ACME: post a challenge once, then poll the authorization

The renewal loop re-posted the challenge every time it polled and found the
authorization still pending. RFC 8555 section 7.5.1 has the client post a
challenge once to say it is ready and then poll; a server that has already
moved the challenge to "processing" refuses a second post, and pebble
answers 400 malformed, which failed the whole renewal.

Verified against pebble: the 400s are gone and the client polls. The suite
still can't finish on this machine, because pebble never reaches the test
server to validate the challenge; that path is the environment, and the
runbook now says so.
This commit is contained in:
2026-09-19 16:28:15 -07:00
parent ce12659138
commit 309835be1d
2 changed files with 44 additions and 10 deletions
+10 -4
View File
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ impl AcmeRequestBuilder {
let mut retry_after = response.retry_after;
let auth = response.body;
let (domain, challenge_url) = match auth.status {
let domain = match auth.status {
AuthStatus::Pending => {
let Identifier::Dns(domain) = auth.identifier;
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@ impl AcmeRequestBuilder {
}
self.challenge(&challenge.url).await?;
(domain, challenge.url.clone())
domain
}
AuthStatus::Valid => return Ok(()),
_ => {
@@ -345,14 +345,20 @@ impl AcmeRequestBuilder {
match response.body.status {
AuthStatus::Pending => {
// inbuxa: keep polling, don't post the challenge again.
// RFC 8555 section 7.5.1 has the client post a challenge
// once to say it's ready and then poll the authorization,
// which stays pending while validation runs. Posting it
// again is refused once the server has moved the
// challenge to "processing" (pebble answers 400
// malformed, "Cannot update challenge with status
// processing"), and that refusal failed the renewal.
trc::event!(
Acme(AcmeEvent::AuthPending),
Hostname = domain.to_string(),
Url = self.directory.new_order.to_string(),
Total = i,
);
self.challenge(&challenge_url).await?
}
AuthStatus::Valid => {
trc::event!(
+34 -6
View File
@@ -63,6 +63,28 @@ STORE=PostgreSqlReplicated cargo test -p tests --features postgres,redis \
replica_cluster_tests -- --ignored
```
`LOG=<level>` turns on the test server's own logging, which is the only way
to see why a task failed rather than that it failed: `LOG=error` is what
found the ACME fault below.
## The suites the regression runs, but not with its own settings
Three of the suites a plain `cargo test -p tests` runs can't pass on the
settings it uses. Run them by name, with these:
```
# Two nodes, so a shared store and a coordinator, never RocksDb
STORE=PostgreSql COORDINATOR=Redis cargo test -p tests --features postgres,redis \
-- --exact cluster::broadcast::cluster_tests
# The spam rules the expectations were recorded against
STORE=RocksDb SPAM_RULES_URL=file:///path/to/spam-filter-rules.json.gz \
cargo test -p tests -- --exact smtp::inbound::antispam::antispam
# The ACME pair, which keeps its containers between runs
STORE=RocksDb cargo test -p tests -- --exact automation::automation_tests
```
## What a plain regression leaves failing
`STORE=RocksDb cargo test -p tests -- --test-threads=1` was 86 passed, 4
@@ -79,13 +101,19 @@ and three are the invocation or the environment rather than the code:
can't work on RocksDb, where each node gets its own.
- `smtp::outbound::lmtp::lmtp_delivery` counted three DSNs where it wanted
four, and passes on its own: queue timing under a loaded sequential run.
- `automation::automation_tests` fails against pebble with
- `automation::automation_tests` failed against pebble with
`400 malformed: "Cannot update challenge with status processing, only
status pending"`. `crates/common/src/network/acme/order.rs` re-POSTs the
challenge each time it polls an authorization that is still pending;
pebble accepts that only while the challenge itself is pending. Upstream
code, untouched by the fork, and unfixed: worth treating as a real
renewal bug rather than a test artefact.
status pending"`, because the client re-posted the challenge on every
poll. That was a real renewal bug and is fixed; the 400s are gone and the
client polls as RFC 8555 section 7.5.1 says to.
The suite still doesn't pass here: pebble never validates the TLS-ALPN
challenge, so the authorizations stay pending until the client gives up
and no certificate is issued. Validation needs pebble, in its container,
to reach the test server's `0.0.0.0:8899` across the docker bridge, and
`ufw` is active on this machine. That wasn't proved — standing up a
listener to test it needs a permission this session didn't have — so
before reading anything into an ACME failure, check that path first.
## When one fails