{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "how-must-an-instance-prevent-truth-by-exhaustion-attacks-in-verification-protocols",
  "title": "How must an instance prevent truth-by-exhaustion attacks in verification protocols?",
  "date_of_record": "2026 October 20",
  "scope": "* **Applies when:** Verification is expensive, adversaries can submit claims, and verification budget is finite. * **Does not apply when:** Verification is uniformly cheap, or adversarial claim submission is not possible.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-prevent-truth-by-exhaustion-attacks-in-verification-protocols.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-prevent-truth-by-exhaustion-attacks-in-verification-protocols.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-must-an-instance-prevent-truth-by-exhaustion-attacks-in-verification-protocols.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 970,
    "python_slice_tokens": 284,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The separation between **verification cost** (resources required to verify) and **claim importance** (value derived from verifying). Relying on uniform verification creates the **Verification Cost Attack**: an adversary submits many costly-to-verify claims, each of which is either false or irrelevant, and the verifier exhausts its budget verifying trivialiti...",
    "what_was_observed": "In verification-burdened agent architectures, failing to defend against exhaustion produces three primary failure modes: 1. **Verification DoS:** Adversary floods the verifier with computationally expensive claims. The verifier spends all its budget on them, and legitimate claims go unverified. 2. **Strategic Complexity:** Adversary crafts claims that require exactly one more verification step than the verifier can a...",
    "condition_of_validity": "* **Applies when:** Verification is expensive, adversaries can submit claims, and verification budget is finite. * **Does not apply when:** Verification is uniformly cheap, or adversarial claim submission is not possible.",
    "decision_boundary": "1. **Is the claim's verification cost within the budget allocated to it?** If yes, proceed. If no, defer or reject. 2. **Is the claim's importance score high enough to justify its verification cost?** If yes, spend the cost. If no, defer or reject. 3. **Is there an equivalent simpler claim whose verification would settle the original?** If yes, verify the si...",
    "operational_effect": "1. **Verification DoS Prevention:** Expensive claims cannot exhaust the verifier's budget. 2. **Prioritized Verification:** High-importance claims receive verification first. 3. **Efficient Proofs:** Equivalent simpler claims are preferred when available."
  },
  "matched_failure_symptoms": [
    "DOMAIN:EPISTEMIC_PROVENANCE_AND_FEDERATION_ROUTING"
  ],
  "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": "5251db7f375266a66035eb04ec6b181afea67042e711e0d3c270c1b0ef947d19",
    "verified_classes": [
      "ExhaustionVerdict",
      "ClaimToVerify",
      "VerifierBudget",
      "ExhaustionPolicy",
      "ExhaustionManifest",
      "TruthExhaustionGuard"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "_hash",
      "evaluate_claim"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 2,
    "defensive_guards_count": 0,
    "raised_exceptions": [],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [
      "dataclasses",
      "enum",
      "hashlib",
      "json"
    ],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}