# Which Problems Are Solved
- Token exchange rejects `urn:zitadel:iam:org:roles🆔{orgID}` when
that scope is not already present on the subject or actor token
(`invalid_scope`).
- A documented least-privilege pattern — exchanging a broad access token
for one whose roles claims are limited to a single organization — has
been broken since the v4.15.3 token-exchange hardening and was not
restored by #12312.
- A naive allow-any-`roles:id` exception would let a previously narrowed
token widen again (switch org filter, or drop the filter and get all
role orgs), including via an actor token's filter on actor-path
exchanges.
- A client-requested bare `urn:zitadel:iam:org:roles🆔` (empty org id)
is not a meaningful filter and should be rejected on exchange.
# How the Problems Are Solved
- Treats `OrgRoleIDScope` as a restriction filter with downscope-only
semantics via `applyOrgRoleIDScopeDownscoping(requested,
ceilingScopes)`:
- union / standard exchange passes the **subject** token scopes as the
ceiling (actor filters ignored)
- impersonation (scopeless `user_id` / `id_token` subject) passes the
**actor** token scopes as the ceiling
- ceiling unfiltered → any requested `roles:id` is allowed (broad →
narrow)
- ceiling filtered → requested filters must be ⊆ that set
- ceiling filtered but request omits them → inherit the ceiling (omit
must not re-widen)
- Rejects a **client-requested** bare `urn:zitadel:iam:org:roles🆔` in
`validateTokenExchangeScopes` after normalize (before empty-request
fallback). Input tokens may still carry the bare prefix as a degenerate
ceiling; empty-request / omit inherit does not re-trigger the rejection.
- Keeps non-restriction scopes on the existing subject ∪ actor presence
checks.
- Adds unit coverage for downscope, further downscope, widen rejection,
omit-inherit, mixed subject/actor filters, empty-scope access/JWT
subjects, and bare-prefix request/ceiling cases.
- Adds an integration test for broad → `roles:id` filtered roles, plus a
second exchange that rejects widening to another org.
- Documents downscope-only and omit-inherit behavior in the reserved
scopes table and the token exchange guide.
# Additional Changes
- Updates the token-exchange guide Scope section to reflect that
authorization-related reserved scopes must already be present on input
tokens (aligned with the v4.15.3 hardening), rather than suggesting
scope can be freely extended.
# Additional Context
- Closes#12413
- Follow-up for PR #12312
- Related discussion in #11869 (recommended `roles:id` workaround; this
restores that path for token exchange without allowing filter widening)
- Behavior note for release notes: during token exchange, an existing
`urn:zitadel:iam:org:roles🆔*` filter on the subject is inherited when
omitted from the request, so role claims cannot re-widen.
---------
Co-authored-by: Cursor Agent <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Livio Spring <[email protected]>
# Which Problems Are Solved
Expose impersonating actor to `preAccessToken` and `preUserinfo`
actions.
# How the Problems Are Solved
Provide the `actor` information already present in the OIDC session
model of JWT token to the relevant actions. Both goja-based actions "v1"
and webhook based execution targets carry the actor information now.
Actor remains null in case of non-impersonated tokens. Actor may contain
nested actors to display a delegation chain of impersonators.
# Additional Changes
- dba6261c8ed0dfd00ffde6193910b1405b17432f: refactor `userinfoFlows` to
reduce complexity, add test coverage and solve a couple of potential
bugs.
- `getClientId` in actions was previously undocumented. Added to
documentation.
- A skill that reproduces manual testing using webhook.site or a local
sink.
# Additional Context
- Closes https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/12097
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Sonnet 5 <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Wim Van Laer <[email protected]>
## Which Problems Are Solved
The v4.15.3 token exchange hardening (`#12319`, `#12322`) introduced two
regressions:
1. **Logic bug**: scope validation used intersection (`!inSubject ||
!inActor`) instead of union, so any explicit `scope` on a `user_id`
subject always failed — even `openid` when present on the actor token.
2. **Design gap**: even with union logic, scope-less subjects
(`user_id`, `id_token`) cannot satisfy a rule that requires all
requested scopes to exist on input tokens. This breaks documented
impersonation flows (e.g. service account actor + `user_id` subject
requesting `email`).
## How the Problems Are Solved
- **Standard exchange** (no actor, or subject carries scopes): keep
union validation — requested scopes must be ⊆ subject ∪ actor. For plain
exchange this is effectively a subset of the subject token.
- **Scope-less subject impersonation** (`user_id`, `id_token` on actor
path): split validation:
- **Subject-data scopes** (`openid`, `profile`, `email`, …): client
allowlist only
- **Authorization scopes** (`offline_access`, `:aud`, `projects:roles`,
`role:*`): still ⊆ subject ∪ actor
- Restore subject → actor fallback when `scope` is omitted.
GHSA protections remain: cross-client token binding and
authorization-scope escalation are still rejected.
Closes#12319Closes#12322
## Additional Changes
- Unit tests for scope validators (`token_exchange_test.go`)
- Integration tests covering `user_id`/`id_token` paths, union-path
rejection, and client-credentials actor → `user_id` exchange
## Additional Context
- Relates to https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/releases/tag/v4.15.3
- Security fix: GHSA-vrh8-c9cm-wh8v
---------
Co-authored-by: Cursor <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <[email protected]>
* fix: added client and scope validation for token exchange
Verify that the token exchange is not cross client
Only yield scopes which were already on the initial token
* comments
* added test
# Which Problems Are Solved
In many cases IAM was used where instance was meant.
# How the Problems Are Solved
- Rename wrong usage of IAM to instance all over the code base.
- Add an agents.md which explains the terms used in Zitadel's
architecture.
# Additional Context
- closes#11280
---------
Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: muhlemmer <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Copilot <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Marco A. <[email protected]>
# Which Problems Are Solved
This PR marks the OAuth2 Token Exchange as general available (GA).
# How the Problems Are Solved
- API:
- deprecated the feature toggle (to prevent breaking changes) in v2beta
and v2 API
- removed all related event logic and updated the projection interation
- removed the toggle usage for token exchange
- removed related translations
- Management Console:
- removed the feature toggle and its translations
- Docs:
- removed all beta labels and feature toggle notes
# Additional Changes
- removed unused `Errors.WebKey.FeatureDisabled` translations
# Additional Context
- closes#11114
---------
Co-authored-by: Marco A. <[email protected]>
# Which Problems Are Solved
Stabilize the optimized introspection code and cleanup unused code.
# How the Problems Are Solved
- `oidc_legacy_introspection` feature flag is removed and reserved.
- `OPStorage` which are no longer needed have their bodies removed.
- The method definitions need to remain in place so the interface
remains implemented.
- A panic is thrown in case any such method is still called
# Additional Changes
- A number of `OPStorage` methods related to token creation were already
unused. These are also cleaned up.
# Additional Context
- Closes#10027
- #7822
---------
Co-authored-by: Livio Spring <[email protected]>
# Which Problems Are Solved
Resource management of projects and sub-resources was before limited by
the context provided by the management API, which would mean you could
only manage resources belonging to a specific organization.
# How the Problems Are Solved
With the addition of a resource-based API, it is now possible to manage
projects and sub-resources on the basis of the resources themselves,
which means that as long as you have the permission for the resource,
you can create, read, update and delete it.
- CreateProject to create a project under an organization
- UpdateProject to update an existing project
- DeleteProject to delete an existing project
- DeactivateProject and ActivateProject to change the status of a
project
- GetProject to query for a specific project with an identifier
- ListProject to query for projects and granted projects
- CreateProjectGrant to create a project grant with project and granted
organization
- UpdateProjectGrant to update the roles of a project grant
- DeactivateProjectGrant and ActivateProjectGrant to change the status
of a project grant
- DeleteProjectGrant to delete an existing project grant
- ListProjectGrants to query for project grants
- AddProjectRole to add a role to an existing project
- UpdateProjectRole to change texts of an existing role
- RemoveProjectRole to remove an existing role
- ListProjectRoles to query for project roles
# Additional Changes
- Changes to ListProjects, which now contains granted projects as well
- Changes to messages as defined in the
[API_DESIGN](https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/blob/main/API_DESIGN.md)
- Permission checks for project functionality on query and command side
- Added testing to unit tests on command side
- Change update endpoints to no error returns if nothing changes in the
resource
- Changed all integration test utility to the new service
- ListProjects now also correctly lists `granted projects`
- Permission checks for project grant and project role functionality on
query and command side
- Change existing pre checks so that they also work resource specific
without resourceowner
- Added the resourceowner to the grant and role if no resourceowner is
provided
- Corrected import tests with project grants and roles
- Added testing to unit tests on command side
- Change update endpoints to no error returns if nothing changes in the
resource
- Changed all integration test utility to the new service
- Corrected some naming in the proto files to adhere to the API_DESIGN
# Additional Context
Closes#9177
---------
Co-authored-by: Livio Spring <[email protected]>
# Which Problems Are Solved
When requesting a JWT (`urn:ietf:params:oauth:token-type:jwt`) to be
returned in a Token Exchange request, ZITADEL would panic if the `actor`
was not granted the necessary permission.
# How the Problems Are Solved
Properly check the error and return it.
# Additional Changes
None
# Additional Context
- closes#9436
# Which Problems Are Solved
Integration tests are flaky due to eventual consistency.
# How the Problems Are Solved
Remove t.Parallel so that less concurrent requests on multiple instance
happen. This allows the projections to catch up more easily.
# Additional Changes
- none
# Additional Context
- none
Improve integration tests:
- spliting the tests in TokenExchange to isolated instances and in
parallel
- corrected some test structure so that the check for Details is no done
anymore if the test already failed
- replace required-calls with assert-calls to not stop the testing
- add gofakeit for application, project and usernames(emails)
- add eventually checks for testing in actions v2, so the request only
get called when the execution is defined
- check for length of results in list/search endpoints to avoid index
errors
# Which Problems Are Solved
Use a single server instance for API integration tests. This optimizes
the time taken for the integration test pipeline,
because it allows running tests on multiple packages in parallel. Also,
it saves time by not start and stopping a zitadel server for every
package.
# How the Problems Are Solved
- Build a binary with `go build -race -cover ....`
- Integration tests only construct clients. The server remains running
in the background.
- The integration package and tested packages now fully utilize the API.
No more direct database access trough `query` and `command` packages.
- Use Makefile recipes to setup, start and stop the server in the
background.
- The binary has the race detector enabled
- Init and setup jobs are configured to halt immediately on race
condition
- Because the server runs in the background, races are only logged. When
the server is stopped and race logs exist, the Makefile recipe will
throw an error and print the logs.
- Makefile recipes include logic to print logs and convert coverage
reports after the server is stopped.
- Some tests need a downstream HTTP server to make requests, like quota
and milestones. A new `integration/sink` package creates an HTTP server
and uses websockets to forward HTTP request back to the test packages.
The package API uses Go channels for abstraction and easy usage.
# Additional Changes
- Integration test files already used the `//go:build integration`
directive. In order to properly split integration from unit tests,
integration test files need to be in a `integration_test` subdirectory
of their package.
- `UseIsolatedInstance` used to overwrite the `Tester.Client` for each
instance. Now a `Instance` object is returned with a gRPC client that is
connected to the isolated instance's hostname.
- The `Tester` type is now `Instance`. The object is created for the
first instance, used by default in any test. Isolated instances are also
`Instance` objects and therefore benefit from the same methods and
values. The first instance and any other us capable of creating an
isolated instance over the system API.
- All test packages run in an Isolated instance by calling
`NewInstance()`
- Individual tests that use an isolated instance use `t.Parallel()`
# Additional Context
- Closes#6684
- https://go.dev/doc/articles/race_detector
- https://go.dev/doc/build-cover
---------
Co-authored-by: Stefan Benz <[email protected]>
