AntiStack Database Extension Audit

AntiStack Database Extension Audit

This page is the canonical source-backed map for AntiStack skill balancing and its out-of-repo A2WaspDatabase extension dependency. Use Integration trust boundary audit for the cross-integration security overview; use this page before changing AntiStack loops, join checks, score persistence or database wrappers.

Why This Matters

AntiStack is both gameplay logic and server operations glue:

• It can deny a first side join when a player tries to join the stronger side.
• It periodically stores player score deltas.
• It periodically sends active player/team lists to the database.
• It can grant side-supply compensation when total team skill diverges.
• It persists score diffs on disconnect and at match end.

The current source has an operational ON/OFF switch, which is good. But when AntiStack is enabled, all DB wrapper paths still trust strings returned by a separate A2WaspDatabase extension that is not shipped in this repo.

Current Runtime Shape

Part	Source evidence	Meaning
Compile registry	Server/Init/Init_Server.sqf:72-80,85-87	AntiStack wrappers, scoring helpers and the launch PVEH are compiled during server init.
Mission parameter	Rsc/Parameters.hpp:546-552, fallback Common/Init/Init_CommonConstants.sqf:170-171	WFBE_C_ANTISTACK_ENABLED defaults to enabled, with a constants fallback for older parameter sets.
Loop start gate	Server/Init/Init_Server.sqf:597-608	Server logs enabled/disabled state, records antistack_state if performance audit exists, and starts scheduled AntiStack loops only when enabled.
Disabled-mode join behavior	Server/PVFunctions/RequestJoin.sqf:49-53	Team-swap protection remains active, but first-join skill DB checks are skipped when AntiStack is disabled.
Disabled-mode persistence behavior	Server/Functions/Server_OnPlayerDisconnected.sqf:151-153, Server/FSM/server_victory_threeway.sqf:51-53	Disconnect and final-score DB persistence are skipped when AntiStack is disabled, avoiding false missing-score errors.
Enabled-mode DB dependency	Server/Module/AntiStack/callDatabase*.sqf	All database work relies on "A2WaspDatabase" callExtension return strings. The DLL is not in the repo.

Identity And Session Keys

AntiStack and join persistence mostly use durable UIDs, but several lifecycle helpers also depend on object, group and owner identity. Keep these distinctions visible when hardening reconnect, launch-join or skill-balance behavior.

Key	Source evidence	Meaning / risk
UID	Server_OnPlayerConnected.sqf:9,27,42,65,70,79,93,101; Server_OnPlayerDisconnected.sqf:39,48,125,128,129,133,157,164,170,174,175; AntiStack/mainLoop.sqf:28,32,36,40; AntiStack/flushLoop.sqf:32,34,36,39	Primary durable identity for JIP records, disconnect persistence and database score/list work.
Player name	Server_OnPlayerConnected.sqf:10,16; Server_OnPlayerDisconnected.sqf:10,20	Used for logs only in the audited server paths; do not promote names into authority keys.
Group / player object	Server_OnPlayerConnected.sqf:23,27,45,56,64-66; Server_OnPlayerDisconnected.sqf:32,34,45,48,57,68,79,93,102,117,125,128,129; Server_HandleSpecial.sqf:11,29,138,141,144	Owns team state and cleanup side effects. Fast reconnects can overlap stale disconnect cleanup unless UID/object checks are repeated before clearing state.
Network owner	clientHasConnectedAtLaunch.sqf:4,15; Server_PV_RequestSupplyValue.sqf:4,8; Server_SetLocalityOwner.sqf:10,13; Server_HandleSpecial.sqf:120,123,127,130	Used for targeted responses and locality changes. Validate payload object ownership where the engine exposes enough context.
Profile name	Source search found no profileName use in the scoped server lifecycle paths.	Good: profile names are mutable and should stay out of authority decisions.

Data Flow

flowchart TD
    Init["Init_Server.sqf"] -->|"compiles wrappers"| Wrappers["callDatabase*.sqf"]
    Init -->|"if enabled"| Count["countPlayerScores.sqf"]
    Count --> Main["mainLoop.sqf score flush"]
    Count --> Update["updateScoreInternal.sqf score sampling"]
    Count --> Flush["flushLoop.sqf player-list send"]
    Init --> JoinMonitor["monitorTeamToJoin.sqf"]
    Init --> Comp["skillDiffCompensation.sqf"]
    RequestJoin["RequestJoin.sqf first join"] --> GetTeam["getTeamScore.sqf"]
    GetTeam --> SideSkill["callDatabaseRequestSideTotalSkill.sqf"]
    Main --> Retrieve["callDatabaseRetrieve.sqf"]
    Main --> Store["callDatabaseStore.sqf"]
    Flush --> SendList["callDatabaseSendPlayerList.sqf"]
    Comp --> SideSkill
    Disconnect["Server_OnPlayerDisconnected.sqf"] --> Store
    Disconnect --> StoreSide["callDatabaseStoreSide.sqf"]
    Victory["server_victory_threeway.sqf"] --> Store
    Victory --> FlushList["callDatabaseFlushPlayerList.sqf"]
    Wrappers -->|"A2WaspDatabase callExtension"| DLL["A2WaspDatabase extension absent from repo"]

Loading

Procedure Register

Wrapper	Procedure code(s)	Return use	Current guard	Remaining risk
callDatabaseRetrieve.sqf	101, poll 505	Compiles request id, selects index 1, polls up to 120 attempts, then expects [code,totalScore,ticks].	Disabled mode returns [0,1]; timeout fallback returns [1,1].	Enabled mode compiles untrusted strings twice and assumes array shape at :30,39-51,62-63. With default _sleep = 0.10, retrieve can poll for about 12 seconds per player.
callDatabaseRequestSideTotalSkill.sqf	606, poll 707	Compiles request id, polls up to 9 attempts with _sleep = 3, then selects total skill.	Disabled mode returns 0; timeout fallback returns [1,1] even though callers expect scalar skill.	Enabled mode compiles untrusted strings twice and can block about 27 seconds per side-skill request. Timeout return-shape mismatch can leak an array into skill math.
callDatabaseStore.sqf	202	Compiles response and selects response code.	Disabled mode returns 1.	Enabled mode compiles returned string and assumes index 0 exists.
callDatabaseStoreSide.sqf	404	Converts side to 0/1/2, compiles response, selects response code.	Disabled mode returns 1.	Enabled mode compiles returned string and assumes index 0 exists.
callDatabaseSendPlayerList.sqf	303	Formats GUID/side list, compiles response, selects response code.	Disabled mode returns 1.	Enabled mode compiles returned string and assumes index 0 exists; parameter string grows with players.
callDatabaseFlushPlayerList.sqf	808	Compiles response and selects response code.	Disabled mode returns 1.	Enabled mode compiles returned string and assumes index 0 exists.
callDatabaseSetMap.sqf	909	Compiles response and selects response code.	Disabled mode returns 1.	Enabled mode compiles returned string and assumes index 0 exists.

What Is Already Guarded

Guard	Source evidence	Keep it?
ON/OFF parameter and fallback	Rsc/Parameters.hpp:546-552, Common/Init/Init_CommonConstants.sqf:170-171	Yes. It gives admins a controlled performance/reliability switch.
Loop start disabled gate	Server/Init/Init_Server.sqf:597-608	Yes. Scheduled loops should stay dormant when disabled.
Direct loop guards	countPlayerScores.sqf:3-5, mainLoop.sqf:8-10, flushLoop.sqf:10-12, updateScoreInternal.sqf:8-10, skillDiffCompensation.sqf:3-5	Yes. These protect against direct execVM or stale calls.
Wrapper disabled no-ops	Seven callDatabase*.sqf files each check WFBE_C_ANTISTACK_ENABLED near the top.	Yes, but keep return shapes aligned with caller expectations.
Team-swap remains active when AntiStack disabled	RequestJoin.sqf:49-53	Yes. Do not accidentally turn off team-swap protection while disabling skill balancing.
Final/disconnect DB skip when disabled	Server_OnPlayerDisconnected.sqf:151-153, server_victory_threeway.sqf:51-53	Yes. Score sampling is not running when disabled, so DB persistence would be misleading.

Remaining Hardening Work

Priority	Work	Patch shape
P1	Replace raw call compile return handling with a small parser/validator wrapper.	Centralize DB response handling in one SQF helper that checks non-empty string, expected array form, expected count, scalar response code and scalar/string payload types before returning a safe fallback. Do not use Arma 3-only parseSimpleArray.
P1	Add missing/slow extension circuit breaker.	After repeated malformed or timeout responses, set a missionNamespace degraded flag, log once per interval and fall back to disabled-mode behavior for join skill checks and compensation while keeping team-swap protection.
P1	Fix timeout return-shape mismatch in callDatabaseRequestSideTotalSkill.sqf.	If callers expect scalar skill, timeout fallback should be scalar 0 or the caller should explicitly handle array fallback. Do not feed [1,1] into skill-difference math.
P2	Bound player-list payload size and validate GUID/side entries.	Keep only known player UIDs and west/east side codes; log skipped malformed entries.
P2	Validate launch-connect raw PV payloads.	clientHasConnectedAtLaunch.sqf records a client-pushed player object and owner-targets an ACK. Confirm the object/UID/side match the sender before storing WFBE_PLAYER_%UID_CONNECTED_AT_LAUNCH.
P2	Check and retry disconnect database persistence.	Server_OnPlayerDisconnected.sqf:151-176 calls store-side and store-score paths but does not act on return codes. Log failures and consider one bounded retry before clearing durable state.
P2	Replace stale all-units snapshots in skill balancing.	flushLoop.sqf and score-monitor helpers can operate on stale allUnits/fallback snapshots. Prefer confirmed session records keyed by UID where practical.
P2	Add performance audit fields for DB degraded state.	Existing antistack_main, antistack_flush, antistack_update_score and antistack_state records are good anchors; add malformed/timeout counters if hardening is implemented.

Implementation Guardrails

• Keep gameplay edits in Missions/[55-2hc]warfarev2_073v48co.chernarus first.
• Do not hand-edit Missions_Vanilla until LoadoutManager propagation runs from a correctly named a2waspwarfare checkout.
• Do not assume the in-repo Extension project implements AntiStack. It implements a2waspwarfare_Extension / GLOBALGAMESTATS; AntiStack uses separate A2WaspDatabase.
• Do not replace call compile with Arma 3 APIs. This mission targets Arma 2 OA 1.64.
• Treat disabled AntiStack as a supported operating mode, not a failed state.
• Preserve team-swap protection when disabling or degrading only the skill-balancing database path.

Validation Pack

Scenario	Expected result
AntiStack disabled at mission parameter	Server logs disabled state, scheduled loops do not start, first join skips skill DB checks, team-swap protection still works, disconnect/victory DB persistence is skipped cleanly.
AntiStack enabled with valid DB extension	First join retrieves side skill, allowed/denied logic still works, score sampling/storage and player-list flush produce no RPT errors.
DB extension missing or returns empty/malformed string	No raw compile crash, one clear degraded-state log, join skill check falls back safely, team-swap protection remains active.
DB response delayed beyond poll attempts	Retrieve/side-skill paths time out to documented safe scalar/array shapes and do not poison compensation math.
Skill compensation active	SUPPLY_COMPENSATION_AMOUNT_WEST/EAST updates, side supply changes are bounded by the economy authority rules, and RHUD shows compensation without client-side authority assumptions.
Match end with AntiStack enabled	Final score store and player-list flush run or degrade gracefully before failMission "END1".
Launch-side spoof attempt	A client-pushed launch-connect player object that does not match sender/UID/side is ignored and logged compactly.
Disconnect DB write failure	Store-side and score-diff failures are visible in RPT/performance state and do not silently masquerade as successful persistence.

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