feat: Make it configurable to disable federated sync addressbook - #63438
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feat: Make it configurable to disable federated sync addressbook#63438T0mWz wants to merge 1 commit into
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If you are not removing the permission to get your cards from trusted servers the privacy issue stays the same, trusted servers have access to the personal data stored on your server. And the new setting will give a false sense of privacy while it does not prevent fetching.
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Hi @T0mWz The system address book sync is what allows users to find other users on a remote system with partial names... so doing this would essentially make remote users invisible unless you knew the entire federated user name "this user@remote system" |
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Issue
As an administrator, I want to have a list of trusted servers so that users
can collaborate on documents. I also want to create federated teams to make
sharing easier.
However, I do not want the system address book to sync automatically, as this
would result in me unnecessarily sharing personal data with all users across
different environments, from a privacy and security standpoint.
As a user, I want to be able to collaborate with a few users in another
environment via Federated Teams and Collaborative Document Editing.
However, I have no relationship with the majority of users in that other
environment. It is also undesirable to be able to see all individuals in my
system address book from that other environment.
From a security perspective, I want to encourage collaboration but not share
the personal data of all my users with other environments.
See related issue; #63437
Proposal
Make it configurable to sync a system address book between trusted servers.
I want to be able to configure trusted servers to create federated teams and
support collaborative document editing.
In other words, add a configuration option to exchange sync tokens, but make
it configurable to exchange the system address book.
Acceptance Criteria
collaborative document editing, regardless of the address book sync setting.
shared_secretpairing and the CardDAVsync_tokenexchange witha trusted server continue to occur during every sync cycle, even if the
address book itself is not being synced (necessary to continue validating the trust relationship and
connectivity).
system address book (contact information/vCards) from a trusted server on a
per-environment basis, without breaking the federation itself.
and the local system address book is not cleared
by a potential full resync.
so that existing environments are not broken during an upgrade.
Implementation (current status in
nextcloud-server)New config option in
config.php:Default
true→ current behavior, so backwards compatible.apps/dav/lib/CardDAV/SyncService.phpsyncRemoteAddressBook()has been given a new parameterbool $syncAddressBookData = true:true(default)falseshared_secret, returns newsync_token)apps/federation/lib/SyncFederationAddressBooks.phpIConfigadded to the constructor; readsfederation_sync_addressbook_dataon each run.ensureSystemAddressBookExists(),markCardsAsPending(), anddeletePendingCards()are only called if address book sync is enabled.fullresync is forced tofalseif address book sync is disabled(otherwise, the local address book would be cleared without syncing back).
setServerStatus, error handling for 401/otherexceptions) remains unchanged—so the trust relationship remains visibly healthy
regardless of the address book setting.