Summary
When CreateGroup is called by a PAT-authenticated principal, the Postgres groups row is written but the SpiceDB hierarchy links and owner policy are never wired. The row is left as an orphan.
Reproduction
- Authenticate as a PAT scoped to an org with the create-group permission.
- Call
CreateGroup.
- Observe: response carries an error; a row exists in
groups for the requested name; SpiceDB has no group#org / org#member@group relations and no owner policy in policies.
Root cause
core/group/service.go:72-74 — s.repository.Create(ctx, grp) writes the Postgres row first.
core/group/service.go:77 — s.membershipService.OnGroupCreated(ctx, newGroup.ID, newGroup.OrganizationID, principal.ID, principal.Type) passes the raw principal. For PAT auth this is (<pat-id>, "app/pat").
core/membership/service.go:1302 — OnGroupCreated calls SetGroupMemberRole(..., creatorID, creatorType, schema.GroupOwnerRole).
core/membership/service.go:1402-1420 — validateGroupPrincipal switches on principal type and accepts only app/user; everything else returns ErrInvalidPrincipalType.
- The error propagates back to the group
Create caller, but repository.Create is not rolled back.
Impact
- Orphan rows accumulate in
groups on each failed PAT-driven CreateGroup call.
- The orphan has no hierarchy in SpiceDB, no owner policy in Postgres, and is unreachable through normal listing (membership-based listing won't surface it either, since there's no policy row).
Suggested fix
Resolve the PAT to its underlying user before invoking OnGroupCreated, mirroring the pattern in CreateProject at core/project/service.go:113:
principal, err := s.authnService.GetPrincipal(ctx)
if err != nil {
return Group{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s", authenticate.ErrInvalidID, err.Error())
}
...
subjectID, subjectType := principal.ResolveSubject() // PAT → user
if err = s.membershipService.OnGroupCreated(ctx, newGroup.ID, newGroup.OrganizationID, subjectID, subjectType); err != nil {
return Group{}, err
}
Two-line change. Independent of the ListByUser → List migration in #1643 (this bug pre-dates that work).
Cleanup
Existing orphan rows should be identified and either backfilled with hierarchy + owner or deleted. Candidate query: groups whose id has no matching row in policies with resource_type = 'app/group'.
How surfaced
Found while testing the group listing migration in #1643 with PAT-authenticated calls. The listing bug there was fixed in 42a5c50; this write-side bug is independent.
Summary
When
CreateGroupis called by a PAT-authenticated principal, the Postgresgroupsrow is written but the SpiceDB hierarchy links and owner policy are never wired. The row is left as an orphan.Reproduction
CreateGroup.groupsfor the requested name; SpiceDB has nogroup#org/org#member@grouprelations and no owner policy inpolicies.Root cause
core/group/service.go:72-74—s.repository.Create(ctx, grp)writes the Postgres row first.core/group/service.go:77—s.membershipService.OnGroupCreated(ctx, newGroup.ID, newGroup.OrganizationID, principal.ID, principal.Type)passes the raw principal. For PAT auth this is(<pat-id>, "app/pat").core/membership/service.go:1302—OnGroupCreatedcallsSetGroupMemberRole(..., creatorID, creatorType, schema.GroupOwnerRole).core/membership/service.go:1402-1420—validateGroupPrincipalswitches on principal type and accepts onlyapp/user; everything else returnsErrInvalidPrincipalType.Createcaller, butrepository.Createis not rolled back.Impact
groupson each failed PAT-drivenCreateGroupcall.Suggested fix
Resolve the PAT to its underlying user before invoking
OnGroupCreated, mirroring the pattern inCreateProjectatcore/project/service.go:113:Two-line change. Independent of the
ListByUser→Listmigration in #1643 (this bug pre-dates that work).Cleanup
Existing orphan rows should be identified and either backfilled with hierarchy + owner or deleted. Candidate query: groups whose
idhas no matching row inpolicieswithresource_type = 'app/group'.How surfaced
Found while testing the group listing migration in #1643 with PAT-authenticated calls. The listing bug there was fixed in 42a5c50; this write-side bug is independent.