F26-RT: Yes

Rationale

In Reticulum 1.5.5, preprocess_inbound rejects missing or invalid IFAC before packet unpacking and transport dispatch. The selected serial profile enables secret IFAC. Failed interface authentication therefore prevents subsequent transport forwarding and consumption of onward links.

Assessment method

Pinned source ordering and native admission-boundary analysis; no execution

Source context

Reticulum 1.5.5 Transport.py: handle_ifac and preprocess_inbound

Outstanding qualification

Shared-interface credential authority, not individual destination consent. Credential holders can pass this gate. Serial reception and IFAC computation have already occurred; no ingress-medium protection, jamming resistance or measured capacity guarantee follows. Internal ifac_handled shortcuts assume trusted interface code.

Public sources

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/markqvist/Reticulum/1.5.5/RNS/Transport.py

Editorial evidence references

The following identifiers refer to research records not included in this public package; they are not public links.

round447-sources.json
round447.html