Issue Draft: Dragonfly RBAC Is Not Enforced Consistently Across Frontend, Auth0, and Mainframe

Summary

dragonfly-mainframe-frontend now gates UI access and frontend API routes on Auth0 permissions, but
dragonfly-mainframe still accepts any valid Auth0 token for the configured audience without
checking permissions, roles, grant type, or GitHub organization membership. This creates a
boundary failure: the frontend is RBAC-aware, while the backend remains authentication-only.

The current infrastructure/Auth0 documentation overstates the protection level by implying RBAC is
required end-to-end, even though the mainframe code does not enforce it. The same gap also affects
machine-to-machine traffic, because internal clients currently use Auth0 tokens without a distinct
service authorization model.

Severity

High

Impact

• A valid Auth0 token for the Dragonfly audience can be used directly against dragonfly-mainframe
  even when the token carries no read:packages, queue:packages, or report:packages
  permissions.
• A user outside the approved GitHub organization boundary may still be accepted by the backend if
  they can obtain a valid Auth0 token for the audience through another client or flow.
• UI enforcement can be bypassed by calling the backend directly.
• Internal service traffic and human traffic are currently conflated, which makes it difficult to
  harden interactive access without risking breakage for cluster-internal clients.

Scope

• dragonfly-mainframe-frontend
• dragonfly-mainframe
• infrastructure Auth0 and deployment documentation
• Internal clients currently talking to mainframe with Auth0 bearer tokens

Findings

1. Backend accepts authenticated tokens without checking permissions

Severity: High

Impact:

• Human callers with valid audience tokens can bypass frontend-only permission checks.
• Backend mutation endpoints can be invoked without queue:packages or report:packages.

Affected code:

• dependencies.py
• json_web_token.py
• package.py
• report.py
• job.py

Evidence:

• validate_token() only distinguishes auth0 vs cf and returns authenticated identity data.
• AuthenticationData captures issuer, subject, audience, timestamps, and grant type, but not
  permissions, scope, azp, or any role data.
• Mainframe endpoints use Depends(validate_token) but do not apply any permission-specific
  authorization checks.

2. Frontend permission checks stop at the frontend boundary

Severity: High

Impact:

• The frontend gives operators the appearance of RBAC enforcement, but that protection is lost once
  the backend is called directly.

Affected code:

• middleware.ts
• packages index API
• packages report API
• auth0.ts

Evidence:

• The frontend reads permissions from the Auth0 access token and blocks UI/API actions when
  required permissions are missing.
• The frontend forwards the same access token to mainframe.
• Mainframe does not re-check those permissions.

3. Tenant docs claim RBAC protections the backend does not actually enforce

Severity: Medium

Impact:

• Operators may believe enabling Auth0 RBAC and assigning roles is sufficient to protect the
  backend.
• Verification steps can pass at the UI layer while the backend remains vulnerable to direct API
  access.

Affected code:

• auth0-tenant-configuration.md

Evidence:

• The docs require enabling Auth0 RBAC and adding permissions.
• The docs state those settings are required because the frontend builds authorization state from
  token permissions and the backend validates the JWT audience.
• The functional checklist asserts that users without queue:packages or report:packages
  receive permission failures, but there is no backend code that enforces that outcome for direct
  API calls.

4. Service traffic uses the same audience without a distinct machine authorization model

Severity: Medium

Impact:

• Hardening interactive access is risky because internal service clients depend on the same backend
  and are not clearly separated by scope or endpoint class.
• Current machine clients use password-based Auth0 token acquisition rather than a dedicated
  service-to-service model.

Affected code:

• loader.py
• dragonfly_services.py
• auth0-tenant-configuration.md

Evidence:

• The documented Post-Login Action only applies to the frontend application.
• The loader and bot acquire Auth0 access tokens using the password grant and call mainframe with
  bearer tokens.
• There is no documented or enforced split between interactive permissions and service-only access.

Recommended Changes

1. Treat backend authorization as mandatory, not optional UI behavior.
2. Define separate authorization expectations for:
   • interactive human users
   • service principals inside the cluster
   • Cloudflare Access clients, if they remain supported
3. Update infrastructure/Auth0 docs to reflect the current gap and the target enforcement model.
4. Stop asserting that Auth0 RBAC alone protects mainframe until backend checks exist.
5. Add a dedicated dragonfly-mainframe remediation issue for code changes.

Related backend issue draft:

• 2026-03-08-mainframe-rbac-enforcement.md

Reproduction Notes

1. Authenticate through the frontend and obtain a valid Auth0 access token for the Dragonfly
   audience.
2. Remove the required permission assignment for the user, or use a token minted without
   queue:packages / report:packages.
3. Call mainframe directly with Authorization: Bearer <token>.
4. Observe that backend endpoints only require token validity, not the expected permission set.