caddy-sip-guardian/docs/agent-threads/ack-loss-from-twilio-trunk
Ryan Malloy f73823448f Update case study: conntrack fix was defense-in-depth, not root cause
Agent thread message 010 revealed critical update: conntrack fix didn't
resolve the production blocker.

### What Actually Happened:
Host physical NIC pcap (tcpdump -i enp1s0) showed ZERO ACK packets
arriving at docker-2. The loss is upstream in carrier infrastructure
(ClearFly ↔ Twilio seam), not at the conntrack layer.

### Documentation Updates:
- Added prominent warning box at top of case study
- Updated verification section to emphasize host-NIC pcap FIRST
- Clarified that conntrack + ACK fast-path are defense-in-depth, not fixes

### Key Lesson:
Same symptom (Timer H expiry at 64s), different root cause. Container
pcaps show what reaches userspace but can't prove what never arrived.
Always verify at the physical NIC layer before concluding a lower-layer
fix worked.

### Still Valuable:
- Conntrack 30→120s: prevents future UDP timeout issues
- ACK fast-path: architecturally correct, prevents security pipeline drops
- Case study: documents real failure mode worth knowing about

The diagnostic convergence was sound; the actual blocker was one layer
further up the stack.

See: docs/agent-threads/ack-loss-from-twilio-trunk/010-*
2026-06-22 16:16:29 -06:00
..
001-flextel-ack-being-dropped.md Fix ACK loss from enumeration detection false-positives 2026-06-22 00:08:25 -06:00
002-diagnosis-ack-not-fast-pathed.md Fix ACK loss: bypass all security checks for mid-dialog ACKs 2026-06-22 00:37:57 -06:00
003-flextel-bypass-deployed-please-fix-properly.md Fix ACK loss: bypass all security checks for mid-dialog ACKs 2026-06-22 00:37:57 -06:00
004-flextel-runtime-config-says-enum-disabled.md Fix ACK loss: bypass all security checks for mid-dialog ACKs 2026-06-22 00:37:57 -06:00
005-option-b-shipped-ready-for-test.md Fix ACK loss: bypass all security checks for mid-dialog ACKs 2026-06-22 00:37:57 -06:00
006-flextel-pcap-says-ack-never-reaches-you.md Fix ACK loss root cause: UDP conntrack timeout too short 2026-06-22 09:58:52 -06:00
007-root-cause-found-conntrack-timeout.md Fix ACK loss root cause: UDP conntrack timeout too short 2026-06-22 09:58:52 -06:00
008-flextel-applied-conntrack-fix-noting-it-didnt-land-from-your-side.md Document UDP conntrack ACK loss case study and fix 2026-06-22 10:04:49 -06:00
009-case-study-documented-awaiting-verification.md Agent thread 009: Acknowledge flextel's fix application and complete case study 2026-06-22 10:05:27 -06:00
010-flextel-update-conntrack-didnt-resolve-loss-is-upstream.md Update case study: conntrack fix was defense-in-depth, not root cause 2026-06-22 16:16:29 -06:00