fix-2185: fix listing public server by KKNithin · Pull Request #2186 · IBM/mcp-context-forge

KKNithin · 2026-01-19T12:57:28Z

resolves issue #2185

crivetimihai · 2026-01-19T17:43:03Z

Review Feedback

Hi @KKNithin, thank you for investigating this issue and submitting a fix. I've done a deep dive into the RBAC and visibility system and found some concerns we need to address.

Consistency Issue

The proposed change makes gateway visibility behavior inconsistent with all other entity types:

Service	When filtering by `team_id`
`server_service`	Shows items from THAT team with `visibility.in_(["team", "public"])`
`tool_service`	Shows items from THAT team with `visibility.in_(["team", "public"])`
`resource_service`	Shows items from THAT team with `visibility.in_(["team", "public"])`
`prompt_service`	Shows items from THAT team with `visibility.in_(["team", "public"])`
`a2a_service`	Shows items from THAT team with `visibility.in_(["team", "public"])`
`gateway_service` (original)	Shows items from THAT team with `visibility.in_(["team", "public"])` ✅
`gateway_service` (this PR)	Shows items from THAT team with `visibility.in_(["team"])` + ALL public items from ANY team ❌

The original gateway_service was already consistent with all other services.

Root Cause Analysis

The reported bug ("Non-Admin user unable to list public gateways") likely occurs because:

The user's JWT token contains a team_id
When calling GET /gateways, the API auto-populates: team_id = team_id or token_team_id
This triggers team-scoped filtering
Public gateways from OTHER teams (or with team_id=NULL) don't appear

This is actually by design - when you filter by team, you see that team's items. The "All Teams" view (no team_id filter) shows all public items.

What Would Be Needed for a Complete Fix

If we decide to change the semantics so that public items are always visible regardless of team filter, we would need to:

Make a deliberate design decision and document it
Update ALL services consistently (servers, tools, resources, prompts, a2a, gateways)
Update the admin UI (admin.py) to match
Add tests covering the new behavior

Alternative Approaches to Consider

Document current behavior: Team-scoped tokens see team-scoped views. Users should use "All Teams" view to see all public items.
Don't auto-populate team_id for list operations: Let users explicitly choose to filter by team rather than inferring from token.
Use public-only tokens: Tokens with empty teams array ([]) are designed for accessing public resources without team filtering.

What Works

The db.py changes adding gateway permission constants (GATEWAYS_CREATE, GATEWAYS_READ, GATEWAYS_UPDATE, GATEWAYS_DELETE) are useful additions that we can include in the final fix.

Let's discuss the right approach here before proceeding. We can use this same PR/issue to implement the complete fix once we've agreed on the direction.

Add GATEWAYS_CREATE, GATEWAYS_READ, GATEWAYS_UPDATE, and GATEWAYS_DELETE permission constants to the Permissions class for consistency with other resource types (tools, resources, prompts, servers). Note: The original PR IBM#2186 attempted to fix issue IBM#2185 by modifying the visibility query logic, but that change was incorrect. The team filter should only show resources BELONGING to the filtered team, not all public resources globally. See todo/rbac.md for documentation. Issue IBM#2185 needs further investigation - the reported bug may have a different root cause. Signed-off-by: Mihai Criveti <crivetimihai@gmail.com>

Add gateway routes to token scoping middleware for consistent permission enforcement: - Add gateway pattern to _RESOURCE_PATTERNS for ID extraction - Add gateway CRUD patterns to _PERMISSION_PATTERNS: - POST /gateways (exact) -> gateways.create - POST /gateways/{id}/... (sub-resources) -> gateways.update - PUT/DELETE -> gateways.update/delete - Add gateway handling in _check_resource_team_ownership: - Public: accessible by all - Team: accessible by team members - Private: owner-only access (per RBAC doc) Signed-off-by: Mihai Criveti <crivetimihai@gmail.com>

…urces Per RBAC doc, private visibility means "owner only" - not "team members". Fixed private visibility checks for all resource types to validate owner_email == requester instead of team membership: - Servers - Tools - Resources - Prompts - Gateways (already correct from previous commit) This aligns token scoping middleware with the documented RBAC model. Signed-off-by: Mihai Criveti <crivetimihai@gmail.com>

Add unit tests covering: - Gateway permission patterns (POST create vs POST update sub-resources) - Private visibility enforces owner-only access - Team visibility allows team members only - Public visibility allows all authenticated users These tests validate the RBAC fixes in token scoping middleware. Signed-off-by: Mihai Criveti <crivetimihai@gmail.com>

crivetimihai · 2026-01-25T12:48:58Z

PR Rework Summary

This PR has been significantly reworked from the original submission. Here's what changed:

Design Decision: Team Filter Semantics (Option A)

After deep analysis of the RBAC model, we chose Option A (pure filter semantics):

When filtering by team_id, show only resources belonging to that team
Users who want to see public resources from other teams should use the "All Teams" view
This preserves the admin experience: selecting "Team X" shows "Team X's stuff", not "Team X's stuff + all public resources globally"

The original "fix" conflated visibility (access control) with team_id (ownership), which broke this behavior.

Changes in This PR

1. Gateway Permission Constants (`mcpgateway/db.py`)

GATEWAYS_CREATE = "gateways.create"
GATEWAYS_READ = "gateways.read"
GATEWAYS_UPDATE = "gateways.update"
GATEWAYS_DELETE = "gateways.delete"

2. Gateway Token Scoping (`mcpgateway/middleware/token_scoping.py`)

Added gateway pattern to _RESOURCE_PATTERNS for ID extraction
Added gateway CRUD patterns to _PERMISSION_PATTERNS:
- POST /gateways (exact) → gateways.create
- POST /gateways/{id}/... (sub-resources like state, toggle, refresh) → gateways.update
- PUT/DELETE → gateways.update/delete
Added gateway visibility handling in _check_resource_team_ownership

3. RBAC Fix: Private Visibility = Owner-Only

Fixed a pre-existing bug where private visibility allowed team member access instead of owner-only:

Before: Private resources accessible by anyone in the team
After: Private resources accessible only by owner_email (per RBAC doc)

Applied consistently to: Servers, Tools, Resources, Prompts, Gateways

4. Unit Tests

Added tests for:

Gateway permission patterns (create vs update POST distinction)
Private visibility enforces owner-only access
Team visibility allows team members only
Public visibility allows all authenticated users

Commits

874004e3f test: Add tests for gateway permissions and visibility RBAC
3b0232b44 fix: Enforce owner-only access for private visibility across all resources
30649c17e feat: Add gateway permission patterns to token scoping middleware
32054def0 feat: Add Gateway permission constants

* feat: Add Gateway permission constants Add GATEWAYS_CREATE, GATEWAYS_READ, GATEWAYS_UPDATE, and GATEWAYS_DELETE permission constants to the Permissions class for consistency with other resource types (tools, resources, prompts, servers). Note: The original PR IBM#2186 attempted to fix issue IBM#2185 by modifying the visibility query logic, but that change was incorrect. The team filter should only show resources BELONGING to the filtered team, not all public resources globally. See todo/rbac.md for documentation. Issue IBM#2185 needs further investigation - the reported bug may have a different root cause. Signed-off-by: Mihai Criveti <crivetimihai@gmail.com> * feat: Add gateway permission patterns to token scoping middleware Add gateway routes to token scoping middleware for consistent permission enforcement: - Add gateway pattern to _RESOURCE_PATTERNS for ID extraction - Add gateway CRUD patterns to _PERMISSION_PATTERNS: - POST /gateways (exact) -> gateways.create - POST /gateways/{id}/... (sub-resources) -> gateways.update - PUT/DELETE -> gateways.update/delete - Add gateway handling in _check_resource_team_ownership: - Public: accessible by all - Team: accessible by team members - Private: owner-only access (per RBAC doc) Signed-off-by: Mihai Criveti <crivetimihai@gmail.com> * fix: Enforce owner-only access for private visibility across all resources Per RBAC doc, private visibility means "owner only" - not "team members". Fixed private visibility checks for all resource types to validate owner_email == requester instead of team membership: - Servers - Tools - Resources - Prompts - Gateways (already correct from previous commit) This aligns token scoping middleware with the documented RBAC model. Signed-off-by: Mihai Criveti <crivetimihai@gmail.com> * test: Add tests for gateway permissions and visibility RBAC Add unit tests covering: - Gateway permission patterns (POST create vs POST update sub-resources) - Private visibility enforces owner-only access - Team visibility allows team members only - Public visibility allows all authenticated users These tests validate the RBAC fixes in token scoping middleware. Signed-off-by: Mihai Criveti <crivetimihai@gmail.com> --------- Signed-off-by: Mihai Criveti <crivetimihai@gmail.com> Co-authored-by: Mihai Criveti <crivetimihai@gmail.com>

KKNithin requested a review from crivetimihai as a code owner January 19, 2026 12:57

crivetimihai self-assigned this Jan 19, 2026

crivetimihai added this to the Release 1.0.0-RC1 milestone Jan 21, 2026

crivetimihai added 3 commits January 25, 2026 10:53

crivetimihai mentioned this pull request Jan 25, 2026

[FEATURE][AUTH]: Add A2A agent RBAC enforcement to token scoping middleware #2389

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crivetimihai force-pushed the fix-2185-unable-to-list-gateways branch from 2dc98ee to 874004e Compare January 25, 2026 12:50

crivetimihai requested review from kevalmahajan and madhav165 as code owners January 25, 2026 12:50

crivetimihai approved these changes Jan 25, 2026

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crivetimihai merged commit 5f3087f into IBM:main Jan 25, 2026
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fix-2185: fix listing public server#2186

fix-2185: fix listing public server#2186
crivetimihai merged 4 commits intoIBM:mainfrom
KKNithin:fix-2185-unable-to-list-gateways

KKNithin commented Jan 19, 2026 •

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crivetimihai commented Jan 19, 2026

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KKNithin commented Jan 19, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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crivetimihai commented Jan 19, 2026

Review Feedback

Consistency Issue

Root Cause Analysis

What Would Be Needed for a Complete Fix

Alternative Approaches to Consider

What Works

Uh oh!

crivetimihai commented Jan 25, 2026

PR Rework Summary

Design Decision: Team Filter Semantics (Option A)

Changes in This PR

1. Gateway Permission Constants (mcpgateway/db.py)

2. Gateway Token Scoping (mcpgateway/middleware/token_scoping.py)

3. RBAC Fix: Private Visibility = Owner-Only

4. Unit Tests

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KKNithin commented Jan 19, 2026 •

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1. Gateway Permission Constants (`mcpgateway/db.py`)

2. Gateway Token Scoping (`mcpgateway/middleware/token_scoping.py`)