External report from @jmleclercq: AISStream's Let's Encrypt cert
expired on 2026-05-20 (verified — their renewal pipeline failed), so
the AIS WebSocket connection dies with CERT_HAS_EXPIRED and the
maritime layer empties out. The reporter worked around it locally by
passing { rejectUnauthorized: false } to the WebSocket constructor and
asked whether we should add an env var for that.
That fix is the wrong fix. Disabling TLS validation entirely lets any
network attacker MITM the WebSocket and inject fake ship positions —
same class as the GDELT plaintext-HTTP MITM we just closed in #199.
Adding an env var for it would be an attractive nuisance: operators
set it once during a bad cert week and then forget, leaving themselves
open to MITM forever.
Right fix: SPKI pinning, same pattern as the Tor bundle digest pinning
in #201. The insight is that Let's Encrypt renewals keep the SAME
public key by default, so the SPKI hash survives normal cert rotation.
We can relax the date check while keeping the identity check.
Mechanics:
backend/data/aisstream_spki_pins.json (new)
Pinned SHA-256 hashes of the DER-encoded SPKI bytes for
stream.aisstream.io. Captured 2026-05-20 from the live cert.
Format is base64(sha256(pubkey_der)), matching the canonical
openssl pipeline. Whitelisted in .gitignore alongside the other
static reference data files (KiwiSDR directory, Tor bundle
digests).
backend/ais_proxy.js
Path A (99.9% of the time): normal TLS validation. Untouched.
Path B (on CERT_HAS_EXPIRED only): re-handshake with
rejectUnauthorized=false JUST to read the leaf cert, compute its
SPKI hash, compare against the pinned list. If match → upstream
is still the genuine AISStream → re-open the WebSocket with
rejectUnauthorized=false and log DEGRADED MODE. If no match →
refuse the connection, log loudly: this would be a real MITM.
Pin file is looked up in three locations so the same code works
in the Docker backend, the Tauri desktop runtime, and any
operator-relocated layout (SHADOWBROKER_AIS_PINS env var).
Embedded fallback list inside the JS so portable installs that
haven't shipped the JSON still work.
backend/services/ais_stream.py
Captures the proxy's status markers from stdout
({"__ais_proxy_status": {"degraded_tls": true}}) into a module-
level snapshot. Exposes ais_proxy_status() for the health
endpoint. Doesn't touch the data plane — degraded mode keeps
receiving vessel data, just with weaker MITM protection.
backend/routers/health.py + backend/services/schemas.py
/api/health now includes an ais_proxy block with degraded_tls.
Top-level status escalates ok -> degraded when AIS is in
degraded TLS mode (but won't downgrade a worse SLO status).
Operators get a visible signal that they're in degraded mode
without needing to grep logs.
Tests: backend/tests/test_ais_spki_pinning.py (7 tests)
- Pin file structure validation (JSON, host entry, base64 SHA-256)
- ais_proxy_status() snapshot semantics (starts empty, defensive copy)
- /api/health surfaces ais_proxy.degraded_tls when set
- /api/health returns empty ais_proxy when proxy hasn't reported
Node.js syntax check passes (node --check) on both backend/ais_proxy.js
and the Tauri runtime mirror.
When AISStream renews their cert (likely within hours-to-days), the
normal-TLS path succeeds on next reconnect and degraded_tls clears
automatically. No operator action needed. If they instead rotate their
server key, the SPKI check will fail and we'll need to add the new
hash to backend/data/aisstream_spki_pins.json before removing the old
one.
Credit: @jmleclercq for the clear report and the careful workaround
verification (Node version, ws version, manual probe).
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
External security audit by @tg12 (May 17, 2026) filed issues #201–#214
in addition to the #189–#200 batch already closed by PRs #227/#232/#260.
This PR closes all eight that are real security bugs (the other six in
the 201–214 range are either design discussions or upstream-abuse/TOS
concerns we're keeping intentional, see issue triage notes on each).
The user-facing principle for this PR: fix the security gap WITHOUT
introducing a single hostile error or behavior change for legitimate
users. Every fix follows the same template — fail forward, not loud.
When the secure path is harder than the insecure one, build a
fallback chain that ends in graceful degradation, not in a scary
modal or 422 response.
#205 — OpenMHZ audio redirect SSRF (services/radio_intercept.py)
Replaced requests.get(..., allow_redirects=True) with a manual
redirect loop that re-validates each hop's host against
_OPENMHZ_AUDIO_HOSTS. Same-host redirects (CDN edge selection)
still work, so legitimate audio playback is unaffected. Cross-host
redirects to disallowed hosts return a generic 502 which the
browser audio element handles gracefully. Cap at 5 hops.
#207 — infonet/status verify_signatures DoS (routers/mesh_public.py)
Silently downgrade verify_signatures=true to False for
unauthenticated callers. No error surfaced — the response shape is
identical, just without the O(n_events) signature verification.
Authenticated callers (scoped mesh.audit) still get the full path.
The frontend never passes this param so legitimate UI is unaffected.
#211 — thermal/verify expensive analysis (routers/sigint.py)
Added Depends(require_local_operator). Frontend has no direct
callers (verified by grep); Tauri/AI agents use scoped tokens that
pass the auth check. Anonymous abusers blocked silently — the
legitimate UI keeps working through the Next.js admin-key proxy.
#213, #214 — OpenMHZ calls/audio upstream abuse (routers/radio.py)
Added Depends(require_local_operator) to both. Browser users hit
these through the Next.js proxy at src/app/api/[...path]/route.ts
which injects X-Admin-Key, so the auth check passes transparently.
Direct attackers can no longer rotate sys_names to hammer
api.openmhz.com or relay arbitrary audio streams through the
backend's bandwidth.
#202 — overflights unbounded hours (routers/data.py)
Silently clamp `hours` to OVERFLIGHTS_MAX_HOURS (default 72,
configurable). NO 422 — clients asking for an absurd window get a
shorter window back with `requested_hours` and `effective_hours`
hint fields. Postel's law: liberal in what we accept, conservative
in what we compute.
#203 — Meshtastic callsign UA leak (services/fetchers/meshtastic_map.py)
Added MESHTASTIC_SEND_CALLSIGN_HEADER opt-out env var. Default is
TRUE — preserves existing operator behavior (callsign sent so
meshtastic.org can rate-limit per-install). Privacy-conscious
operators set it to false to suppress.
#206 — KiwiSDR upstream is HTTP-only (services/kiwisdr_fetcher.py)
Upstream rx.linkfanel.net doesn't speak HTTPS (verified — Apache
2.4.10 only on port 80). We can't fix the transport. Instead added
three layers:
1. Content validation on fetched data — reject responses with
<50 receivers or >5% malformed entries (likely MITM injection).
2. Existing disk cache fallback (already present).
3. NEW: bundled static directory at backend/data/kiwisdr_directory.json
shipping 798 known-good receivers. Used as last resort so the
KiwiSDR map layer always renders something useful.
#208 — Merkle proof DoS via /api/mesh/infonet/sync (services/mesh/mesh_hashchain.py)
The endpoint is part of the cross-node federation protocol — peers
legitimately call it without local-operator auth, so we can't add
Depends(). Instead made the underlying operation O(1) per proof
via a cached Merkle level structure on the Infonet instance:
- _merkle_levels_cache + _merkle_levels_for_event_count on each
Infonet instance
- _invalidate_merkle_cache() called from every chain mutation
point (append, ingest_events, apply_fork, cleanup_expired)
- _get_merkle_levels() does the lazy recompute on first read
after invalidation, then serves from cache thereafter
Effect: anonymous attackers hammering the proofs endpoint hit a
cached structure; the rebuild happens at most once per real chain
advance. Federation untouched.
#201 — Tor bundle SHA-256 bypass (services/tor_hidden_service.py)
Docker users were already covered — backend/Dockerfile installs
Tor via apt-get at build time (signed by Debian's package system).
No runtime download needed for the 80%-of-users case.
For Tauri desktop, replaced the single .sha256sum check with a
multi-source verification chain implemented in _verify_tor_bundle():
1. Try upstream .sha256sum (current behavior — fast path)
2. Try baked-in digest list at backend/data/tor_bundle_digests.json
(pinned per-version, maintainer-updated)
3. If neither source is REACHABLE: HTTPS-only fallback with a loud
warning (avoids breaking first-run onboarding while the
maintainer hasn't yet pinned a new Tor release)
A mismatch from a source that DID respond is always fatal — only
the "no source reachable" case falls back to HTTPS-only. This is
the "have cake and eat it" pattern: real users see no new failure
modes during torproject.org outages, but MITM/compromise attacks
still fail because the downloaded digest can't match what BOTH
the upstream and the baked-in list report.
Currently the digest file ships with placeholder values for the
current Tor URLs (those URLs are already stale on torproject.org
too). A follow-up commit can populate real digests when a stable
Tor release is selected; until then the HTTPS-only warning fires
and onboarding still works.
Tests (82 total, all passing):
test_openmhz_redirect_ssrf.py (5 tests) — #205
test_infonet_status_verify_gate.py (2 tests) — #207
test_overflights_clamp.py (5 tests) — #202
test_meshtastic_callsign_optout.py (3 tests) — #203
test_kiwisdr_fallback.py (6 tests) — #206
test_merkle_cache.py (6 tests) — #208
test_tor_bundle_verification.py (6 tests) — #201
test_control_surface_auth.py (extended) — #211, #213, #214
+ all previous security tests (CCTV redirect, GDELT https, sentinel
cache, crowdthreat opt-in, third-party fetcher gates, control
surface auth) continue to pass.
Pre-existing test infrastructure issue with SHARED_EXECUTOR teardown
in the broader sweep exists on main too (verified) — not introduced
by this PR.
Credit: @tg12 reported every one of these with accurate line citations
and the recommended fixes that informed this implementation.
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
External security audit by @tg12 (May 17, 2026) filed 11 issues against
the backend. PR #227 (May 18, AI-generated) closed seven of them by
adding require_local_operator to control-plane endpoints. Four remained
live; this PR closes the rest.
#192 — CCTV proxy followed redirects without re-validating host
Issue: /api/cctv/media validated only the caller-supplied URL host
before passing it to requests.get(..., allow_redirects=True). A 302
to http://127.0.0.1 or any internal/disallowed host was silently
followed, turning the proxy into an open-redirect-to-SSRF chain.
Fix in routers/cctv.py: replace the single allow_redirects=True call
with a manual follow loop. Each hop's Location is parsed, the host is
rerun through _cctv_host_allowed(), and non-HTTP schemes (file://,
ftp://, etc.) are rejected. Cap chain length at 5 hops.
Test: backend/tests/test_cctv_redirect_ssrf.py covers
- redirect to disallowed host -> 502
- redirect to localhost -> 502
- redirect to another allowed host -> 200
- redirect chain length cap
- non-HTTP scheme rejected
#198 — Gate introspection GETs were unauthenticated
Issue: /api/wormhole/gate/{gate_id}/{identity,personas,key} were
callable with no auth dependency. Any caller that could reach the
backend could dump the operator's active persona, persona inventory,
and key status for any gate_id they knew. The wiki's privacy threat
model explicitly markets gate personas as rotating, unlinkable
pseudonyms — this leak defeated that property.
Fix in routers/wormhole.py: add
dependencies=[Depends(require_local_operator)] to all three routes.
Test: backend/tests/test_control_surface_auth.py extended with
three new parameterized cases (lines 75-77).
#199 — GDELT military incident ingestion used plaintext HTTP
Issue: backend/services/geopolitics.py fetched
http://data.gdeltproject.org/gdeltv2/lastupdate.txt and ~48 export
archive URLs over plaintext HTTP. Passive observers could identify
Shadowbroker nodes from the fetch pattern. Active MITM could inject
doctored military incident records into the global map.
Fix in services/geopolitics.py: rewrite the lastupdate.txt fetch and
the export download URL constructor to use https://. GDELT's
data.gdeltproject.org serves the same content over HTTPS.
Test: backend/tests/test_gdelt_https.py asserts no plaintext HTTP
URLs to data.gdeltproject.org remain in code (comments excluded) and
that the HTTPS URLs we expect are present.
#200 — Sentinel token cache lookup used client_id only
Issue: routers/tools.py kept a process-global cache of Copernicus
bearer tokens. The lookup compared
_sh_token_cache["client_id"] == client_id. A caller who knew a valid
client_id but supplied any wrong client_secret hit the cache and
reused the legitimate caller's bearer token — burning their quota
and accessing imagery on their account.
Fix in routers/tools.py: replace the client_id field with
credential_fp, an HMAC-SHA256 over (client_id, client_secret) under
a per-process random key (_SH_TOKEN_CACHE_HMAC_KEY = os.urandom(32),
regenerated at startup). A caller who doesn't know the secret cannot
compute a matching fingerprint, so they miss the cache and hit the
real Copernicus token endpoint — which will reject their wrong
secret with a 401.
Test: backend/tests/test_sentinel_token_cache.py covers
- same client_id + different secrets => different fingerprints
- same credentials => same fingerprint (cache still works)
- different client_ids + same secret => different fingerprints
- cache no longer stores raw client_id (catches regression)
- attacker with wrong secret cannot reuse victim's token
Validation
pytest backend/tests/test_control_surface_auth.py
backend/tests/test_cctv_redirect_ssrf.py
backend/tests/test_gdelt_https.py
backend/tests/test_sentinel_token_cache.py
-> 37 passed
Credit: @tg12 reported all four of these in their May 17 audit with
correct line-number citations and accurate remediation recommendations.
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
PR #227 hardened most Wormhole/Infonet control surfaces behind
require_local_operator and made the CrowdThreat fetcher opt-in. An
audit of the codebase against that PR's stated goals turned up four
classes of gap that the original change missed:
1. Two operator-only endpoints were left unprotected:
- POST /api/wormhole/join: calls bootstrap_wormhole_identity() and
flips the node into Tor mode, exactly the surface #227 hardened
on /api/wormhole/identity/bootstrap.
- POST /api/sigint/transmit: relays APRS-IS packets over radio
using operator-supplied credentials. Anything that reached the
API could transmit on the operator's authority.
Both now require_local_operator. test_control_surface_auth.py
extended with regression coverage for both.
2. Five third-party fetchers were still default-on, phoning home to
politically/commercially sensitive upstreams on every poll cycle:
- fimi.py -> euvsdisinfo.eu -> FIMI_ENABLED
- prediction_markets -> Polymarket + Kalshi -> PREDICTION_MARKETS_ENABLED
- financial.py -> Finnhub / yfinance -> FINANCIAL_ENABLED or FINNHUB_API_KEY
- nuforc_enrichment -> huggingface.co -> NUFORC_ENABLED
- news.py -> configured RSS feeds -> NEWS_ENABLED (default on, kill switch)
Same CrowdThreat-style pattern: explicit env-var opt-in, empty
the data slot and mark_fresh when disabled. New regression test
file test_third_party_fetchers_opt_in.py asserts each fetcher's
network entry point is not called when its gate is off.
3. The outbound User-Agent leaked both the operator's personal email
and a fork-specific GitHub URL on every fetcher request. Consolidated
to a single DEFAULT_USER_AGENT in network_utils.py, project-generic
by default (no contact info), overridable via SHADOWBROKER_USER_AGENT
for operators who want to identify themselves (e.g. for Nominatim or
weather.gov usage-policy compliance). Six call sites updated; the
Nominatim-specific override is preserved.
4. The same generic UA now also flows through the peer prekey lookup
in mesh_wormhole_prekey.py, so DM first-contact requests no longer
identify the caller as a Shadowbroker fork to the peer being
queried.
.env.example updated to document all new opt-in env vars.
Tests: backend/tests/test_control_surface_auth.py (extended),
backend/tests/test_crowdthreat_opt_in.py (unchanged, still passes),
backend/tests/test_third_party_fetchers_opt_in.py (new, 7 tests).
All 31 tests pass.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Allow local-operator DM invite import without requiring a full admin session.
Prioritize bundled/bootstrap seed peers and shorten stale seed cooldowns for faster Infonet recovery.
Replace raw DM invite dumps with copyable signed-address controls, contact request handling, and safer sealed-send behavior while the private delivery route connects.
Ship the v0.9.79 runtime refresh with transport lane isolation, Infonet secure-message address management, MeshChat MQTT controls, selected asset trail behavior, telemetry panel refinements, onboarding updates, and desktop/package metadata alignment.
Also ignore local graphify work products so analysis folders do not leak into future commits.
Add Tor/onion runtime wiring and faster Infonet node status refresh.
Keep node bootstrap state clearer across Docker and local runtimes.
Use selected aircraft trail history for cumulative tracked-aircraft emissions.
Let fresh Docker and local installs enter OpenSky, AIS, and other provider keys directly in onboarding or Settings without manually creating .env files. Persist keys server-side in the backend data store, keep them write-only from the browser, reload runtime settings, and retain local-operator access controls.
Shadowbroker