feat(keystore) Define Branch Key Store read consistency semantics

Author: Brandon Dahler

changes/2025-07-24_define-branch-key-store-read-consistency-semantics/background.md

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+[//]: # "Copyright Amazon.com Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved."
+[//]: # "SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0"
+
+# Define Branch Key Store read consistency semantics
+
+# Definitions
+
+## Conventions used in this document
+
+The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD",
+"SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be
+interpreted as described in [RFC 2119](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2119).
+
+# Background
+
+The [branch key store](../../framework/branch-key-store.md) persists branch key versions
+in a persistent data store such as a DynamoDb table.
+
+These distributed data stores often offer configurable read consistency,
+allowing customers to choose eventually consistent reads
+for optimal cost and performance
+if stale results are acceptable for their use-case.
+
+The current specification does not specify when agents should expect
+the results of the read operations to reflect the updated state caused by mutation operations.
+
+The current implementation utilizes eventually consistent reads in all current usage.
+
+Consequently, a read operation will not necessarily reflect the latest results a mutation operation
+even if performed by the same agent in a serialized manner.
+
+This change adds the option to require consistent reads and
+clarifies the required consistent read behavior for read operations.
+
+## Detailed Explanation
+
+The Branch Key Store's `GetActiveBranchKey`, `GetBranchKeyVersion`, and `GetBeaconKey` operations
+utilize AWS DDB `GetItem` calls which
+do not set the `ConsistentRead` flag.
+
+When the `ConsistentRead` flag is unset or `false`,
+DynamoDb only provides eventually consistent read guarantees.
+
+This eventually consistent behavior is intentional
+in order to optimize performance and cost.
+
+However,
+customers may have non-standard situations
+which explicitly require consistent reads to be performed.
+
+While key management operations SHOULD occur in control plane operations,
+those same control plane operations MAY need to perform encryption operations.
+
+Usage of consistent reads ensures that encryption operations
+immediately following the `CreateKey` operation
+will be able to find the created keys.
+
+Similarly,
+key rotation and re-encryption operations
+performed due to key compromise
+MUST use consistent reads to ensure that
+the encryption operations utilize the new branch key version.
+
+# Changes
+
+The change is to introduce a new, optional `Require Consistent Reads` option
+to the Branch Key Store specification.
+
+This updates:
+
+- The [Branch Key Store's Initialization](../../framework/branch-key-store.md#initialization)
+- The [Branch Key Store's GetActiveBranchKey operation](../../framework/branch-key-store.md#getactivebranchkey)
+- The [Branch Key Store's GetBranchKeyVersion operation](../../framework/branch-key-store.md#getbranchkeyversion)
+- The [Branch Key Store's GetBeaconKey operation](../../framework/branch-key-store.md#getbeaconkey)
+
+This update clarifies the existing behavior in a backwards-compatible manner
+while allowing agents to opt-in to consistent reads when needed.

framework/branch-key-store.md

@@ -5,10 +5,12 @@
 
 ## Version
 
-0.9.0
+0.10.0
 
 ### Changelog
 
+- 0.10.0
+  - [Define Branch Key Store read consistency semantics](../changes/2025-07-24_define-branch-key-store-read-consistency-semantics/background.md)
 - 0.9.0
   - Re-add [Mitigate Version Race Condition in the Branch Key Store](../changes/2025-01-16_key-store-mitigate-update-race/background.md) with DynamoDB as the only branch key storage option
 - 0.8.0
@@ -76,6 +78,7 @@ The following inputs MAY be specified to create a KeyStore:
 - [ID](#keystore-id)
 - [AWS KMS Grant Tokens](#aws-kms-grant-tokens)
 - [DynamoDb Client](#dynamodb-client)
+- [Require Consistent Reads](#require-consistent-reads)
 - [KMS Client](#kms-client)
 
 The following inputs MUST be specified to create a KeyStore:
@@ -112,6 +115,20 @@ and no DynamoDb Client is provided,
 a new DynamoDb Client MUST be created
 with the region configured in the MRDiscovery.
 
+### Require Consistent Reads
+
+Whether read operations are required to perform consistent reads,
+ensuring that recent write operations are reflected in their response.
+
+If set to `true`,
+read operations MUST return results
+which reflect the result of
+the most recently executed write operations.
+
+If unset or set to `false`,
+read operations MAY return stale results
+which are caused by eventual consistency.
+
 ### KMS Client
 
 The KMS Client used when wrapping and unwrapping keys.
@@ -527,6 +544,9 @@ To get the active version for the branch key id from the keystore
 this operation MUST call AWS DDB `GetItem`
 using the `branch-key-id` as the Partition Key and `"branch:ACTIVE"` value as the Sort Key.
 
+The [Require Consistent Reads](#require-consistent-reads) configured MUST be honored
+by setting `ConsistentReads` to `true` when consistent reads are needed.
+
 The AWS DDB response MUST contain the fields defined in the [branch keystore record format](#record-format).
 If the record does not contain the defined fields, this operation MUST fail.
 
@@ -549,6 +569,9 @@ On invocation, the caller:
 To get a branch key from the keystore this operation MUST call AWS DDB `GetItem`
 using the `branch-key-id` as the Partition Key and "branch:version:" + `branchKeyVersion` value as the Sort Key.
 
+The [Require Consistent Reads](#require-consistent-reads) configured MUST be honored
+by setting `ConsistentReads` to `true` when consistent reads are needed.
+
 The AWS DDB response MUST contain the fields defined in the [branch keystore record format](#record-format).
 If the record does not contain the defined fields, this operation MUST fail.
 
@@ -570,6 +593,9 @@ On invocation, the caller:
 To get a branch key from the keystore this operation MUST call AWS DDB `GetItem`
 using the `branch-key-id` as the Partition Key and "beacon:ACTIVE" value as the Sort Key.
 
+The [Require Consistent Reads](#require-consistent-reads) configured MUST be honored
+by setting `ConsistentReads` to `true` when consistent reads are needed.
+
 The AWS DDB response MUST contain the fields defined in the [branch keystore record format](#record-format).
 If the record does not contain the defined fields, this operation MUST fail.