Enforce mandatory mTLS for CP↔agent communication

Both the control plane and host agent now refuse to start without valid
mTLS configuration, closing the unauthenticated proxy/RPC attack surface
that existed when running in plain HTTP fallback mode.

cmd/control-plane/main.go

@@ -69,24 +69,19 @@ func main() {
 	}
 	slog.Info("connected to redis")
 
-	// mTLS: parse internal CA and build a TLS-capable host client pool.
+	// mTLS is mandatory — parse internal CA for CP↔agent communication.
-	// When CA env vars are absent the pool falls back to plain HTTP (dev mode).
+	if cfg.CACert == "" || cfg.CAKey == "" {
-	var ca *auth.CA
+		slog.Error("WRENN_CA_CERT and WRENN_CA_KEY are required — mTLS is mandatory for CP↔agent communication")
-	if cfg.CACert != "" && cfg.CAKey != "" {
+		os.Exit(1)
-		var err error
+	}
-		ca, err = auth.ParseCA(cfg.CACert, cfg.CAKey)
+	ca, err := auth.ParseCA(cfg.CACert, cfg.CAKey)
 	if err != nil {
 		slog.Error("failed to parse mTLS CA from environment", "error", err)
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 	slog.Info("mTLS enabled: CA loaded")
-	} else {
-		slog.Warn("mTLS disabled: WRENN_CA_CERT/WRENN_CA_KEY not set — host agent connections are unencrypted")
-	}
 
 	// Host client pool — manages Connect RPC clients to host agents.
-	var hostPool *lifecycle.HostClientPool
-	if ca != nil {
 	cpCertStore, err := auth.NewCPCertStore(ca)
 	if err != nil {
 		slog.Error("failed to issue CP client certificate", "error", err)
@@ -110,11 +105,8 @@ func main() {
 			}
 		}
 	}()
-		hostPool = lifecycle.NewHostClientPoolTLS(auth.CPClientTLSConfig(ca, cpCertStore))
+	hostPool := lifecycle.NewHostClientPoolTLS(auth.CPClientTLSConfig(ca, cpCertStore))
 	slog.Info("host client pool: mTLS enabled")
-	} else {
-		hostPool = lifecycle.NewHostClientPool()
-	}
 
 	// Scheduler — picks a host for each new sandbox (round-robin for now).
 	hostScheduler := scheduler.NewRoundRobinScheduler(queries)

cmd/host-agent/main.go

@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"crypto/tls"
 	"flag"
 	"log/slog"
-	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"os/signal"
@@ -99,9 +98,12 @@ func main() {
 	// httpServer is declared here so the shutdown func can reference it.
 	httpServer := &http.Server{Addr: listenAddr}
 
-	// Set up mTLS if the CP issued a certificate during registration.
+	// mTLS is mandatory — refuse to start without a valid certificate.
 	var certStore hostagent.CertStore
-	if creds.CertPEM != "" && creds.KeyPEM != "" && creds.CACertPEM != "" {
+	if creds.CertPEM == "" || creds.KeyPEM == "" || creds.CACertPEM == "" {
+		slog.Error("mTLS certificate not received from CP — ensure WRENN_CA_CERT and WRENN_CA_KEY are configured on the control plane")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
 	if err := certStore.ParseAndStore(creds.CertPEM, creds.KeyPEM); err != nil {
 		slog.Error("failed to load host TLS certificate", "error", err)
 		os.Exit(1)
@@ -113,9 +115,6 @@ func main() {
 	}
 	httpServer.TLSConfig = tlsCfg
 	slog.Info("mTLS enabled on agent server")
-	} else {
-		slog.Warn("mTLS disabled: no certificate received from CP — agent serving plain HTTP")
-	}
 
 	// doShutdown is the single shutdown path. sync.Once ensures mgr.Shutdown
 	// and httpServer.Shutdown are each called exactly once regardless of
@@ -182,10 +181,9 @@ func main() {
 	}()
 
 	slog.Info("host agent starting", "addr", listenAddr, "host_id", creds.HostID)
-	if httpServer.TLSConfig != nil {
+	// TLSConfig is always set (mTLS is mandatory). Create the TLS listener
-		// When TLSConfig is pre-populated (cert via GetCertificate callback),
+	// manually because ListenAndServeTLS requires on-disk cert/key paths
-		// ListenAndServeTLS does not work because it requires on-disk cert/key paths.
+	// but we use GetCertificate callback for hot-swap support.
-		// Instead, create the TLS listener manually and call Serve.
 	ln, err := tls.Listen("tcp", listenAddr, httpServer.TLSConfig)
 	if err != nil {
 		slog.Error("failed to start TLS listener", "error", err)
@@ -195,17 +193,6 @@ func main() {
 		slog.Error("https server error", "error", err)
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
-	} else {
-		ln, err := net.Listen("tcp", listenAddr)
-		if err != nil {
-			slog.Error("failed to start listener", "error", err)
-			os.Exit(1)
-		}
-		if err := httpServer.Serve(ln); err != nil && err != http.ErrServerClosed {
-			slog.Error("http server error", "error", err)
-			os.Exit(1)
-		}
-	}
 
 	slog.Info("host agent stopped")
 }