git.stella-ops.org/docs/security/authority-scopes.md

Authority Scopes & Tenancy — AOC Update

Audience: Authority Core, platform security engineers, DevOps owners.
Scope: Scope taxonomy, tenancy enforcement, rollout guidance for the Aggregation-Only Contract (Sprint 19).

Authority issues short-lived tokens bound to tenants and scopes. Sprint 19 introduces new scopes to support the AOC guardrails in Concelier and Excititor. This document lists the canonical scope catalogue, describes tenancy propagation, and outlines operational safeguards.

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1 · Scope catalogue (post AOC)

Scope	Surface	Purpose	Notes
advisory:ingest	Concelier ingestion APIs	Append-only writes to advisory_raw collections.	Requires tenant claim; blocked for global clients.
advisory:read	/aoc/verify, Concelier dashboards, CLI	Read-only access to stored advisories and guard results.	Must be requested with aoc:verify; Authority rejects tokens missing the pairing.
vex:ingest	Excititor ingestion APIs	Append-only writes to vex_raw.	Mirrors advisory:ingest; tenant required.
vex:read	/aoc/verify, Excititor dashboards, CLI	Read-only access to stored VEX material.	Must be requested with aoc:verify; Authority rejects tokens missing the pairing.
aoc:verify	CLI/CI pipelines, Console verification jobs	Execute Aggregation-Only Contract guard runs.	Always issued with tenant; required whenever requesting advisory:read, vex:read, or any signals:* scope.
signals:read	Signals API, reachability dashboards	Read-only access to stored reachability signals.	Tenant and aoc:verify required; missing pairing returns invalid_scope.
signals:write	Signals ingestion APIs	Append-only writes for reachability signals.	Requires tenant and aoc:verify; Authority logs authority.aoc_scope_violation on mismatch.
signals:admin	Signals administration tooling	Rotate credentials, manage reachability sensors, purge stale data.	Reserved for automation; aoc:verify + tenant mandatory; violations are audited.
graph:write	Cartographer pipeline	Enqueue graph build/overlay jobs.	Reserved for Cartographer service identity; tenant required.
graph:read	Graph API, Scheduler overlays, UI	Read graph projections/overlays.	Tenant required; granted to Cartographer, Graph API, Scheduler.
graph:export	Graph export endpoints	Stream GraphML/JSONL artefacts.	UI/gateway automation only; tenant required.
graph:simulate	Policy simulation overlays	Trigger what-if overlays on graphs.	Restricted to automation; tenant required.
effective:write	Policy Engine	Create/update effective_finding_* collections.	Only the Policy Engine service client may hold this scope; tenant required.
findings:read	Console, CLI, exports	Read derived findings materialised by Policy Engine.	Shared across tenants with RBAC; tenant claim still enforced.
policy:author	Policy Studio (Console, CLI)	Author drafts, run lint, execute quick simulations.	Tenant required; typically granted via role/policy-author.
policy:review	Policy Studio review panes	Review drafts, leave comments, request changes.	Tenant required; pair with policy:simulate for diff previews.
policy:approve	Policy Studio approvals	Approve or reject policy drafts.	Tenant required; fresh-auth enforced by Console UI.
policy:operate	Policy Studio promotion controls	Trigger batch simulations, promotions, and canary runs.	Tenant required; combine with policy:run/policy:activate.
policy:audit	Policy audit exports	Access immutable policy history, comments, and signatures.	Tenant required; read-only access.
policy:simulate	Policy Studio / CLI simulations	Run simulations against tenant inventories.	Tenant required; available to authors, reviewers, operators.
vuln:read	Vuln Explorer API/UI	Read normalized vulnerability data.	Tenant required.
export.viewer	Export Center APIs	List export profiles/runs, fetch manifests and bundles.	Tenant required; read-only access.
export.operator	Export Center APIs	Trigger export runs, manage schedules, request verifications.	Tenant required; pair with export.admin for retention/encryption changes.
export.admin	Export Center administrative APIs	Configure retention policies, encryption keys, and scheduling defaults.	Tenant required; token requests must include export_reason + export_ticket; Authority audits denials.
orch:read	Orchestrator dashboards/API	Read queued jobs, worker state, and rate-limit telemetry.	Tenant required; never grants mutation rights.
orch:operate	Orchestrator control actions	Execute pause/resume, retry, sync-now, and backfill operations. Requires tenant assignment and operator_reason/operator_ticket parameters when requesting tokens.
exceptions:read	Exception service APIs, Console	Enumerate exception definitions, routing templates, and approval state.	Tenant and approval routing metadata required for audit replay.
exceptions:write	Policy Engine → Authority bridge	Persist exception evaluations, lifecycle events, and status changes.	Tenant required; only service principals should hold this scope.
exceptions:approve	Console fresh-auth flows, delegated admins	Approve or reject exception requests routed through Authority.	Tenant required; Authority enforces MFA when any bound routing template has requireMfa=true.
ui.read	Console base APIs	Retrieve tenant catalog, profile metadata, and token introspection results.	Tenant header required; responses are DPoP-bound and audit logged.
authority:tenants.read	Console admin workspace	Enumerate configured tenants, default roles, and isolation metadata.	Tenant claim must match header; access audited via authority.console.tenants.read.
Existing scopes	(e.g., policy:*, concelier.jobs.trigger)	Unchanged.	concelier.merge is retired — clients must request advisory:ingest/advisory:read; requests continue to fail with invalid_client. Review /docs/security/policy-governance.md for policy-specific scopes.

1.1 Scope bundles (roles)

• role/concelier-ingest → advisory:ingest, advisory:read.
• role/excititor-ingest → vex:ingest, vex:read.
• role/signals-uploader → signals:write, signals:read, aoc:verify.
• role/aoc-operator → aoc:verify, advisory:read, vex:read.
• role/policy-engine → effective:write, findings:read.
• role/cartographer-service → graph:write, graph:read.
• role/graph-gateway → graph:read, graph:export, graph:simulate.
• role/console → ui.read, advisory:read, vex:read, exceptions:read, aoc:verify, findings:read, orch:read, vuln:read.
• role/ui-console-admin → ui.read, authority:tenants.read, authority:roles.read, authority:tokens.read, authority:clients.read (paired with write scopes where required).
• role/orch-viewer (Authority role: Orch.Viewer) → orch:read.
• role/orch-operator (Authority role: Orch.Operator) → orch:read, orch:operate.
• role/policy-author → policy:author, policy:read, policy:simulate, findings:read.
• role/policy-reviewer → policy:review, policy:read, policy:simulate, findings:read.
• role/policy-approver → policy:approve, policy:review, policy:read, policy:simulate, findings:read.
• role/policy-operator → policy:operate, policy:run, policy:activate, policy:read, policy:simulate, findings:read.
• role/policy-auditor → policy:audit, policy:read, policy:simulate, findings:read.
• role/export-viewer (Authority role: Export.Viewer) → export.viewer.
• role/export-operator (Authority role: Export.Operator) → export.viewer, export.operator.
• role/export-admin (Authority role: Export.Admin) → export.viewer, export.operator, export.admin.
• role/exceptions-service → exceptions:read, exceptions:write.
• role/exceptions-approver → exceptions:read, exceptions:approve.

Roles are declared per tenant in authority.yaml:

tenants:
  - name: default
    roles:
      concelier-ingest:
        scopes: [advisory:ingest, advisory:read]
      signals-uploader:
        scopes: [signals:write, signals:read, aoc:verify]
      aoc-operator:
        scopes: [aoc:verify, advisory:read, vex:read]
      orch-viewer:
        scopes: [orch:read]
      orch-operator:
        scopes: [orch:read, orch:operate]
      policy-author:
        scopes: [policy:author, policy:read, policy:simulate, findings:read]
      policy-reviewer:
        scopes: [policy:review, policy:read, policy:simulate, findings:read]
      policy-approver:
        scopes: [policy:approve, policy:review, policy:read, policy:simulate, findings:read]
      policy-operator:
        scopes: [policy:operate, policy:run, policy:activate, policy:read, policy:simulate, findings:read]
      policy-auditor:
        scopes: [policy:audit, policy:read, policy:simulate, findings:read]
      policy-engine:
        scopes: [effective:write, findings:read]
      exceptions-service:
        scopes: [exceptions:read, exceptions:write]
      exceptions-approver:
        scopes: [exceptions:read, exceptions:approve]

MFA requirement: When any exceptions.routingTemplates entry sets requireMfa: true, Authority refuses to mint tokens containing exceptions:approve unless the authenticating identity provider advertises MFA support. Password/OIDC flows produce authority.password.grant audit events with reason="Exception approval scope requires an MFA-capable identity provider." when the requirement is violated.

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2 · Tenancy enforcement

2.1 Token claims

Tokens now include:

• tenant claim (string) — required for all ingestion and verification scopes.
• service_identity (optional) — e.g., policy-engine, cartographer. Required when requesting effective:write or graph:write.
• delegation_allowed (boolean) — defaults false. Prevents console tokens from delegating ingest scopes.

Authority rejects requests when:

• tenant is missing while requesting advisory:ingest, advisory:read, vex:ingest, vex:read, or aoc:verify scopes.
• aoc:verify is absent while tokens request advisory:read, vex:read, or any signals:* scope (invalid_scope with deterministic message).
• service_identity != policy-engine but effective:write is present (ERR_AOC_006 enforcement).
• service_identity != cartographer but graph:write is present (graph pipeline enforcement).
• Tokens attempt to combine advisory:ingest with effective:write (separation of duties).
• exceptions:approve is requested by a client without a tenant assignment or via an identity provider lacking MFA when RequireMfaForApprovals=true.

2.2 Propagation

• API Gateway forwards tenant claim as header (X-Stella-Tenant). Services refuse requests lacking the header.
• Concelier/Excititor stamp tenant into raw documents and structured logs.
• Policy Engine copies tenant from tokens into effective_finding_* collections.
• Exception lifecycle services persist tenant and the selected routing template identifier alongside approval decisions. Authority audit events (authority.password.grant, authority.client_credentials.grant) surface audit.scopes and, on denials, a scope.invalid metadata entry so operators can trace exception approval attempts without inspecting downstream services.

2.3 Cross-tenant scenarios

• Platform operators with tenant:admin can assume other tenants via /authority/tenant/switch if explicitly permitted.
• CLI commands accept --tenant <id> to override environment default; Authority logs tenant switch events (authority.tenant.switch).
• Console tenant picker uses delegated token exchange (/token/exchange) to obtain scoped tenant tokens without exposing raw credentials.

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3 · Configuration changes

3.1 Authority configuration (authority.yaml)

Add new scopes and optional claims transformations:

security:
  scopes:
    - name: advisory:ingest
      description: Concelier raw ingestion (append-only)
    - name: advisory:read
      description: Read Concelier advisories and guard verdicts
    - name: vex:ingest
      description: Excititor raw ingestion
    - name: vex:read
      description: Read Excititor VEX records
    - name: aoc:verify
      description: Run AOC verification
    - name: effective:write
      description: Policy Engine materialisation
    - name: findings:read
      description: Read derived findings
    - name: graph:write
      description: Cartographer build submissions
    - name: graph:read
      description: Read graph overlays
    - name: graph:export
      description: Export graph artefacts
    - name: graph:simulate
      description: Run graph what-if simulations
    - name: vuln:read
      description: Read Vuln Explorer data
  claimTransforms:
    - match: { scope: "effective:write" }
      require:
        serviceIdentity: policy-engine
    - match: { scope: "graph:write" }
      require:
        serviceIdentity: cartographer

3.2 Client registration

Update service clients:

• Concelier.WebService → request advisory:ingest, advisory:read.
• Excititor.WebService → request vex:ingest, vex:read.
• Policy.Engine → request effective:write, findings:read; set properties.serviceIdentity=policy-engine.
• Cartographer.Service → request graph:write, graph:read; set properties.serviceIdentity=cartographer.
• Graph API Gateway → request graph:read, graph:export, graph:simulate; tenant hint required.
• Console → request advisory:read, vex:read, aoc:verify, findings:read, vuln:read plus existing UI scopes.
• CLI automation → request aoc:verify, advisory:read, vex:read as needed.

Client definition snippet:

clients:
  - clientId: concelier-web
    grantTypes: [client_credentials]
    scopes: [advisory:ingest, advisory:read]
    tenants: [default]
  - clientId: policy-engine
    grantTypes: [client_credentials]
    scopes: [effective:write, findings:read]
    properties:
      serviceIdentity: policy-engine
  - clientId: cartographer-service
    grantTypes: [client_credentials]
    scopes: [graph:write, graph:read]
    properties:
      serviceIdentity: cartographer

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4 · Operational safeguards

• Audit events: Authority emits authority.scope.granted and authority.scope.revoked events with scope and tenant. Monitor for unexpected grants.
• Rate limiting: Apply stricter limits on /token endpoints for clients requesting advisory:ingest or vex:ingest to mitigate brute-force ingestion attempts.
• Incident response: Link AOC alerts to Authority audit logs to confirm whether violations come from expected identities.
• Rotation: Rotate ingest client secrets alongside guard deployments; add rotation steps to ops/authority-key-rotation.md.
• Testing: Integration tests must fail if tokens lacking tenant attempt ingestion; add coverage in Concelier/Excititor smoke suites (see CONCELIER-CORE-AOC-19-013).

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5 · Offline & air-gap notes

• Offline Kit bundles include tenant-scoped service credentials. Ensure ingest bundles ship without advisory:ingest scopes unless strictly required.
• CLI verification in offline environments uses pre-issued aoc:verify tokens; document expiration and renewal processes.
• Authority replicas in air-gapped environments should restrict scope issuance to known tenants and log all /token interactions for later replay.

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6 · References

• Aggregation-Only Contract reference
• Architecture overview
• Concelier architecture
• Excititor architecture
• Policy governance
• Authority key rotation playbook

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7 · Compliance checklist

• Scope catalogue updated in Authority configuration templates.
• Role mappings documented for each tenant profile.
• Claim transforms enforce serviceIdentity for effective:write.
• Claim transforms enforce serviceIdentity for graph:write.
• Concelier/Excititor smoke tests cover missing tenant rejection.
• Offline kit credentials reviewed for least privilege.
• Audit/monitoring guidance validated with Observability Guild.
• Authority Core sign-off recorded (owner: @authority-core, due 2025-10-28).

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Last updated: 2025-10-27 (Sprint 19).