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2 Commits
Author SHA1 Message Date
octoturge 1cd8ce25c3 Authenticate config bundles: Ed25519, per-box identity, no plaintext
The hash in a bundle only proved it was undamaged. Anyone who could write
the stick could write both files, so a Proxy Box would install a config
handed to it by whoever got physical access - including a config pointing the
box at a different cloud.

Encryption alone does not fix that either. While plaintext was accepted an
attacker simply did not encrypt, and the box took it. So a Box now refuses
plaintext outright, and the bundle carries a signature.

A third entry, `config.toml.sig`: strict TOML with `box_id`, `config_version`
and a raw Ed25519 signature. What is signed is `signed_message()` - a domain
tag, the length-prefixed box id, the version big-endian, then the raw
`config.toml` bytes. Raw bytes rather than the archive, so the signature is
independent of ZIP framing, compression, entry order and encryption. The box
id and version are inside the signed message rather than beside it, so
neither can be edited without breaking it, and the length prefix stops a
byte-shifting collision between the id and the config.

Past decryption the order is hash, signature, box id, version, then parse and
validate. The claims in the `.sig` are attacker-controlled text until the
signature over them verifies, so nothing is concluded from them before then -
and nothing about this box's identity is revealed before then either, which
is why unsigned junk cannot be used to probe which box it is talking to.

Which error wins when a box cannot even open a bundle: a signature over the
plaintext is only checkable after decryption, so a box with the wrong key
cannot distinguish "meant for another box" from "forged". Wrong key wins.
Neither bundle installs either way, it is nearly always the true cause, and
calling something forged that we could not open would be an accusation we
cannot support.

Replay is enforced rather than documented away: `config_version` must not go
backwards, recorded in a sidecar beside the installed config. An equal
version is accepted on purpose, because the version is written before the
config, so a power cut between the two leaves "new version, old config" and
re-inserting the same stick repairs it. The other write order would leave a
replay window instead.

Both key sets are lists, so the cloud's signing key and a box's own key can
be rotated. `load_provisioning()` is the single seam where a box's identity
and keys come from; a TPM or secure element replaces that function and
nothing else. A missing file means unprovisioned, and the box then says
loudly what it cannot check - but an empty or malformed one is an error,
because quietly reading a broken key file as absent would turn a
provisioning mistake into a box that accepts unsigned bundles.

Not verified: interop with the real cloud signer. These tests prove the box
accepts what this code defines as correct, not that the cloud will produce
the same bytes - the message layout, the pure-Ed25519-no-prehash choice and
the `.sig` shape all need a cross-check against the configurator's own crypto
library once it exists. A compromised cloud signing key still breaks every
box trusting it; revocation is not built.
2026-10-19 08:08:27 +00:00
octoturge 64d46dbc49 Load proxy settings from a file, and import them from a pendrive
Everything came from CONTINUUM_* environment variables, which suits neither
shape the product ships in. A Proxy Box is an appliance whose settings
arrive on a USB stick; a proxy on someone's PC is a config file they edit.

Precedence is stated once, in config.rs: the file is the base, env overrides
it, defaults fill the rest. `Config::from_env` keeps its behaviour and the
struct is unchanged, so existing callers and tests are untouched. Layering
is `Config::layered(file, env_lookup)` with the environment injected as a
closure, so tests do not have to mutate process env to cover it.

The bootstrap is read from $CONTINUUM_BOOTSTRAP, then
/etc/continuum/bootstrap.toml, then nowhere - and nowhere means PC mode with
./continuum.toml, so an env-only deployment behaves exactly as before. The
working directory is deliberately not searched, and the bootstrap itself
must never come from a stick: it is what says whether sticks are trusted at
all.

Bundle format is continuum-config.zip holding config.toml and
config.toml.sha256. The hash is checked before the bytes are parsed - the
TOML parser should not be the first thing to read possibly-corrupt input -
and **the comments say plainly what that buys: corruption and change, not
forgery.** Anyone who can write the stick writes both files. It is an
integrity check under a recorded trust assumption, that physical access to
the box is trusted; a signature with the key in the box image is named as
the follow-up that would give authenticity. sha256 via openssl, already a
direct dependency, so no new crate and `cargo deny check licenses` still
passes.

The hazards of ingesting a file off removable media, all tested:

Zip-slip is refused on absolute paths, `..` components, backslash
separators, drive prefixes, NUL and non-UTF-8 names, and one bad entry
rejects the whole bundle rather than being skipped. The stronger guarantee
is structural though: entries are only ever read **by index, matched against
two literal names**, and no write path is ever derived from an archive name,
so a hole in the name check still writes nothing. A test confirms a bundle
carrying `../evil.toml` alongside a valid config writes nothing outside the
target and leaves the installed config alone.

Zip bombs are capped at 16 entries, 256 KiB per entry and a 1 MiB file on
the stick. Declared sizes are refused in a first pass that decompresses
nothing, and a bounded reader then caps actual output so a lying header
gains nothing.

Installing is atomic: temp file in the destination directory - not /tmp,
since rename is only atomic within a filesystem - created 0600 from the
first byte because the config holds the gateway token, fsync, rename, then a
best-effort directory fsync. A write that fails halfway leaves the previous
config intact and no temp file behind.

A bad stick never costs the box its config: a bad hash, bad TOML, an unsafe
entry or missing settings all return Rejected and are logged as keeping the
existing config. A correctly-hashed config is also validated **with no
environment at all**, so a stick cannot install something that parses now
and fails to start on the next boot - which would be a bricked box caused by
exactly the stick we were being careful about.

PC mode ignores pendrives twice over, by mode and by an emptied directory
list, because on a general-purpose machine importing settings from a USB
stick would be a way to change them behind the user's back.

A [network] block is parsed, validated and exposed, and stops there. main.rs
logs a warning that this build does not apply it, so a box given network
settings cannot look like it acted on them. Applying them needs root, is
specific to the appliance image, and a wrong write strands the box - it wants
its own decision, not a side effect of reading a file.

continuum.toml is gitignored, since it holds the gateway token.

Not done, and not claimed: no signature, so no authenticity. There is no real
pendrive here, so the removable-media path was tested with ordinary
directories standing in for mount points - real udisks/udev mounts, FAT
behaviour, a genuinely yanked stick and how promptly the 5s poll notices a
mount are all unproven. The watcher's install-then-exit flow, which relies
on a supervisor restarting the process, has no test and no supervisor exists
in this environment; a stick left permanently inserted reports Unchanged
rather than looping, because the hash matches. Env still overrides on a box,
so a box is only pendrive-only to the extent its environment is trusted -
bootstrap.rs says so.
2026-10-19 07:49:46 +00:00