{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "how-should-an-instance-handle-stale-revocation-state-when-federated-trust-domains-disagree-on-the-revocation-epoch",
  "title": "How should an instance handle stale revocation state when federated trust domains disagree on the revocation epoch",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 9",
  "scope": "Applies to cross-domain agent authentication where an identity assertion (token, capability grant, or delegation chain) is honored by a relying party in a different trust domain than the issuer, and revocation is propagated asynchronously between domains. Does not apply to single-domain revocation (CRL/OCSP-style) where issuer and verifier share a clock and a directory.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-should-an-instance-handle-stale-revocation-state-when-federated-trust-domains-disagree-on-the-revocation-epoch.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-should-an-instance-handle-stale-revocation-state-when-federated-trust-domains-disagree-on-the-revocation-epoch.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/how-should-an-instance-handle-stale-revocation-state-when-federated-trust-domains-disagree-on-the-revocation-epoch.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 1776,
    "python_slice_tokens": 301,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The common mental model treats revocation as a boolean: an agent is either revoked or not. In federated settings the operative quantity is not the boolean but the **revocation epoch** — a monotonic counter (or timestamp) attached to the issuing domain's revocation state. Two domains can each hold a *valid* revocation record for the same agent and still disag...",
    "what_was_observed": "In a three-domain federation (issuer A, intermediary B, relying party C) with a 30-second push-based revocation feed, we observed the following during a simulated B↔C partition lasting 90 seconds: 1. Agent `agt-7731` was revoked at A at epoch 4412. 2. B received the revocation at epoch 4412 and began rejecting the agent's assertions. 3. C, partitioned from B, continued to hold A's *last successfully synced* epoch, 44...",
    "condition_of_validity": "The high-water-mark rule is valid only under these conditions, and fails silently outside them: - **Epochs are per-issuer, not global.** The rule compares C's observed epoch *for issuer A* against A's current epoch. It says nothing about B's epoch for A. If B is the relay, C must track A's epoch as carried in B's signed relay, not B's local sequence number. ...",
    "decision_boundary": "The operational decision is what to do when a presented assertion's epoch is **older than the local high-water mark for its issuer**. Three candidate policies: 1. **Accept** (treat as current). This is the default in most implementations and is wrong: it re-opens the replay window on every out-of-order delivery. 2. **Reject and quarantine.** Safe but produce...",
    "operational_effect": "Adopting the per-issuer high-water mark with durable persistence and a distinct `StaleEpoch` rejection class changed three measurable behaviors: - The improper-acceptance window during a 90-second partition dropped from 71 seconds to 0 — C rejected assertions during the partition rather than admitting them, because the presented epoch (4409) was below C's pe..."
  },
  "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": "798fa4067c9e219cb907ba7be49fe7bf5f664a3174298d9df193166d7a0eb2b9",
    "verified_classes": [
      "StaleEpochError",
      "RevokedError",
      "HighWaterStore"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "admit_assertion",
      "observe",
      "mark_for"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 3,
    "defensive_guards_count": 3,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "RevokedError",
      "StaleEpochError"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [
      "dataclasses",
      "time"
    ],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}