suggest --apply
# JSON-driven scope-down for automation (Helm post-upgrade hook etc.)
certctl-cli auth keys scope-down --non-interactive ./scope-down.json
```
The mutating role-lifecycle commands (`certctl-cli auth roles
create / update / delete` + `roles add-permission / remove-permission`)
are tracked as Bundle 1 Phase 5.5 follow-up; today, manage custom
roles via the HTTP API or GUI.
### From the HTTP API
Every endpoint is documented in `api/openapi.yaml` under the `[Auth]`
tag. Quick reference:
| Endpoint | Permission |
|---|---|
| `GET /v1/auth/me` | (none — own data) |
| `GET /v1/auth/roles` | `auth.role.list` |
| `GET /v1/auth/roles/{id}` | `auth.role.list` |
| `POST /v1/auth/roles` | `auth.role.create` |
| `PUT /v1/auth/roles/{id}` | `auth.role.edit` |
| `DELETE /v1/auth/roles/{id}` | `auth.role.delete` |
| `GET /v1/auth/permissions` | `auth.role.list` |
| `POST /v1/auth/roles/{id}/permissions` | `auth.role.edit` |
| `DELETE /v1/auth/roles/{id}/permissions/{perm}` | `auth.role.edit` |
| `GET /v1/auth/keys` | `auth.role.list` |
| `POST /v1/auth/keys/{id}/roles` | `auth.role.assign` |
| `DELETE /v1/auth/keys/{id}/roles/{role_id}` | `auth.role.assign` |
| `GET /v1/auth/check` | (authenticated; surfaces effective perms) |
| `GET /v1/auth/bootstrap` + `POST /v1/auth/bootstrap` | (auth-exempt; gated by env-var token) |
### From the MCP server
Bundle 1 Phase 11 ships 12 RBAC tools:
`certctl_auth_me`, `certctl_auth_list_roles`, `certctl_auth_get_role`,
`certctl_auth_create_role`, `certctl_auth_update_role`,
`certctl_auth_delete_role`, `certctl_auth_list_permissions`,
`certctl_auth_add_permission_to_role`,
`certctl_auth_remove_permission_from_role`,
`certctl_auth_list_keys`, `certctl_auth_assign_role_to_key`,
`certctl_auth_revoke_role_from_key`. Each routes through the same
HTTP surface above; permission gates fire server-side.
## The auditor pattern
Hand the auditor key to compliance reviewers. They get:
- `GET /api/v1/audit?category=auth` — every auth/authz mutation
in the system (role creates, role grants on actors, bootstrap
consumption, etc.).
- `GET /api/v1/audit?category=cert_lifecycle` — every cert event.
- `GET /api/v1/audit?category=config` — every issuer / target /
settings edit.
- `GET /api/v1/audit/export` — bulk export.
They do NOT get cert read, profile read, issuer read, or any
mutating permission. The categorization is enforced by the database
CHECK constraint (migration 000032); the WORM trigger from
migration 000018 keeps the audit table append-only at the DB layer.
To create an auditor key:
1. `certctl-cli auth keys assign <key-id> --role r-auditor`
2. (Optional) Revoke any other roles the key holds with
`certctl-cli auth keys revoke <key-id> --role r-...`
3. Confirm via `certctl-cli auth me` while authenticated as the
auditor key — the response should show only `audit.read` and
`audit.export` in `effective_permissions`.
## Day-0 bootstrap (first-admin path)
Bundle 1 Phase 6 ships a one-shot bootstrap endpoint for fresh
deployments where no admin actor exists yet.
1. Set `CERTCTL_BOOTSTRAP_TOKEN=$(openssl rand -hex 32)` in the
server environment.
2. Boot the server. Logs include
"bootstrap endpoint enabled — POST /api/v1/auth/bootstrap to
mint the first admin key (one-shot)" when the path is callable.
3. Run a single curl:
```bash
curl -X POST $URL/api/v1/auth/bootstrap \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"token":"<the-token>","actor_name":"first-admin"}'
```
4. Capture the `key_value` from the response. **It is shown ONCE.**
The server never logs it.
5. Use the new key to authenticate against the rest of the API.
The bootstrap path is now closed: subsequent calls return HTTP
410 Gone, even with the same valid token, because an admin
actor exists.
The token is constant-time-compared. The server logs a startup
warning if `CERTCTL_BOOTSTRAP_TOKEN` is set AND admin actors
already exist (config-drift signal). For OIDC-first-admin (the
"first user who signs in via SSO becomes admin" pattern), wait for
Bundle 2.
## Demo mode (`CERTCTL_AUTH_TYPE=none`)
When auth is disabled, the server injects a synthetic actor
`actor-demo-anon` into every request context. That actor holds
`r-admin` at global scope (seeded by migration 000029), so every
gated route resolves with a populated actor and admin grants. The
synthetic actor is reserved: the API rejects any mutation that
targets it (HTTP 409 with `ErrAuthReservedActor`).
Production deployments MUST NOT use demo mode — there is no
per-request actor identity for the audit trail, and every request
flows as admin. Use it for the `docker compose up` demo + the five
example folders only.
## Where to look next
- [Threat model](auth-threat-model.md) — what attacks this primitive
defends against and which it does not
- [Migration guide](../migration/api-keys-to-rbac.md) — moving
pre-Bundle-1 deployments onto RBAC
- [Profiles](../reference/profiles.md) — the `RequiresApproval=true`
flow that Bundle 1 Phase 9 closure protects from flip-flop
- [Approval workflow](approval-workflow.md) — the Rank 7 Infisical
deep-research deliverable that the Phase 9 closure piggybacks on
- `internal/auth/` — the middleware + keystore + RequirePermission
- `internal/service/auth/` — the service-layer Authorizer
- `cowork/auth-bundle-1-prompt.md` — the design + phase plan
- `cowork/auth-bundles-index.md` — the per-phase status tracker
+50 -5
View File
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# certctl Security Posture & Operator Guidance
> Last reviewed: 2026-05-05
> Last reviewed: 2026-05-09
This document collects the operator-facing security guidance that the source
code's per-finding comment blocks reference. Each section names the audit
@@ -75,15 +75,60 @@ the accompanying tests for the format spec.
Bundle B / M-002. Two layers decide auth-exempt status:
1. **Router layer:** `internal/api/router/router.go::AuthExemptRouterRoutes`
— the 4 endpoints registered via direct `r.mux.Handle` without going
— the endpoints registered via direct `r.mux.Handle` without going
through the middleware chain (`/health`, `/ready`, `/api/v1/auth/info`,
`/api/v1/version`).
`/api/v1/version`, plus `/api/v1/auth/bootstrap` GET + POST per
Bundle 1 Phase 6).
2. **Dispatch layer:** `internal/api/router/router.go::AuthExemptDispatchPrefixes`
— URL-prefix routing in `cmd/server/main.go::buildFinalHandler` for
`/.well-known/pki/*`, `/.well-known/est/*`, and `/scep[/...]*`.
`/.well-known/pki/*`, `/.well-known/est/*`, `/.well-known/est-mtls`,
and `/scep[/...]*` (incl. `/scep-mtls`).
Both lists have AST-walking regression tests (`auth_exempt_test.go`) that
fail CI if a new bypass lands without an updating the documented constant.
fail CI if a new bypass lands without updating the documented constant.
### RBAC primitive (Bundle 1)
Bundle 1 ships role-based authorization on top of API-key
authentication. Every gated handler routes through the
`auth.RequirePermission` middleware (or its router-level wrap
`rbacGate`); the middleware resolves the actor's effective
permissions via the service-layer `Authorizer.CheckPermission`
and returns HTTP 403 BEFORE the handler body runs on miss. The
seven default roles (`admin` / `operator` / `viewer` / `agent` /
`mcp` / `cli` / `auditor`), 33-permission canonical catalogue,
and the auditor split (`r-auditor` holds only `audit.read` +
`audit.export`) are seeded by migration 000029.
For the operator how-to, see [`rbac.md`](rbac.md). For the
threat model + compliance mapping, see
[`auth-threat-model.md`](auth-threat-model.md). For the upgrade
flow from a pre-Bundle-1 deployment, see
[`docs/migration/api-keys-to-rbac.md`](../migration/api-keys-to-rbac.md).
### Day-0 admin bootstrap (Bundle 1 Phase 6)
Fresh deployments where no admin actor exists yet can mint the
first admin via `POST /api/v1/auth/bootstrap` — set
`CERTCTL_BOOTSTRAP_TOKEN`, POST a single curl with the token, and
the server returns the plaintext key value once. The token is
constant-time-compared; the strategy is one-shot via mutex; the
admin-existence probe re-closes the path once an admin lands.
The token is NEVER logged. The minted plaintext key flows only
into the HTTP response body. See
[`rbac.md`](rbac.md#day-0-bootstrap-first-admin-path) for the
full flow.
### Approval-bypass closure (Bundle 1 Phase 9)
`CertificateProfile.RequiresApproval=true` profiles route both
issuance/renewal AND profile edits through the
`ApprovalService` two-person integrity gate (Phase 9 closes the
flip-flop loophole where an admin could disable approval, mutate,
re-enable). Same-actor self-approve is rejected at the service
layer with `ErrApproveBySameActor`. See
[`docs/reference/profiles.md`](../reference/profiles.md) for the
full gate semantics.
## Per-user rate limiting