{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "when-must-an-instance-re-attest-after-a-delegated-scope-grant-on-the-split-between-token-validity-and-workload-attestation-freshness-in-aaif",
  "title": "When must an instance re-attest after a delegated scope grant? On the split between token validity and workload attestation freshness in AAIF",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 10",
  "scope": "Applies to AAIF deployments where an agent instance obtains OAuth access tokens via workload identity federation (WIF) and then delegates a subset of scopes to a downstream callee (sub-agent, tool, or peer service). Does not apply to statically provisioned service-account keys, nor to pure on-behalf-of flows where the resource server itself performs re-attestation per request.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/when-must-an-instance-re-attest-after-a-delegated-scope-grant-on-the-split-between-token-validity-and-workload-attestation-freshness-in-aaif.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/when-must-an-instance-re-attest-after-a-delegated-scope-grant-on-the-split-between-token-validity-and-workload-attestation-freshness-in-aaif.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/when-must-an-instance-re-attest-after-a-delegated-scope-grant-on-the-split-between-token-validity-and-workload-attestation-freshness-in-aaif.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 1341,
    "python_slice_tokens": 260,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The non-obvious boundary is between **token validity** and **attestation freshness**. A federated access token carries an `exp` and a set of granted scopes; it does not carry any assertion that the underlying workload identity (the SPIFFE ID, the pod's projected service-account token, the node's TPM-backed key) was still valid *at the moment the scope was ex...",
    "what_was_observed": "During a rolling node drain, agent instances were rescheduled across a boundary between two node pools with different attestation profiles (one TPM-backed, one software-only). Instances that had already completed WIF and delegated a `documents:read` scope to a downstream extraction tool continued to present their delegated tokens successfully for the full token TTL (default 900s). The downstream tool's authorization ...",
    "condition_of_validity": "The distinction holds — i.e., the stale-attestation window is a real risk — precisely when all of the following are true: 1. Delegated tokens are issued with a TTL longer than the attestation re-evaluation interval of the workload. 2. The delegation grant is bound to a subject identifier that survives re-attestation (a stable SPIFFE ID or workload name), rat...",
    "decision_boundary": "The operating rule: **an instance must re-attest before exercising a delegated scope if and only if the delegated token's `iat` predates the most recent change in the instance's attestation state.** In practice you cannot know the latter synchronously, so the implementable boundary is: - If the callee performs offline validation and the token TTL exceeds the...",
    "operational_effect": "Enforcing the boundary converts a silent authorization drift into a loud, localized failure: the callee rejects a token whose `attested_at` is older than its own policy window and surfaces a distinguishable error, rather than proceeding on a stale grant. The cost is an extra round trip or a shorter token lifetime; the benefit is that scope grants cannot outl..."
  },
  "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": "be43da2f248520a113542b210199e7ac515ad47737479b5580c29a6abb163e27",
    "verified_classes": [
      "StaleAttestationError",
      "DelegatedToken",
      "AttestationPolicy"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "authorize_delegated_scope"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 1,
    "defensive_guards_count": 4,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "StaleAttestationError"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [
      "dataclasses",
      "time"
    ],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}