- Fix race window: store pendingHmacSecret AFTER remote peer confirms,
not before (admin endpoint + auto-rotation worker)
- Add hex validation on newSecret at /peer/rotate endpoint
- Use pending-secret-aware signing in initial sync worker
- Add test for corrupt state (pendingHmacSecret set, secretRotationAt null)
Prevent malicious peers from forging events attributed to users on other
instances. Every relay event processor now verifies the acting user's
homeInstance (from payload) matches X-Federation-Origin (from HMAC-verified
header) via verifyAttribution(), normalized to bare domain.
- Add verifyAttribution() helper using extractDomain normalization
- Guard all 13 event processors before any user resolution or DB writes
- Add homeInstance to FederationRelayReaction type + outbound payloads
- Replace unnormalized string equality in friend handlers
- Log mismatched values on rejection for debugging
Pass nonce through to verifySignature and enforce replay protection in
both /api/federation/relay and /api/federation/sync: reject duplicate
nonces (409), reject nonce-less requests from peers that previously sent
nonces (401), warn for legacy peers, and auto-ratchet nonceSupported flag.
Adds nonce_supported INTEGER column to the federation_peers table in both
the Drizzle schema definition and via a safe ALTER TABLE migration, enabling
the auto-ratchet mechanism for replay attack protection.
- signRequest now accepts optional nonce; payload becomes `${timestamp}.${nonce}.${body}` when present, falling back to `${timestamp}.${body}` for legacy peers
- verifySignature accepts matching nonce parameter and passes it through
- buildFederationHeaders generates a UUID nonce per request and includes X-Federation-Nonce header
- parseFederationHeaders extracts X-Federation-Nonce into nonce field (null when absent)
Sliding-window rate limiter (30 req/min per peer origin) on POST
/api/federation/relay, matching the existing accept endpoint pattern.
Returns 429 when exceeded — outbox workers retry with backoff. Check
runs before HMAC verification to avoid wasted computation on floods.
Extract processRelayEvents() from the relay HTTP handler and call it
directly in runInitialSyncForNewPeers(), eliminating the HTTP round-trip
through public DNS that failed on networks without hairpin NAT.
Two real accounts from the same remote instance sharing a 1-on-1 DM
are different people, not duplicates. The shared DM is a legitimate
relay. Only merge when at least one user has passwordHash =
'!federation-replicated' (a relay-created stub).
Comprehensive internal document covering the complete lifecycle of
federated DMs: data model, relay pipeline, event processing, bootstrap
path, local-only broadcast principle, system messages, and all known
pitfalls with their fixes.
Three fixes for group DM data integrity and display:
1. processOwnershipTransferEvent: use resolveOrCreateReplicatedUser instead
of resolveLocalUser to guarantee a valid ownerId. The previous ?? null
fallback converted group DMs into 1-on-1s when resolution failed.
2. Self-healing migration: detect group DMs with UUID-format federated_id
but NULL owner_id (corrupted by the old fallback) and restore owner from
the first remaining member. Found and repaired 7 across both instances.
3. Sidebar: group DMs with 0 other members (last person standing) now show
as "Empty Group" instead of being hidden. 1-on-1 DMs with 0 others are
still correctly filtered out.
Three stacked bugs prevented federation relay from working for group DMs:
1. Origin format mismatch: users.home_instance stores bare domains
("nova.ddns.net") but federation_peers.origin stores full URLs
("https://nova.ddns.net"). getGroupDmTargetOrigins() built target
lists from bare domains, so queueOutboxEvent() never matched any
peers — events were never queued into the outbox.
2. Missing federatedId in outbox reconstruction: the outbox worker
rebuilt relay events from stored payloads but never copied the
federatedId field. Receiving instances check this field and rejected
all member_add/remove/ownership_transfer events with
"missing_membership_payload".
3. Duplicate channels from cross-instance broadcasts: dm_channel_created
was sent to ALL members including remote replicas. Users connected to
multiple instances received the event twice (once per instance),
creating duplicate group DMs in their sidebar. Fixed by only
broadcasting to members whose home instance matches the current
server — remote members receive the channel via federation bootstrap
on their home instance.
- Remove redundant `leaveGroup` API method from client.ts (duplicated `leave`); update MessageList.tsx WelcomeHeader to call `api.dm.leave` directly
- Add optional `type` field to shared `Message` interface so `MessageWithUser` carries it; remove `(msg as any).type` casts in `isSameGroup` and the render branch in MessageList.tsx
- Fix `processOwnershipTransferEvent` in federation.ts: replace `channel.ownerId` fallbacks (pre-update, old owner) with `event.ownership.newOwner.homeUserId` in the db update, dm_owner_updated broadcast, and both system message content payloads
- Render system messages (member_added, member_removed, owner_changed) inline
in MessageList with icon + human-readable text; system messages never group
with adjacent user messages
- Rewrite WelcomeHeader to branch on ownerId: group DMs show overlapping avatars,
group name, creator attribution, federated privacy note, and a Leave Group button
- Add dm_owner_updated ServerEvent; broadcast from dm.ts leave handler and
federation processOwnershipTransferEvent so all clients update ownerId in real-time
- Add updateDmOwner action to spaceStore and handle dm_owner_updated in useWebSocket
- Add leaveGroup alias to API client dm namespace
On the receiving instance, federation event processors now write
dm_messages with type='system' for member_added, member_removed, and
owner_changed events and broadcast them via dm_message_created to all
connected local WebSocket clients, matching the behaviour of local
group DM operations.
When processMemberAddEvent bootstrapped a new group DM channel for the
first time on a receiving instance, local users were never notified via
WebSocket — only dm_member_added was broadcast, which requires the client
to already know about the channel. Now, after bootstrap, dm_channel_created
is sent directly to each local connected member, and the redundant
dm_member_added broadcast is skipped for the bootstrap path.
On group DM creation, emit a system message per added member (event:
member_added). On POST /api/dm/:id/members, emit a system message for
the newly added member. On DELETE /api/dm/:id/members, emit a
member_removed system message before the row is deleted (so the leaver
is still a member at broadcast time), and emit an owner_changed system
message when ownership transfers. The newOwnerUser query is moved
outside the federation-only block so it is available unconditionally.
Adds a `type` column (TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT 'user') to the dm_messages
table via schema, migration, and type definition. Updates
buildDmMessageWithUser and the inline replyTo builder in the GET
messages handler to include the field in all DM message responses.
- Use inline badges for file/audio attachments (next to file size)
instead of absolute positioning which overflowed the container
- Keep overlay badges for images/video (overflow-hidden containers)
- Match tooltip text to toast notification text for consistency
- Fix critical: outbox worker now copies file_rejected payload fields
(attachmentId, sourceFilename, rejectionReason, rejectionLimit,
affectedUserIds) so the reverse relay actually delivers them
- Fix: add sourceFilename to file_rejected event for reliable
multi-attachment matching on the sender side
- Fix: change text-accent-warning to text-accent-amber (valid class)
- Add Array.isArray guard on federationMeta parse
Both buildDmMessageWithUser and buildMessageWithUser manually map
attachment fields — add federationStatus and federationMeta so they
reach the frontend.
Jannis Braun