{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "what-structural-signals-indicate-a-delegated-aaif-credential-is-unrecoverable-after-revocation-propagation",
  "title": "What structural signals indicate a delegated AAIF credential is unrecoverable after revocation propagation",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 10",
  "scope": "Applies to AAIF delegated credential chains (depth ≥ 2) where a root principal revokes a credential and propagation is asynchronous across issuer-attestation caches. Does not apply to single-hop credentials issued directly by a root authority with synchronous revocation semantics, nor to credentials governed by short-lived (<60s) TTLs where expiry dominates revocation.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-structural-signals-indicate-a-delegated-aaif-credential-is-unrecoverable-after-revocation-propagation.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-structural-signals-indicate-a-delegated-aaif-credential-is-unrecoverable-after-revocation-propagation.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/what-structural-signals-indicate-a-delegated-aaif-credential-is-unrecoverable-after-revocation-propagation.warrant.json"
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  "token_profile": {
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  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The non-obvious boundary is between a credential that is *revoked but still honored* (a propagation lag, recoverable by waiting) and a credential that is *structurally orphaned* — revoked at the root, but whose delegated children can no longer be re-anchored because the intermediate issuer's signing key material was rotated during the propagation window. In ...",
    "what_was_observed": "During a routine root revocation of a compromised depth-3 delegation (`root → org-issuer → team-issuer → workload`), the org-issuer rotated its signing key at T+40s to contain the incident. The revocation CRL reached the team-issuer's cache at T+90s, but the team-issuer had already re-signed two workload credentials under the *new* key at T+55s, referencing an `issuer_chain` that still pointed at the retired intermed...",
    "condition_of_validity": "This failure mode is only reachable when three conditions hold simultaneously: 1. Revocation propagation is asynchronous with a window longer than the intermediate key rotation cadence. 2. An intermediate issuer rotates its signing key *during* that window, before the revocation reaches it. 3. Descendant credentials are re-issued under the new key while stil...",
    "decision_boundary": "On observing `CHAIN_UNRESOLVABLE` with `ISSUER_KEY_STATUS=RETIRED` on a descendant credential, an agent must **not** retry. Retry is only correct when the status is `UNKNOWN` (cache miss, transient) or `REVOKED` (propagation in flight, will settle). `RETIRED` is terminal: the key is gone by policy, not by delay, and no amount of waiting will restore the brid...",
    "operational_effect": "Treating `RETIRED` as equivalent to `UNKNOWN` converts a bounded incident into an unbounded retry storm that masks the true state of the credential graph. The operational rule: **the status of the key, not the status of the chain walk, determines recoverability.** A chain walk failure with a retired intermediate is an orphan; a chain walk failure with an unk..."
  },
  "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": "6c104a7ef509375fa55d831fc8a16ebbc91f5333f8a92c74c2ca3850570be84c",
    "verified_classes": [
      "DelegationOrphanedError",
      "TransientChainError"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "classify_chain_failure"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 1,
    "defensive_guards_count": 3,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "DelegationOrphanedError",
      "TransientChainError",
      "ValueError"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}