openwisp / openwisp/openwisp-controller

[fix] Device name corrupted by in-place mutation in _get_common_name() during VPN cert provisioning

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@k-sumayya is already working on this.

Since Jun 13, 2026.

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Description

Bug Report: In-place Mutation of Device Name in _get_common_name()

Description

The _get_common_name() function currently truncates long device names by mutating device.name directly.

Due to Django’s ForeignKey caching behavior, this modification affects the original in-memory Device instance, leading to silent data corruption during VPN certificate provisioning.


Steps to Reproduce
  1. Create a Device with a name exceeding the certificate Common Name (CN) length limit.
  2. Trigger VPN certificate provisioning for that device.
  3. Inspect the device.name attribute after provisioning.

Actual Behavior
  • device.name is unexpectedly modified (truncated) in memory.
  • This happens because _get_common_name() alters the original object instead of working on a copy.

Expected Behavior
  • device.name should remain unchanged.
  • Only the certificate’s Common Name (CN) should be truncated for compliance.

Related PR
  • #1294

Impact
  • Silent mutation of model instances
  • Potential inconsistencies across the application
  • Hard-to-debug side effects due to Django ORM caching

Suggested Fix

Avoid mutating the original device.name. Instead, operate on a derived value:

cn = device.name[:MAX_CN_LENGTH]

without modifying the device instance itself.


Benefit

Ensures data integrity, avoids unintended side effects, and aligns with Django best practices for immutable model handling in utility functions.

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