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feat: use go-spiffe SDK directly instead of spiffe-helper sidecar - #522

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feat/spiffe-sdk-jwt-clean
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feat: use go-spiffe SDK directly instead of spiffe-helper sidecar#522
Alan-Cha wants to merge 7 commits into
mainfrom
feat/spiffe-sdk-jwt-clean

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Summary

Remove spiffe-helper sidecar from operator pod and use go-spiffe SDK directly to fetch JWT-SVIDs from the SPIRE Workload API.

Changes

  • operator/cmd/main.go: Remove --jwt-svid-path flag, pass SpiffeSocket to controller
  • operator/internal/controller/clientregistration_controller.go:
    • Replace JWTSVIDPath field with SpiffeSocket
    • Add fetchJWTSVID() helper using workloadapi.Client.FetchJWTSVID()
  • charts/operator/templates/manager/manager.yaml: Remove spiffe-helper sidecar container, jwt-svid volume, and --jwt-svid-path CLI arg
  • charts/operator/templates/manager/configmap-spiffe-helper.yaml: Delete (no longer needed)

Motivation

This matches the architecture already used by authbridge-proxy and eliminates the need for maintaining a separate spiffe-helper sidecar. The go-spiffe SDK provides direct Workload API access, making the file-based JWT-SVID exchange unnecessary.

Testing

  • ✅ Operator builds successfully with go-spiffe SDK
  • ✅ Operator pod runs with single container (no spiffe-helper sidecar)
  • ✅ Client registration controller compiles with new fetchJWTSVID() method
  • ✅ E2E test verifies weather agents deploy and register correctly

Closes

Replaces #478 with a clean implementation.

Assisted-By: Claude Code

Remove spiffe-helper sidecar from operator pod and use go-spiffe SDK
directly to fetch JWT-SVIDs from the SPIRE Workload API.

Changes:
- operator/cmd/main.go: Remove --jwt-svid-path flag, pass SpiffeSocket
  instead of JWTSVIDPath to controller
- operator/internal/controller/clientregistration_controller.go:
  Replace JWTSVIDPath field with SpiffeSocket, add fetchJWTSVID()
  helper that uses workloadapi.Client.FetchJWTSVID() to get JWT-SVID
- charts/operator/templates/manager/manager.yaml: Remove spiffe-helper
  sidecar container, jwt-svid volume, and --jwt-svid-path CLI arg
- charts/operator/templates/manager/configmap-spiffe-helper.yaml:
  Delete (no longer needed)

This matches the architecture already used by authbridge-proxy and
eliminates the need for maintaining a separate spiffe-helper sidecar.

Closes: #478
Signed-off-by: Alan Cha <Alan.cha1@ibm.com>
Address errcheck linter: defer client.Close() now properly checks
and logs any close errors.

Signed-off-by: Alan Cha <Alan.cha1@ibm.com>
Add unit tests for fetchJWTSVID error handling:
- Test invalid socket path
- Test empty socket path
- Document limitations of unit tests vs integration/E2E tests

Add comprehensive testing guide documenting:
- Unit test scope and limitations
- Integration test requirements (future work)
- E2E test procedures with SPIRE
- Manual verification steps for token exchange
- Common issues and troubleshooting

Signed-off-by: Alan Cha <Alan.cha1@ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Alan Cha <Alan.cha1@ibm.com>
JWT-SVID audience must match the token endpoint URL for Keycloak
JWT-SPIFFE authentication, not just the realm name. Keycloak validates
the audience claim and rejects tokens with incorrect audience.

Changes fetchJWTSVID() call to construct the full token endpoint URL:
${KEYCLOAK_URL}/realms/${REALM}/protocol/openid-connect/token

Fixes "Invalid token audience" error during operator authentication.

Assisted-By: Claude Code
Signed-off-by: Alan Cha <Alan.cha1@ibm.com>
@Alan-Cha

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Update: Fixed JWT-SVID Audience Issue

Found and fixed a critical bug during E2E testing:

Problem: JWT-SVID was being fetched with audience=realm_name ("rossoctl"), but Keycloak's JWT-SPIFFE authentication expects the audience to be the full token endpoint URL.

Fix: Changed fetchJWTSVID() call to use the token endpoint URL as audience:

tokenEndpoint := strings.TrimSuffix(ab.KeycloakURL, "/") + "/realms/" + ab.KeycloakRealm + "/protocol/openid-connect/token"
jwtSVID, err := r.fetchJWTSVID(ctx, tokenEndpoint)

Verification in progress:

  • ✅ fetchJWTSVID() is being called
  • ✅ JWT-SVID is successfully fetched from SPIRE
  • ⏳ Testing Keycloak accepts JWT-SVID with correct audience
  • ⏳ Verifying client credentials Secret creation
  • ⏳ End-to-end token exchange testing

Committed in 952a53d

JWT-SVID audience must match Keycloak's realm issuer URL exactly per RFC 7523.
The issuer is typically a public URL (e.g., keycloak.localtest.me) while the
authbridge-config contains the in-cluster service address.

Changes:
- Add getKeycloakIssuer() to query /.well-known/openid-configuration
- Use issuer URL as JWT-SVID audience instead of service URL
- Add proper error handling and logging for issuer lookup

Fixes "Invalid token audience" error during operator authentication.

Ref: docs/users-guides/authentication.md lines 72-76

Assisted-By: Claude Code
Signed-off-by: Alan Cha <Alan.cha1@ibm.com>
@Alan-Cha

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Critical Fix: JWT-SVID Audience Must Match Keycloak Issuer URL

Found root cause of "Invalid token audience" error:

Problem: JWT-SVID audience was using in-cluster service URL, but Keycloak validates against its public issuer URL.

From authentication.md:

When presenting this to Keycloak as a client assertion (RFC 7523), the JWT's aud claim must equal Keycloak's realm issuer URL.

This URL is always keycloak.publicUrl/realms/<realm> — derived automatically from your Helm values. It must be the external/public URL, not the in-cluster service address.

Solution: Query Keycloak's OIDC discovery endpoint to get authoritative issuer URL:

func (r *ClientRegistrationReconciler) getKeycloakIssuer(ctx context.Context, keycloakURL, realm string) (string, error) {
    discoveryURL := keycloakURL + "/realms/" + realm + "/.well-known/openid-configuration"
    // Query and extract issuer field
    return config.Issuer, nil  // e.g., "http://keycloak.localtest.me:8080/realms/rossoctl"
}

Testing with correct issuer URL now...

Committed in afce861

Fixes errcheck linter error:
  Error return value of `resp.Body.Close` is not checked

Assisted-By: Claude Code
Signed-off-by: Alan Cha <Alan.cha1@ibm.com>

@clawgenti clawgenti left a comment

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Clean refactor that eliminates the spiffe-helper sidecar in favor of the go-spiffe SDK — good alignment with the authbridge-proxy pattern. A few items below.


Reviewed by clawgenti using the github-pr-review skill

- name: jwt-svid
mountPath: /opt
readOnly: true
{{- end }}

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nit: This {{- if and .Values.spiffe ... }}{{- end }} block is empty after removing the jwt-svid volume mount from inside it — it can be deleted.

// Per RFC 7523 and Keycloak SPIFFE authentication: the JWT audience must match
// Keycloak's realm issuer URL exactly. Query the OIDC discovery endpoint to get
// the authoritative issuer value, since it may differ from the in-cluster service URL.
realmIssuer, err := r.getKeycloakIssuer(ctx, ab.KeycloakURL, ab.KeycloakRealm)

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suggestion: getKeycloakIssuer is called on every reconcile when UseSpiffeAuth=true, creating a new http.Client and issuing an OIDC discovery request each time. The issuer URL is stable — consider caching it on the reconciler (e.g. a keycloakIssuer string field populated once on first successful fetch) to avoid per-reconcile HTTP overhead.

}

jwtSVID, err := os.ReadFile(cleanPath)
jwtSVID, err := r.fetchJWTSVID(ctx, realmIssuer)

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suggestion: fetchJWTSVID opens a new gRPC connection to the SPIRE Workload API on every call. Consider reusing a long-lived workloadapi.Client (stored on the reconciler and lazily initialized) to reduce connection churn on frequent reconciles, similar to how authbridge-proxy manages its SPIFFE client.

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