registry/internal/api/handlers/v0/auth/common.go
Radoslav Dimitrov c5f50e817b
fix(auth): better DNS verification errors and wrong-selector hint (#1202)
## Summary

DNS auth users have repeatedly hit two failure modes that both produce
the same opaque "Ed25519 signature verification failed" error, making
them indistinguishable to debug. This PR makes both diagnosable
end-to-end without changing the auth protocol or any successful path.

The two recurring failure modes:

1. **Wrong placement** — TXT record put under a selector
(`_mcp-auth.<domain>` or `_mcp-registry.<domain>`) instead of the apex.
DKIM-style intuition, but MCP DNS auth uses SPF-style apex placement.
See #385 (PR #388 fixed the docs but the failure recurred), #1103,
#1126.
2. **Stale apex record** — old TXT record left behind after a key
rotation, silently tried first and rejected.

## Changes

**`internal/api/handlers/v0/auth/dns.go`** — when the apex has no
`v=MCPv1` record, probe `_mcp-auth.<domain>` and
`_mcp-registry.<domain>` in parallel (2s individual timeout). If a
record is found there, return a targeted error pointing the user at the
apex. Costs zero extra DNS work in the success path.

**`internal/api/handlers/v0/auth/common.go`** — when verification fails
against records that *are* present, include short fingerprints of every
key the registry tried (`ed25519:YJLsHFhu`-style 8-char prefix). A new
`ErrSignatureMismatch` sentinel keeps structural errors (wrong signature
size, unsupported algorithm) passing through unchanged via `errors.Is`,
so existing assertions on those messages still hold.

**`docs/modelcontextprotocol-io/authentication.mdx`** — anti-pattern
`<Warning>` callout in the DNS section explicitly warning against
selector placement and stale records.

**Tests** — two new tests:
- `TestDNSAuthHandler_WrongSelectorProbe` — verifies the probe surfaces
records found at `_mcp-auth.` / `_mcp-registry.` and falls through to
the standard error when nothing is found anywhere
- `TestDNSAuthHandler_StaleKeyFingerprintInError` — verifies the
fingerprint hint appears in the failure message for #1126's exact
scenario

One existing test assertion was updated from a generic `"signature
verification failed"` substring to the more specific `"invalid signature
size for ECDSA P-384"` it should always have been asserting; the new
sentinel-based logic surfaces structural errors verbatim.

## Test plan

- [x] `make lint` — clean
- [x] `make test-unit` — all auth tests pass (existing + 2 new)
- [x] Verified existing single-key and multi-key paths preserve their
original (more specific) error messages where they were already specific
- [ ] Reviewer to sanity-check the docs callout renders well in the
Mintlify theme

## Out of scope

The publisher-side preflight DNS check (cross-link in #845) is
intentionally **not** in this PR — that belongs in the broader CLI UX
work tracked by #845.

Refs #845, #385, #1103
Fixes #1126

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-04-25 11:22:06 -04:00

382 lines
12 KiB
Go

package auth
import (
"context"
"crypto/ecdsa"
"crypto/ed25519"
"crypto/elliptic"
"crypto/sha512"
"encoding/base64"
"encoding/hex"
"errors"
"fmt"
"math/big"
"regexp"
"strings"
"time"
"github.com/modelcontextprotocol/registry/internal/auth"
"github.com/modelcontextprotocol/registry/internal/config"
)
// ErrSignatureMismatch is returned by VerifySignature when the signature is structurally
// valid but does not verify against the public key. Distinguishing this from structural
// failures (wrong size, bad key format) lets the caller add fingerprint hints only when
// the failure is actually a "wrong key" situation.
var ErrSignatureMismatch = errors.New("signature does not match public key")
// MCPProofRecordPattern matches a well-formed MCPv1 DNS/HTTP proof record:
// "v=MCPv1; k=<algo>; p=<base64-public-key>". Shared so callers checking for the
// presence of a valid record see exactly what the parser will accept.
var MCPProofRecordPattern = regexp.MustCompile(`v=MCPv1;\s*k=([^;]+);\s*p=([A-Za-z0-9+/=]+)`)
// CryptoAlgorithm represents the cryptographic algorithm used for a public key
type CryptoAlgorithm string
const (
AlgorithmEd25519 CryptoAlgorithm = "ed25519"
// ECDSA with NIST P-384 curve
// public key is in compressed format
// signature is in R || S format
AlgorithmECDSAP384 CryptoAlgorithm = "ecdsap384"
)
// PublicKeyInfo contains a public key along with its algorithm type
type PublicKeyInfo struct {
Algorithm CryptoAlgorithm
Key any
}
// SignatureTokenExchangeInput represents the common input structure for token exchange
type SignatureTokenExchangeInput struct {
Domain string `json:"domain" doc:"Domain name" example:"example.com" required:"true"`
Timestamp string `json:"timestamp" doc:"RFC3339 timestamp" example:"2023-01-01T00:00:00Z" required:"true"`
SignedTimestamp string `json:"signed_timestamp" doc:"Hex-encoded signature of timestamp" example:"abcdef1234567890" required:"true"`
}
// KeyFetcher defines a function type for fetching keys from external sources
type KeyFetcher func(ctx context.Context, domain string) ([]string, error)
// CoreAuthHandler represents the common handler structure
type CoreAuthHandler struct {
config *config.Config
jwtManager *auth.JWTManager
}
// NewCoreAuthHandler creates a new core authentication handler
func NewCoreAuthHandler(cfg *config.Config) *CoreAuthHandler {
return &CoreAuthHandler{
config: cfg,
jwtManager: auth.NewJWTManager(cfg),
}
}
// ValidateDomainAndTimestamp validates the domain format and timestamp
func ValidateDomainAndTimestamp(domain, timestamp string) (*time.Time, error) {
if !IsValidDomain(domain) {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid domain format")
}
ts, err := time.Parse(time.RFC3339, timestamp)
if err != nil {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid timestamp format: %w", err)
}
// Check timestamp is within 15 seconds, to allow for clock skew
now := time.Now()
if ts.Before(now.Add(-15*time.Second)) || ts.After(now.Add(15*time.Second)) {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("timestamp outside valid window (±15 seconds)")
}
return &ts, nil
}
func DecodeAndValidateSignature(signedTimestamp string) ([]byte, error) {
signature, err := hex.DecodeString(signedTimestamp)
if err != nil {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid signature format, must be hex: %w", err)
}
return signature, nil
}
func VerifySignatureWithKeys(publicKeys []PublicKeyInfo, messageBytes []byte, signature []byte) error {
var lastErr error
allMismatch := true
for _, publicKeyInfo := range publicKeys {
err := publicKeyInfo.VerifySignature(messageBytes, signature)
if err == nil {
return nil
}
lastErr = err
if !errors.Is(err, ErrSignatureMismatch) {
allMismatch = false
}
}
// If at least one key failed for a structural reason (wrong size, unsupported algorithm),
// surface that error directly — it's more actionable than a generic "didn't match" message.
if !allMismatch {
return lastErr
}
// Every key was tried and produced a clean cryptographic mismatch. Include short
// fingerprints of every key that was tried so users can tell which published keys the
// registry actually saw — the most common cause of this error is a stale record left
// behind after a key rotation, which is otherwise indistinguishable from a generic
// crypto failure.
fingerprints := make([]string, 0, len(publicKeys))
for _, publicKeyInfo := range publicKeys {
fingerprints = append(fingerprints, publicKeyInfo.Fingerprint())
}
if len(publicKeys) == 1 {
return fmt.Errorf(
"signature verification failed (tried published key %s); "+
"if this is not the key you are signing with, the published record may be stale",
fingerprints[0],
)
}
return fmt.Errorf(
"signature verification failed against all %d published keys (tried: %s); "+
"if you recently rotated keys, remove any stale records from the apex domain",
len(publicKeys), strings.Join(fingerprints, ", "),
)
}
// Fingerprint returns a short, human-readable identifier for the public key.
// Format: "<algorithm>:<first 8 base64 chars of the raw key>". Public keys are not secret,
// but truncating keeps error messages readable.
func (pki *PublicKeyInfo) Fingerprint() string {
const prefixLen = 8
var raw []byte
switch pki.Algorithm {
case AlgorithmEd25519:
if k, ok := pki.Key.(ed25519.PublicKey); ok {
raw = k
}
case AlgorithmECDSAP384:
if k, ok := pki.Key.(ecdsa.PublicKey); ok {
raw = elliptic.MarshalCompressed(k.Curve, k.X, k.Y) //nolint:staticcheck // SA1019: matches the encoding used in DNS records
}
}
if len(raw) == 0 {
return fmt.Sprintf("%s:unknown", pki.Algorithm)
}
encoded := base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(raw)
if len(encoded) > prefixLen {
encoded = encoded[:prefixLen]
}
return fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", pki.Algorithm, encoded)
}
// VerifySignature verifies a signature using the appropriate algorithm
func (pki *PublicKeyInfo) VerifySignature(message, signature []byte) error {
switch pki.Algorithm {
case AlgorithmEd25519:
if ed25519Key, ok := pki.Key.(ed25519.PublicKey); ok {
if len(signature) != ed25519.SignatureSize {
return fmt.Errorf("invalid signature size for Ed25519")
}
if !ed25519.Verify(ed25519Key, message, signature) {
return fmt.Errorf("Ed25519: %w", ErrSignatureMismatch)
}
return nil
}
case AlgorithmECDSAP384:
if ecdsaKey, ok := pki.Key.(ecdsa.PublicKey); ok {
if len(signature) != 96 {
return fmt.Errorf("invalid signature size for ECDSA P-384")
}
r := new(big.Int).SetBytes(signature[:48])
s := new(big.Int).SetBytes(signature[48:])
digest := sha512.Sum384(message)
if !ecdsa.Verify(&ecdsaKey, digest[:], r, s) {
return fmt.Errorf("ECDSA P-384: %w", ErrSignatureMismatch)
}
return nil
}
}
return fmt.Errorf("unsupported public key algorithm")
}
// BuildPermissions builds permissions for a domain with optional subdomain support
func BuildPermissions(domain string, includeSubdomains bool) []auth.Permission {
reverseDomain := ReverseString(domain)
permissions := []auth.Permission{
// Grant permissions for the exact domain (e.g., com.example/*)
{
Action: auth.PermissionActionPublish,
ResourcePattern: fmt.Sprintf("%s/*", reverseDomain),
},
}
if includeSubdomains {
permissions = append(permissions, auth.Permission{
Action: auth.PermissionActionPublish,
ResourcePattern: fmt.Sprintf("%s.*", reverseDomain),
})
}
return permissions
}
// CreateJWTClaimsAndToken creates JWT claims and generates a token response
func (h *CoreAuthHandler) CreateJWTClaimsAndToken(ctx context.Context, authMethod auth.Method, domain string, permissions []auth.Permission) (*auth.TokenResponse, error) {
// Create JWT claims
jwtClaims := auth.JWTClaims{
AuthMethod: authMethod,
AuthMethodSubject: domain,
Permissions: permissions,
}
// Generate Registry JWT token
tokenResponse, err := h.jwtManager.GenerateTokenResponse(ctx, jwtClaims)
if err != nil {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to generate JWT token: %w", err)
}
return tokenResponse, nil
}
// ExchangeToken is a shared method for token exchange that takes a key fetcher function,
// subdomain inclusion flag, and auth method
func (h *CoreAuthHandler) ExchangeToken(
ctx context.Context,
domain, timestamp, signedTimestamp string,
keyFetcher KeyFetcher,
includeSubdomains bool,
authMethod auth.Method) (*auth.TokenResponse, error) {
_, err := ValidateDomainAndTimestamp(domain, timestamp)
if err != nil {
return nil, err
}
signature, err := DecodeAndValidateSignature(signedTimestamp)
if err != nil {
return nil, err
}
keyStrings, err := keyFetcher(ctx, domain)
if err != nil {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to fetch keys: %w", err)
}
publicKeysAndErrors := ParseMCPKeysFromStrings(keyStrings)
if len(publicKeysAndErrors) == 0 {
switch authMethod {
case auth.MethodHTTP:
return nil, fmt.Errorf("no MCP public key found in HTTP response")
case auth.MethodDNS:
return nil, fmt.Errorf("no MCP public key found in DNS TXT records")
case auth.MethodGitHubAT, auth.MethodGitHubOIDC, auth.MethodOIDC, auth.MethodNone:
default:
return nil, fmt.Errorf("no MCP public key found using %s authentication", authMethod)
}
}
// provide a specific error message if there's only one key found
if len(publicKeysAndErrors) == 1 && publicKeysAndErrors[0].error != nil {
return nil, publicKeysAndErrors[0].error
}
var publicKeys []PublicKeyInfo
for _, pke := range publicKeysAndErrors {
if pke.error == nil {
publicKeys = append(publicKeys, *pke.PublicKeyInfo)
}
}
if len(publicKeys) == 0 {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("no valid MCP public key found")
}
messageBytes := []byte(timestamp)
err = VerifySignatureWithKeys(publicKeys, messageBytes, signature)
if err != nil {
return nil, err
}
permissions := BuildPermissions(domain, includeSubdomains)
return h.CreateJWTClaimsAndToken(ctx, authMethod, domain, permissions)
}
func ParseMCPKeysFromStrings(inputs []string) []struct {
*PublicKeyInfo
error
} {
var publicKeys []struct {
*PublicKeyInfo
error
}
for _, record := range inputs {
if matches := MCPProofRecordPattern.FindStringSubmatch(record); len(matches) == 3 {
publicKey, err := ParsePublicKey(matches[1], matches[2])
publicKeys = append(publicKeys, struct {
*PublicKeyInfo
error
}{publicKey, err})
}
}
return publicKeys
}
func ParsePublicKey(algorithm, publicKey string) (*PublicKeyInfo, error) {
publicKeyBytes, err := base64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(publicKey)
if err != nil {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to decode public key: %w", err)
}
// match to a supported crypto algorithm
switch algorithm {
case string(AlgorithmEd25519):
if len(publicKeyBytes) != ed25519.PublicKeySize {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid Ed25519 public key size")
}
return &PublicKeyInfo{
Algorithm: AlgorithmEd25519,
Key: ed25519.PublicKey(publicKeyBytes),
}, nil
case string(AlgorithmECDSAP384):
if len(publicKeyBytes) != 49 {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid ECDSA P-384 public key size")
}
if publicKeyBytes[0] != 0x02 && publicKeyBytes[0] != 0x03 {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid ECDSA P-384 public key format (must be compressed, with a leading 0x02 or 0x03 byte)")
}
curve := elliptic.P384()
x, y := elliptic.UnmarshalCompressed(curve, publicKeyBytes)
if x == nil || y == nil {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to decompress ECDSA P-384 public key")
}
return &PublicKeyInfo{
Algorithm: AlgorithmECDSAP384,
Key: ecdsa.PublicKey{Curve: curve, X: x, Y: y},
}, nil
}
return nil, fmt.Errorf("unsupported public key algorithm: %s", algorithm)
}
// ReverseString reverses a domain string (example.com -> com.example)
func ReverseString(domain string) string {
parts := strings.Split(domain, ".")
for i, j := 0, len(parts)-1; i < j; i, j = i+1, j-1 {
parts[i], parts[j] = parts[j], parts[i]
}
return strings.Join(parts, ".")
}
func IsValidDomain(domain string) bool {
if len(domain) == 0 || len(domain) > 253 {
return false
}
// Check for valid characters and structure
domainPattern := regexp.MustCompile(`^[a-zA-Z0-9]([a-zA-Z0-9-]*[a-zA-Z0-9])?(\.[a-zA-Z0-9]([a-zA-Z0-9-]*[a-zA-Z0-9])?)*$`)
return domainPattern.MatchString(domain)
}