Execution Kernel Audit Cycle

Everything found and confirmed across one full reading arc, in one place. No new fixes attempted here — this is the record, not more patching. A different real system than the state-estimation kernel documented elsewhere on this site — this is the execution kernel, ncfca_execution_kernel_v4.py.

PurposeAccurate, line-checked status of the execution kernel's hardening checklist, so the next real work session starts from a real record instead of re-deriving it from memory.

StatusVerified — 10 items individually checked directly against source, not assumed

Built fromNCFCA_KERNEL_HARDENING_CHECKLIST.md, NCFCA_EXECUTION_KERNEL_V4_INTAKE.md, three real ncfca_execution_kernel_v4.py drafts compared directly

Depends on—

Superseded by—

EvidencePer-item citations below; a real prior execution attempt's log (NCFCA_ACTUAL_EXECUTION_RESULTS.md).

A real file-collision incident, stated plainly

Three files were referenced but absent from disk, re-uploaded and read in full: NCFCA_EXECUTION_KERNEL_V4_INTAKE.md, NCFCA_KERNEL_HARDENING_CHECKLIST.md, and this site's own four-channel-framework.html. That third one is a real, unresolved data-loss event — it was uploaded twice in one batch, only one copy survived, and if the two versions genuinely differed, the second upload silently overwrote the first before it could be read. Not recoverable from this end. The exact kind of collision this site's own file-to-folder guide was later built to prevent.

Version history checked directly — nothing lost

Three ncfca_execution_kernel_v4.py drafts (890 / 748 / 825 lines) compared by real class and method name diff, not line count. Zero unique names exist in either shorter draft that aren't already present in the version currently in use — a real check, not an assumption that "longer means more complete."

The 10-item hardening checklist, line-checked

Fixed, confirmed

#1 — asdict()/MappingProxyType crash. Fixed, verified at the exact crash site, confirmed by a full run reaching KernelState.COMPLETE.
#8 — Non-deterministic time.time()/uuid.uuid4(). Fixed with a real injectable Clock/IDGenerator, confirmed zero raw calls inside run() itself.
#3 — Residual fusion was a naive mean. Fixed — real weighted fusion in place.
#10 — ReferenceEnsembleEstimator's _members never populated. Fixed, confirmed directly.

Partially fixed

#5 — Rollback doesn't roll back. The exact restore() method named in the original checklist is still flag-only — it doesn't actually restore anything. A separate method, restore_from_checkpoint(), exists alongside it and does genuinely restore state. Two methods, two different real statuses — worth knowing which one anything downstream is actually calling.

Confirmed still open

#2 — Tensor mutable while context immutable. The single most important open item on this list. The full kernel run that reached COMPLETE used a stub tensor — test_kernel_run.py says so explicitly — not the real, hardened ImmutableNCFCATensor documented on the Laundering Vulnerability page. The method signatures don't even match: the kernel expects a HyperWeaveTensor protocol with a generic write() method; the real tensor's actual interface is update_S()/update_D()/etc. The kernel's own internal mechanics are verified. Integration with the real, hardened tensor is not — this has never actually been tested together.
#4 — Capabilities declared but not enforced. Only an isinstance check exists; nothing verifies a stage's required capability flags are actually satisfied before it runs.
#6 — No real replay engine. replay() still returns raw events — no actual state reconstruction from them.
#7 — Graph hash incomplete. Still excludes capability declarations, stage identity, and planner/scheduler/governance version numbers.
#9 — Planner validation gaps. Only cycle detection and missing-dependency checks exist — no unreachable-node, duplicate-dependency, or empty-stage checks.

A real, honest historical finding — worth keeping visible, not just fixed and forgotten

A July 6 execution attempt (NCFCA_ACTUAL_EXECUTION_RESULTS.md) found the "Master reproducibility script" completed only 1 of 4 claimed components when actually run — 3 failed on missing modules (historic/, new/detectors/TiltDetector.py, new/tests/). Checked again directly: a real TiltDetector.py now exists from later work in this project, but at a different import path than what that old script expects — real, partial progress, not yet resolved for that specific script. The exact same "documented but never actually executed" pattern that later showed up again on the Pipeline Orchestrator, independently.

Correctly dropped, not pursued

System_Design_Document.md — a 40-line outline referencing already-discredited "vector/gravity-well" material. Dropped per direct instruction, not pursued further.

Real, unbuilt design worth knowing about — not existing infrastructure

Medusa_Deterministic_Kernel.md describes a coherent, well-specified design — event sourcing, actor-model concurrency, an explicit state machine, health/degradation tracking — with zero accompanying code. A real opportunity for future work, named honestly as unbuilt rather than folded into any "already exists" claim on this site.

What this record deliberately doesn't do

No new code changes happened during this audit cycle. No attempt was made to fix items 2, 4, 6, 7, or 9 above — fixing wasn't the goal here. This document exists so the next real work session on the execution kernel starts from an accurate record instead of re-deriving the same status from memory, the exact failure mode this site's own verification methodology names directly.