[AIP-X] - Enable interoperability for Federated Keyless Accounts for the same issuer

aips/aip-103.md

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+---
+aip: 103
+title: Enable interoperability for Federated Keyless Accounts for the same issuer (user-pool/tenant)
+author: Oliver He ([email protected])
+Status: Draft # | Last Call | Accepted | Final | Rejected>
+last-call-end-date (*optional): <mm/dd/yyyy the last date to leave feedbacks and reviews>
+type: <Standard (Core, Networking, Interface, Application, Framework) | Informational | Process>
+created: 11/08/2024
+updated (*optional): <mm/dd/yyyy>
+requires (*optional): https://github.com/aptos-foundation/AIPs/blob/main/aips/aip-103.md
+---
+
+# AIP-103 - Enable interoperability for Federated Keyless Accounts for the same issuer (user-pool/tenant)
+
+## Summary
+
+This AIP proposes enabling Aptos Federated Keyless to be interoperable with dApps from the same issuer (user-pool/tenant).
+
+For IAM providers like Auth0 and Cognito, JWT tokens are scoped to a user-pool/tenant via the `iss` field, and they are also scoped to a specific application via the `aud` field.  This means that JWTs from the same issuer but with different `aud` values are from different applications and cannot be used to derive the same Aptos Federated Keyless Account even though they represent the same user identity within the same user-pool/tenant.
+
+Many customers of Auth0 and Cognito have applications with different branding within the same user-pool/tenant ecosystem.  Thus it is natural for such customers to use different application identifiers for their applications for organizational purposes.  This AIP will enable Aptos Federated Keyless Accounts to be interoperable across such applications.
+
+## Impact and risks
+
+- The relaxation of the `aud` field will allow for broader interoperability across applications within the same user-pool/tenant.  This allows for broader adoption of Aptos Federated Keyless Accounts in such user ecosystems.
+
+Risks
+- Developers need to not use `aud`-less accounts when not appropriate. This can be mitigated by the Aptos SDK default behavior so that developers must explicitly enable using `aud`-less accounts.
+- This introduces an additional proving path, one where the `aud` is not checked.  It is important that such proofs are rejected if the account requires `aud` to be present, as encoded in the KeylessPublicKey.
+- As circuit changes are needed to support `aud`-less accounts, a new ceremony will be needed to generate the proving key and verification key.
+- We want such accounts to be limited to Federated Keyless Accounts, as constructing Keyless Accounts without aud checks is unsafe.  This can be mitigated by the Aptos SDK disallowing `aud`-less accounts from being used as Keyless Accounts.  The prover will also reject proof requests for Keyless providers (as of now Google and Apple).  However, in a world where 3rd party provers are permitted, we cannot prevent developers from using `aud`-less accounts as Keyless Accounts, but developers would not have any incentive construct such accounts for their users (these accounts would be accessable by any other dApp, regardless of trust).
+- The verification key will need an update, which will invalidate all existing proofs.  Additionally the prover will need to start proving with the new proving key right away after the update.  The prover has already been updated to support the proving key rotations and the SDK also supports state checks to invalidate old proofs.
+
+## Alternative solutions
+
+The alternative is to add an additional keyless public key type where the formula to compute the IdCommitment does not contain the `aud` at all.
+
+This is the advantage of explicit type safety as a completely new validation path would be implemented.  There would be no risk of such proofs being accepted for accounts that require `aud` to be present due to explicit differences in how the proof would be validated gated on the type of public key.
+
+However the drawbacks include:
+- We need to add a new keyless public key type, which may not be needed if we can leverage the existing design.  And avoiding proliferation of keyless public key types is desirable.
+- Requiring imiplementation of a new authentication path in the authenticator, which may be error prone and takes additional engineering effort.
+- Requires more complex changes to the prover as it would need to support a different public inputs hash calculation in order to differentiate between accounts with and without `aud`.  Or it would need to use a different circuit versionentirely.
+
+Thus if we can leverage the existing design, it would be preferable to do so.
+
+## Specification and Implementation Details
+
+This AIP's implementation has three parts -
+
+1. We add an additional private input into the prover.  This value will indicate whether the `aud` check is enabled.  
+- If it is enabled, the circuit will do the status quo set of verifications.  
+- If it is disabled, the circuit will use an empty `aud` value as a private input and skip checking the `aud` field.  A valid JWT still needs to be provided and the public inputs hash calculation will still implicitly include the `aud` field via the `IdCommitment` in the `KeylessPublicKey`, but it will be set to the empty value.  This means that proofs for `aud`-less accounts will be rejected if the account requires `aud` to be present, as the `IdCommitment` will be different.
+
+2. The prover API will also require an update to allow for indiciating whether the `aud` check is enabled.  This will be done by adding a new boolean argument to the `prove` API.
+
+3. The SDK will also need to be updated to support instantiating of such accounts.  This will require adding a new boolean argument to the `KeylessAccount` constructor and constructing the `KeylessPublicKey` and `AccountAddress` appropriately.
+
+## Testing (Optional)
+
+1. Write unit tests for the circuit to verify that it correctly handles the `aud` check.
+2. Write unit tests for the SDK to verify that it correctly instantiates accounts with and without `aud` checks.
+3. Do a manual end-to-end test in devnet/testnet via the SDK once the verification key is updated.
+4. Write smoke tests ensuring that `aud`-less accounts are rejected if the account requires `aud` to be present.
+
+## Security Considerations
+
+The core security considerations are:
+- Making sure the the circuit can securely support `aud`-less accounts.
+- Making sure that such proofs are rejected if the account requires `aud` to be present (as encoded in the `KeylessPublicKey`s `IdCommitment`).
+
+## Future Potential
+
+This will allow onboarding more users into the Aptos blockchain via keyless accounts[^aip-61] and its extensions.
+
+## Timeline
+
+-Circuit changes: End of October 2024.
+-Ceremony completion: End of November 2024.
+-SDK update: by ceremony completion.
+-Prover service update: by ceremony completion.
+-Devnet verification key update: After ceremony completion.
+-Devnet testing: After verification key update. Should take a few hours.
+-Testnet verification key update: After devnet testing.
+-Testnet testing: After testnet verification key update.
+-Mainnet verification key update proposal: End of November 2024.
+-Mainnet verification key update: A week after proposal submission. Estimated early December 2024.
+
+### Suggested implementation timeline
+
+See above.
+
+### Suggested developer platform support timeline
+
+Already supported via telegram.
+
+### Suggested deployment timeline
+
+See above.
+
+## References
+
+[^aip-61]: https://github.com/aptos-foundation/AIPs/blob/main/aips/aip-61.md
+[^aip-67]: https://github.com/aptos-foundation/AIPs/blob/main/aips/aip-67.md
+[^aip-75]: https://github.com/aptos-foundation/AIPs/blob/main/aips/aip-75.md
+[^aip-81]: https://github.com/aptos-foundation/AIPs/blob/main/aips/aip-81.md
+[^aip-61-recovery]: https://github.com/aptos-foundation/AIPs/blob/main/aips/aip-61.md#recovery-service
+[^jwks]: https://appleid.apple.com/.well-known/openid-configuration
+[^passkeys]: https://github.com/aptos-foundation/AIPs/blob/main/aips/aip-66.md
+[^ppid]: https://openid.net/specs/openid-connect-core-1_0.html#Terminology