fix(core-audit): keyed 128-bit pseudonyms + salted DSR certificate

pseudonymize() used an unkeyed sha256 over 'salt:id' truncated to 64
bits, and the DSR deletion certificate hashed the raw subjectId with no
salt at all (audit finding A13). Both now use HMAC-SHA256 keyed by
AUDIT_PSEUDONYM_SALT, truncated to 128 bits. Rotation semantics are
documented on pseudonymize(): a key rotation changes future pseudonyms
only — stored rows keep old tokens and erasure still matches by real
actorId — and the certificate change likewise affects new certificates
only.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

packages/core-audit/src/payload-audit-log.test.ts

@@ -25,7 +25,10 @@ describe("PayloadAuditLog.record", () => {
     await log.record(sample);
 
     expect(mockCreate).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
-    const call = mockCreate.mock.calls[0]![0] as { collection: string; data: Record<string, unknown> };
+    const call = mockCreate.mock.calls[0]![0] as {
+      collection: string;
+      data: Record<string, unknown>;
+    };
     expect(call.collection).toBe("audit-logs");
     expect(call.data.actorId).toBe("user_1");
     expect(call.data.action).toBe("UPDATE");
@@ -101,14 +104,21 @@ describe("PayloadAuditLog.eraseSubject", () => {
     // update called for each doc
     expect(mockUpdate).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
     const updateCalls = mockUpdate.mock.calls as Array<
-      [{ collection: string; id: string; data: Record<string, unknown>; overrideAccess: boolean }]
+      [
+        {
+          collection: string;
+          id: string;
+          data: Record<string, unknown>;
+          overrideAccess: boolean;
+        },
+      ]
     >;
     expect(updateCalls[0]![0].id).toBe("doc_a");
     expect(updateCalls[1]![0].id).toBe("doc_b");
 
     // both updates replace actorId with the same pseudonym
     const pseudonym = updateCalls[0]![0].data["actorId"] as string;
-    expect(pseudonym).toMatch(/^erased-[0-9a-f]{16}$/);
+    expect(pseudonym).toMatch(/^erased-[0-9a-f]{32}$/);
     expect(updateCalls[1]![0].data["actorId"]).toBe(pseudonym);
 
     // overrideAccess bypasses the append-only rule
@@ -118,7 +128,9 @@ describe("PayloadAuditLog.eraseSubject", () => {
   it("mode='pseudonymize' with no matching docs does not call update", async () => {
     const mockFind = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ docs: [] });
     const mockUpdate = vi.fn();
-    const mockGetPayload = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ find: mockFind, update: mockUpdate });
+    const mockGetPayload = vi
+      .fn()
+      .mockResolvedValue({ find: mockFind, update: mockUpdate });
     const log = new PayloadAuditLog({} as never, mockGetPayload);
 
     await log.eraseSubject("unknown_user", "pseudonymize");

packages/core-audit/src/pseudonymize.test.ts

@@ -21,13 +21,28 @@ describe("pseudonymize", () => {
     expect(result).toMatch(/^erased-/);
   });
 
-  it("produces exactly 16 hex chars after the prefix", () => {
+  it("produces exactly 32 hex chars (128 bits) after the prefix (A13)", () => {
     const result = pseudonymize("user_42");
     const hex = result.slice("erased-".length);
-    expect(hex).toHaveLength(16);
+    expect(hex).toHaveLength(32);
     expect(hex).toMatch(/^[0-9a-f]+$/);
   });
 
+  it("matches HMAC-SHA256(key, actorId) - keyed, not a bare hash (A13)", async () => {
+    const { createHmac, createHash } = await import("node:crypto");
+    const expected = createHmac("sha256", "test-salt-1")
+      .update("user_42")
+      .digest("hex")
+      .slice(0, 32);
+    expect(pseudonymize("user_42")).toBe(`erased-` + expected);
+    // and it must NOT be the legacy unkeyed sha256("salt:id") scheme
+    const legacy = createHash("sha256")
+      .update("test-salt-1:user_42")
+      .digest("hex")
+      .slice(0, 32);
+    expect(pseudonymize("user_42")).not.toBe(`erased-` + legacy);
+  });
+
   it("is deterministic — same salt + actorId always yields the same token", () => {
     const a = pseudonymize("user_42");
     const b = pseudonymize("user_42");
@@ -53,6 +68,6 @@ describe("pseudonymize", () => {
     delete process.env["AUDIT_PSEUDONYM_SALT"];
     // Should not throw; just use the fallback.
     const result = pseudonymize("user_1");
-    expect(result).toMatch(/^erased-[0-9a-f]{16}$/);
+    expect(result).toMatch(/^erased-[0-9a-f]{32}$/);
   });
 });

packages/core-audit/src/pseudonymize.ts

@@ -1,22 +1,34 @@
-import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
+import { createHmac } from "node:crypto";
 
 /**
  * Produces a stable, irreversible token for a GDPR-erased actorId.
  *
- * Format: `erased-<first-16-hex-chars-of-sha256(salt:actorId)>`
+ * Format: `erased-<first-32-hex-chars-of-HMAC-SHA256(key, actorId)>` —
+ * 128 bits of a KEYED digest (audit finding A13). The previous scheme was an
+ * unkeyed `sha256("salt:actorId")` truncated to 64 bits, which invited both
+ * brute-force reversal of small id spaces and birthday collisions.
  *
- * The salt is read from `AUDIT_PSEUDONYM_SALT` env at call time so that
+ * The HMAC key is read from `AUDIT_PSEUDONYM_SALT` at call time so that
  * production binding can pre-validate the var at boot (see `bindAudit`)
  * while tests can override it per-test via `process.env`.
  *
- * Fallback salt is intentionally weak and labelled so that any token
+ * Rotation expectations (documented, by design):
+ * - Rotating the key changes pseudonyms produced FROM THEN ON only. Audit
+ *   rows already pseudonymized keep tokens derived from the previous key;
+ *   nothing re-keys stored rows, so a subject's pre- and post-rotation
+ *   tokens no longer correlate. That linkage break is acceptable — the
+ *   token's only job is severing PII linkage, not long-term correlation.
+ * - Re-erasing a subject after rotation still works: erasure matches rows
+ *   by the REAL actorId, not by a previous pseudonym.
+ * - Rotate by replacing the env value (e.g. `openssl rand -hex 32`); keep
+ *   retired keys only if you have an explicit need to re-correlate old rows.
+ *
+ * Fallback key is intentionally weak and labelled so that any token
  * produced with it is recognisable as a dev/test artefact.
  */
 export function pseudonymize(actorId: string): string {
-  const salt =
+  const key =
     process.env["AUDIT_PSEUDONYM_SALT"] ?? "dev-fallback-salt-replace-in-prod";
-  const hash = createHash("sha256")
+  const digest = createHmac("sha256", key).update(actorId).digest("hex");
-    .update(`${salt}:${actorId}`)
+  return `erased-${digest.slice(0, 32)}`;
-    .digest("hex");
-  return `erased-${hash.slice(0, 16)}`;
 }

packages/core-dsr/src/payload-data-delete.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import { getPayload as _getPayload } from "payload";
 import type { SanitizedConfig } from "payload";
-import { randomUUID } from "node:crypto";
+import { randomUUID, createHmac } from "node:crypto";
-import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
 import type { AuditLogProtocol } from "@repo/core-shared/di";
 import {
   RETENTION_TOMBSTONE_FIELD,
@@ -321,9 +320,20 @@ export class PayloadDataDelete implements IDataDelete {
     correlationId: string,
     affected: DeletionAffected[],
   ): DeletionCertificate {
+    // Salted, keyed pseudonym (audit finding A13): the certificate used to
+    // hash the raw subjectId with NO salt (truncated to 64 bits), letting a
+    // certificate holder brute-force small id spaces offline. Now
+    // HMAC-SHA256 keyed by the operator secret AUDIT_PSEUDONYM_SALT (the
+    // same secret the audit-log pseudonymizer uses), truncated to 128 bits.
+    // NOTE: this changes tokens on FUTURE certificates only — certificates
+    // issued under the old scheme keep their historical value, and rotating
+    // the key likewise affects only certificates issued afterwards.
+    const certKey =
+      process.env["AUDIT_PSEUDONYM_SALT"] ??
+      "dev-fallback-salt-replace-in-prod";
     const certSubjectId =
       mode === "cascade-hard"
-        ? `erased-${createHash("sha256").update(subjectId).digest("hex").slice(0, 16)}`
+        ? `erased-${createHmac("sha256", certKey).update(subjectId).digest("hex").slice(0, 32)}`
         : subjectId;
 
     return {