Dstack-TEE / Dstack-TEE/dstack
secure_time: true can never sync — guest chrony is built without NTS
- Dominant language
- Rust
- Stars
- 544
- Forks
- 96
- Avg merge
- 17h 57m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 117
Description
### Problem
Guest images ship `/etc/chrony/chrony.conf` with every time server set to NTS (`server iburst nts`), but **chronyd is compiled without NTS support**. Chrony therefore has zero usable sources and never synchronizes.
Any app with `secure_time: true` — the manifest default (`default_true`) — then blocks in `dstack-util` `system_setup.rs` on `chronyc waitsync`, which bails → `boot.error` → reboot. On SEV-SNP this is a hard loop (`cpus are not resettable, terminating` → VMM restarts forever); on TDX it's a boot failure.
Confirmed from inside a running CVM:
```
chronyd 4.8 starting (... -NTS ...)
Missing NTS support
Can't synchronise: no selectable sources (10 unreachable sources)
```
`chronyc authdata` shows `Cook=0` for all servers (NTS-KE never attempted), and the clock was already correct (stepped `0.000000s`) — so it's not a network, clock, or platform issue.
It has gone unnoticed because every real deployment sets `secure_time: false`; the broken NTS sync is silent until the strict gate is enabled.
### Fix
In meta-dstack, `recipes-core/chrony/chrony%.bbappend` adds `DEPENDS += "gnutls"` and an NTS config but never enables the NTS build flag. Upstream `chrony_4.8.bb` gates it behind `PACKAGECONFIG[nts]`. Add:
```
PACKAGECONFIG:append = " nts"
```
Then chronyd is built with NTS and `secure_time: true` can actually sync.
Separately, single-node/no-gateway deploys (no trusted time source) should default `secure_time: false`.
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start with meta-dstack/recipes-core/chrony/chrony%.bbappend and compare its PACKAGECONFIG with upstream chrony_4.8.bb, then inspect dstack-util/system_setup.rs around the chronyc waitsync gate. Build an image with NTS enabled and verify that chronyc can synchronize; also trace the single-node default so secure_time is false where no trusted time source exists.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- rust
- Domain
- build-system, infrastructure, security
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 68/100