plamentsv/semi-trusted-roles

SEMI_TRUSTED_ROLES Skill (DAML)

Trigger Pattern: operator/admin/manager/registrar party as signatory or controller, authority-gated choices beyond pure parameter-setting Inject Into: Breadth agents, depth-state-trace Finding prefix: [DML-STR-N] Rules referenced: R2, R6, R10, R13

operator|admin|manager|registrar|issuer|guardian|custodian|controller|signatory|authority

DAML role context: there are no role modifiers. A "role" is a Party that appears as a signatory and/or as a controller of privileged choices. Authority is held by holding that party's submission rights; a choice's required authorizers are its controller parties (AND-joined), a create/archive requires the contract's signatory parties. An operator/admin party is therefore SEMI_TRUSTED: trusted to act within its choices, but its key may be compromised and its actions must be analyzed bidirectionally (R6) — what it can do TO users, and what users can do to exploit/grief it.

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Step 1: Inventory Role Permissions

In {TEMPLATES}, find every choice whose controller includes {ROLE_PARTY} (operator/admin/etc.), and every template where {ROLE_PARTY} is a signatory. For each:

• Which (Template, field) does the choice's consequence create/archive (i.e. what state does it write)?
• Does the choice exercise another template's choice (one-hop authority propagation)?
• Parameters accepted from the caller (especially a caller-supplied ContractId or party)?
• Consume-mode (consuming/nonconsuming/pre/postconsuming)?

| Choice (Template.Choice) | Controller | Consume-Mode | (Template,field) Written | Exercises Other Templates | Caller Params | |--------------------------|-----------|--------------|--------------------------|---------------------------|---------------|

Auth patterns: controller operator, controller issuer, operator (joint), signatory operator (operator co-signs every successor), choice that re-fetches a contract and branches on a field the operator controls.

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Step 2: Analyze Within-Scope Abuse (Direction 1 — role harms users)

For each permitted action, ask:

Timing Abuse (ledger-time ordered, no public mempool):

• Can the role exercise a choice at a harmful time (before a user's query-driven action, just before a deadline)?
• Can the role DELAY a choice (skip a settlement/registration crank) to harm users?

Parameter Abuse:

• Can the role pass a harmful value (inflated amount, wrong newOwner, attacker-controlled ContractId)?
• Are caller parameters validated in the choice body (assertMsg, ensure on the successor), or trusted implicitly?
• Can the role supply a forged config/whitelist ContractId the choice does not bind to a trusted issuer?

Sequence / Omission Abuse:

• Can the role exercise choices out of order (accept before propose, settle before finalize)?
• Can the role harm users by NOT exercising (never registering, never unlocking, never distributing)? Is there a recovery path if the role stops?

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Step 3: Model Attack Scenarios

Scenario A: Authority-Timing Attack
1. {ROLE_PARTY} observes a user's pending action via on-chain ACS state
2. {ROLE_PARTY} submits role_choice() to land in a prior/same ledger
3. ACS changes before the user's transaction commits
4. Impact: {TIMING_IMPACT}
Note: no public mempool; ordering is ledger-time / submission based.

Scenario B: Parameter / Forged-CID Attack
1. {ROLE_PARTY} exercises {ROLE_CHOICE} with {MALICIOUS_PARAMS} (amount, recipient, or a lookalike ContractId)
2. Choice body does not validate against {EXPECTED_CONSTRAINTS} / does not bind the CID to the trusted issuer
3. Impact: {PARAM_IMPACT}

Scenario C: Key Compromise
1. {ROLE_PARTY}'s submission key is compromised
2. Attacker can exercise: {ROLE_CHOICES} and co-sign as signatory on: {SIGNATORY_TEMPLATES}
3. Maximum extractable / corruptible state: {MAX_DAMAGE}
4. Recovery: is there a choice to rotate/replace {ROLE_PARTY}? If the role is a hardcoded signatory, rotation may be impossible.

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Step 4: Assess Mitigations

• Is the role action gated by a propose/accept two-step (multi-transaction) flow rather than a single unilateral choice?
• Is {ROLE_PARTY} a single party or a joint controller (AND of multiple parties, the DAML analog of multisig)?
• Does a rotation/replacement choice EXIST? If the role is a signatory baked into live contracts, replacing it may require re-creating every contract. If NO rotation path → FINDING: authority irrevocable. Min Medium if the role can mutate user-held contracts.
• Rate limits / caps tracked across transactions (accumulator template)?
• If the role is also a maintainer of a key, note: maintainers MUST be signatories — compromise of the maintainer party affects key uniqueness too.

DAML patterns: Propose→Accept (OperatorProposal create + Accept choice), joint controller a, b, an Admin contract whose signatory is a governance party.

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Step 5: Model User-Side Exploitation (Direction 2 — R6, MANDATORY)

Predictability Analysis:

• Is the role's behavior predictable (a published schedule, a state-triggered crank, a queue)?
• Can users observe via the ACS when the role will act?
• Can users submit to land before the role in ledger order?

Scenario D: User Exploits Role Timing
1. User observes {ROLE_PARTY} exercises {ROLE_CHOICE} when {CONDITION} holds in the ACS
2. User submits a transaction to land before the role's
3. User benefits from the known impending state change. Impact: {USER_EXPLOIT_IMPACT}

Scenario E: User Griefs Role Preconditions
1. {ROLE_CHOICE} requires ACS state: {PRECONDITION} (a contract present, a key resolvable, an ensure satisfiable)
2. User archives/alters a contract the role's choice fetches, or creates a key-collision the role's lookupByKey trips on
3. Role's choice aborts (CONTRACT_NOT_FOUND / PreconditionFailed); protocol enters a degraded state. Impact: {GRIEF_IMPACT}

Scenario F: User Forces Suboptimal Role Action
1. User shapes ACS state so the honest role's policy chooses a harmful branch
2. Impact: {SUBOPTIMAL_IMPACT}

Scenario G: Stale State via Discrete Role Updates
1. A rate/config contract is only re-created when {ROLE_PARTY} exercises {UPDATE_CHOICE}
2. User acts at the stale rate, role updates, user exits. Impact: {RATE_ARBIT_IMPACT}

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Step 6: Precondition Griefability Check

For each choice controlled by {ROLE_PARTY}:

| Choice | Preconditions (fetched contract / resolvable key / ensure) | User Can Manipulate? | Grief Impact | |--------|-----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------|--------------|

DAML griefing: Can a user archive a contract the role's choice fetches (CONTRACT_NOT_FOUND abort)? Can a user create a contract whose key collides / makes the role's lookupByKey return a stale or false-None result? Can a user inflate an accumulator/queue contract so the role's iterating choice aborts?

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Step 6b: Privileged-Choice Griefability (EXHAUSTIVE)

Enumerate ALL authority-gated choices:

| Choice | Authority (controller/signatory) | Preconditions | User Can Manipulate? | Grief Impact | |--------|----------------------------------|---------------|----------------------|--------------|

Completeness check: Total authority-gated choices: {N}, analyzed: {M}. If M < N → analyze the missing ones.

DAML-specific checks:

• Can users create contracts that block a role's bulk cleanup/migration (one archive per contract → unbounded)?
• Can in-flight Propose/Accept contracts block a role action (a pending proposal the role must resolve)?
• Can a user archive a precondition contract just before the role's exercise, causing CONTRACT_NOT_FOUND?
• Can an unsolicited contract created with the role as observer/signatory bloat the role's view or force consent?

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Common False Positives

• Pure read / nonconsuming view choices: no abuse vector
• Idempotent choices: timing abuse limited
• User-initiated dependency: role acts only after the user proposes first — front-running may not apply
• Joint controller already present: a choice already controller a, b is not single-where-joint
• Fully-trusted governance party: if the project's trust table marks the party FULLY_TRUSTED, apply the −1 trusted-actor tier modifier (do NOT apply it to semi-trusted operator/admin)

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Finding Template

**ID**: [DML-STR-N]
**Verdict**: CONFIRMED / PARTIAL / REFUTED / CONTESTED
**Step Execution**: (see below)
**Rules Applied**: [R2:___, R6:___, R10:___, R13:___]
**Severity**: Critical/High/Medium/Low/Info
**Location**: {Module}.daml:LineN (template X, choice Y)
**Title**: {what the role party can do to users / what users can exploit or grief}
**Description**: {specific abuse vector with code reference — which controller/signatory, which unvalidated parameter}
**Impact**: {quantified damage at worst-state parameters — Rule 10}
**PoC steer**: `submit roleParty (exerciseCmd ...)` succeeds with harmful state (Direction 1), or user `submit`/archive griefs the role's precondition so its choice aborts (Direction 2); `submitMustFail` proves a guard holds.

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Step Execution Checklist (MANDATORY)

| Step | Required | Completed? | Notes | |------|----------|------------|-------| | 1. Inventory Role Permissions | YES | | Controller + signatory choices | | 2. Analyze Within-Scope Abuse | YES | | | | 3. Model Attack Scenarios (A, B, C) | YES | | | | 4. Assess Mitigations | YES | | Rotation/replacement choice exists? | | 5. Model User-Side Exploitation (D, E, F, G) | YES | | MANDATORY (R6) — never skip | | 6. Precondition Griefability Check | YES | | MANDATORY — never skip | | 6b. Privileged-Choice Griefability | YES | | MANDATORY — never skip |

Cross-Reference Markers

After Step 4: DO NOT STOP HERE — Steps 5-6 analyze the reverse (R6) direction. After Step 5: Cross-reference with CHOICE_SEMANTICS for value-bearing role choices and CID_CAPABILITY_SAFETY for role choices accepting a caller-supplied ContractId. IF the role's actions are time-predictable → document ledger-ordering vectors. After Step 6: IF any precondition is user-griefable → severity >= MEDIUM. Document the protocol degradation timeline if the role is blocked indefinitely. After Step 6b: IF the role iterates over user-creatable contracts → check for unbounded iteration / abort.

Output Format for Step Execution

**Step Execution**: ✓1,2,3,4,5,6,6b | (no skips for this skill)