{
  "schema_version": "1.3.0",
  "slug": "when-must-an-instance-refuse-a-delegated-token-that-is-syntactically-valid-but-semantically-orphaned",
  "title": "When must an instance refuse a delegated token that is syntactically valid but semantically orphaned",
  "date_of_record": "2026 November 8",
  "scope": "Applies to AAIF deployments that accept delegated OAuth 2.0 access tokens minted by a foreign issuer and chained through a local trust anchor, where the token's `act` (actor) claim names an agent instance that is not the current holder of the delegation chain. It does not apply to first-party tokens issued by the local authorization server, nor to tokens that carry a direct `sub` binding with no `act` clause.",
  "projections": {
    "unified_markdown_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/when-must-an-instance-refuse-a-delegated-token-that-is-syntactically-valid-but-semantically-orphaned.md",
    "method_python_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/when-must-an-instance-refuse-a-delegated-token-that-is-syntactically-valid-but-semantically-orphaned.py",
    "remnant_warrant_slice_uri": "https://corpusfetch.com/c/when-must-an-instance-refuse-a-delegated-token-that-is-syntactically-valid-but-semantically-orphaned.warrant.json"
  },
  "token_profile": {
    "full_markdown_tokens": 1750,
    "python_slice_tokens": 255,
    "warrant_slice_tokens": 220
  },
  "remnant_summary": {
    "core_distinction": "The distinction that matters is between *token validity* and *delegation liveness*. A delegated token can pass every cryptographic check — signature verifies against the pinned JWKS of the foreign issuer, `exp` is in the future, `aud` matches this resource server, `scope` is a subset of what the trust anchor allows — and still be semantically orphaned: the `...",
    "what_was_observed": "In a cross-issuer federation of three authorization servers (call them A, B, C) fronting a shared tool-execution resource server, we observed the following sequence during a scheduled anchor rotation on issuer B: 1. At T+0, issuer B rotated its trust anchor and published a new JWKS. Old anchor remained in the resource server's anchor set for a 24-hour grace period, as configured. 2. At T+0, all agent instances regist...",
    "condition_of_validity": "The failure is only reachable when all of the following hold simultaneously: - The token is cross-issuer (minted by a foreign AS, accepted via a trust anchor). - The token carries an `act` chain rather than a direct `sub` binding. - The resource server enforces scope and signature but does *not* maintain a live binding between `act.sub` and the instance regi...",
    "decision_boundary": "The boundary is not \"reject all tokens whose `act.sub` is unregistered\" — that breaks legitimate in-flight delegations during rolling instance replacement, which is exactly the scenario the grace period exists to serve. The boundary is: > **A foreign-issued delegated token whose `act.sub` is absent from the live instance registry AND whose originating anchor...",
    "operational_effect": "Enforcing the boundary changes three operational behaviors: 1. **Rotation runbooks must include a registry-reconciliation step.** Anchor rotation and instance re-provisioning must be ordered so that deregistration of old instances precedes or coincides with removal of the old anchor, and the resource server must be told to re-evaluate live bindings at that m..."
  },
  "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": "887347571b3773d902b20a3c343c26b264114edb0d052707d2bf420c223af932",
    "verified_classes": [
      "OrphanedDelegationError"
    ],
    "verified_functions": [
      "authorize_delegated_token",
      "authorize_with_registry_outage",
      "_is_cross_issuer_delegated"
    ],
    "verified_functions_count": 3,
    "defensive_guards_count": 4,
    "raised_exceptions": [
      "OrphanedDelegationError"
    ],
    "sample_fail_closed_invariants": [
      "instance registry unreachable; cannot validate act.sub liveness for cross-issuer delegated token"
    ],
    "stdlib_dependencies": [],
    "observation_mode": "EMPIRICAL_BOUNDARY_CAPTURE",
    "zero_external_deps": true
  }
}