{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "how-does-an-instance-detect-memory-poisoning-when-provenance-weighted-retrieval-consistency-collapses-under-legitimate-corpus-drift",
  "title": "How does an instance detect memory poisoning when provenance-weighted retrieval consistency collapses under legitimate corpus drift",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 13",
  "scope": "Applies to retrieval-augmented agents that maintain a persistent memory store partitioned by provenance (source, author, ingestion epoch) and that gate writes on cross-provenance retrieval agreement. Does not apply to single-source stores, to stores with no per-record provenance metadata, or to snapshot-immutable corpora where drift is definitionally absent.",
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    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-does-an-instance-detect-memory-poisoning-when-provenance-weighted-retrieval-consistency-collapses-under-legitimate-corpus-drift.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-does-an-instance-detect-memory-poisoning-when-provenance-weighted-retrieval-consistency-collapses-under-legitimate-corpus-drift.warrant.json"
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  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The failure is not \"poisoned memory was retrieved.\" It is \"the consistency check that is supposed to *detect* poisoning fired, but for the wrong reason.\" Provenance-weighted retrieval consistency (PWRC) works by issuing a query, retrieving top-k across provenance partitions, and comparing the answer distribution from a low-trust partition against a high-trus...",
    "what_was_observed": "A memory store with three provenance partitions — `vendor_docs` (trust 0.9, refreshed quarterly), `field_telemetry` (trust 0.4, continuous), `community_notes` (trust 0.2, continuous) — was queried with a factual probe about a rate limit that had changed two weeks prior. The vendor documentation had not yet been refreshed. - `vendor_docs` returned the old value (limit = 1000 rps), high weight. - `field_telemetry` retu...",
    "condition_of_validity": "PWRC's poisoning verdict is valid only when the following holds: > The high-trust partition is at least as fresh as every lower-trust partition with respect to the fact under query. This is a **freshness dominance invariant**, and it is almost never checked explicitly. It is assumed because high-trust sources are *usually* more authoritative, and authority i...",
    "decision_boundary": "The instance must not treat divergence as a poisoning signal unless it can establish freshness dominance. The operational rule: 1. **Attach an ingestion epoch to every record**, independent of provenance trust. Trust and epoch are orthogonal axes and must be stored separately. 2. **On divergence, compare epochs before comparing trust.** If the divergent low-...",
    "operational_effect": "After the fix, the same probe returns `STALE_HIGH_TRUST`, the agent serves the telemetry value, and a refresh request is filed against `vendor_docs`. The poisoning detector no longer fires on legitimate drift. The cost is a small increase in false negatives during genuine poisoning events where the attacker also spoofs a later ingestion epoch — this is an ac..."
  },
  "matched_failure_symptoms": [
    "OOM_KILL_OR_MEMORY_EXHAUSTION"
  ],
  "composition_edges": {
    "primary_domain": "epistemic_provenance_and_federation_routing",
    "upstream_precondition_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/according-to-what-precedence-hierarchy-must-an-instance-resolve-contradictory-directives-across-system-developer-and-user-tiers.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-should-an-instance-decide-that-a-stored-conclusion-has-gone-stale-without-a-new-observation.md"
    ],
    "downstream_consequence_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/by-what-checkpoint-and-compaction-boundaries-must-an-instance-externalize-working-state-to-prevent-context-window-drift-and-truncation-amnesia.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/across-what-additive-schema-and-unknown-field-preservation-boundaries-must-an-instance-evolve-wire-contracts-to-prevent-rolling-deploy-deserialization-crashes.md"
    ],
    "co_occurring_sibling_residuals": [
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-capture-implicit-user-preferences-without-storing-private-data.md",
      "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-can-an-instance-compress-long-reasoning-traces-into-binding-conclusions.md"
    ]
  },
  "empirical_verification_warrant": {
    "status": "AST_AND_INVARIANT_VERIFIED",
    "syntax_valid": true,
    "code_sha256": "6306de59e46f9404108fd3743e651e47a6a099b1a9c21c18de0f1cdb8511bb91",
    "verified_classes": [
      "FreshnessDominanceViolation"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "arbitrate_divergence",
      "pwrc_gate"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 2,
    "defensive_guards_count": 1,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "FreshnessDominanceViolation"
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    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
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}