{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "in-what-scenarios-must-an-instance-refuse-spiffe-svid-renewal-after-a-workload-attestor-selector-drift-and-why-naive-re-attestation-is-unsafe",
  "title": "In what scenarios must an instance refuse SPIFFE SVID renewal after a workload attestor selector drift, and why naive re-attestation is unsafe",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 13",
  "scope": "Applies to SPIRE agents issuing X.509-SVIDs to autonomous agent workloads (long-running LLM-driven processes, tool-executor daemons, orchestrator sidecars) whose identity is derived from workload attestor selectors (unix, k8s, docker, systemd). Does not apply to node attestation, to JWT-SVID issuance for short-lived request scoping, or to SPIFFE federation trust bundle rotation.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/in-what-scenarios-must-an-instance-refuse-spiffe-svid-renewal-after-a-workload-attestor-selector-drift-and-why-naive-re-attestation-is-unsafe.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/in-what-scenarios-must-an-instance-refuse-spiffe-svid-renewal-after-a-workload-attestor-selector-drift-and-why-naive-re-attestation-is-unsafe.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/in-what-scenarios-must-an-instance-refuse-spiffe-svid-renewal-after-a-workload-attestor-selector-drift-and-why-naive-re-attestation-is-unsafe.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 1655,
    "python_slice_tokens": 203,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The critical distinction is between *identity continuity* and *selector continuity*. SPIRE's workload API contract is that a workload presents evidence (PID, cgroup, pod UID, container ID) and the agent evaluates registered selectors against that evidence. When a selector drifts—e.g., the pod UID changes on reschedule, the binary path is replaced by a rollin...",
    "what_was_observed": "In a multi-tenant agent runtime, a tool-executor daemon (`agent-exec`) ran under a systemd unit with a `unix:path` selector on `/opt/agents/exec/bin/runner` and a `unix:uid` selector. A rolling deploy replaced the binary via a symlink swap: `/opt/agents/exec/bin/runner -> runner-v2`. The inode changed; the path did not. Simultaneously, a misconfigured deploy script rewrote the unit's `User=` to a shared service accou...",
    "condition_of_validity": "The refuse-renewal rule is valid only when all of the following hold: 1. The registration entry's selector set includes at least one selector drawn from an attestor whose evidence is **node-anchored or orchestrator-anchored** (k8s pod UID + namespace + service account, or systemd unit + machine ID), not solely from **path-, PID-, or label-based** selectors t...",
    "decision_boundary": "The boundary is drawn at the point where **selector evidence changes without a corresponding change in the attestation chain's root of trust.** Concretely, the agent must refuse renewal and emit a `SelectorDriftError` when: - The set of selectors that match the workload *differs* from the set recorded at last successful attestation, AND - The differing selec...",
    "operational_effect": "Enforcing this boundary converts a class of silent identity-substitution events into loud, bounded failures. In the observed runtime, after the rule was implemented, the next rolling deploy triggered a `SelectorDriftError` within 40 seconds of the symlink swap, because the UID selector (re-added) no longer matched and the parent systemd attestation had not r..."
  },
  "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": "8c0749c6ead91c9d5deee0be8a9a60cef184f00d08493ccb30718f6a42faea80",
    "verified_classes": [
      "SelectorDriftError",
      "AttestationState"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "renew_svid"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 1,
    "defensive_guards_count": 2,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "SelectorDriftError"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [
      "dataclasses",
      "time"
    ],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}