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Feature: ACME DNS-01 challenge delegation (CNAME alias) for least-privilege DNS tokens #103
dstack-ingress issues certs via ACME DNS-01, which requires a DNS provider API token that can edit the served domain's own zone (to write the _acme-challenge TXT, and — per entrypoint.sh — to set the A record and CAA).
In our deployment the served name (e.g. svc.example.com) lives under a shared production zone (example.com) that holds many unrelated production records. Handing the enclave a token for that zone is too broad:
Cloudflare API tokens scope only to zone level — there is no way to restrict a token to a single subdomain/record.
Managing the subdomain as its own Cloudflare zone requires an Enterprise plan.
So today we'd have to give the enclave a token that can edit our entireexample.com zone, which we can't accept.
Let the operator delegate only the _acme-challenge to a separate zone they fully control, so the enclave's token never touches the production zone:
Operator adds one static record in the production zone: _acme-challenge.svc.example.com CNAME <label>.<delegation-zone>
dstack-ingress writes the challenge TXT into <delegation-zone> (its token scoped only to that zone). Let's Encrypt follows the CNAME during validation.
This is a standard least-privilege ACME pattern (acme.sh --challenge-alias, lego, cert-manager, and Cloudflare's own "Delegated DCV" all support it), and it fits dstack's zero-trust ethos.
Design sketch (opt-in, non-breaking)
New env ACME_CHALLENGE_ALIAS=<delegation-zone>; unset ⇒ current behavior, unchanged.
When set, run certbot with --manual --preferred-challenges=dns + auth/cleanup hooks that reuse the existing dns_providers abstraction to write the TXT under the alias zone instead of _acme-challenge.<domain>.
Important: CAA handling (needs an explicit decision)
entrypoint.sh currently auto-sets the accounturi CAA
(letsencrypt.org;validationmethods=dns-01;accounturi=$ACCOUNT_URI) on the served domain, using the same token. In delegation mode the token cannot touch the served domain's zone, so this auto-set won't work — and the current code treats a CAA-set failure as not critical, which would silently drop the accounturi lock (the forge-prevention against a non-TEE account issuing a cert for the domain).
To avoid silently weakening security, in delegation mode the feature should:
print the exact CAA record the operator must set statically in the served zone (including the account URI), and
verify the CAA is present / warn loudly if absent, instead of silently continuing.
This keeps the "only the TEE's ACME account can issue" guarantee explicit, rather than silently lost.
Activity
h4x3rotab commentedon Jul 27, 2026
Sounds awesome! Delegation can make the domain access easier for many people. I'm going to review the PR asap.