Logged-out at random — one pod's clock is 8 seconds behind

The code that's running in prod

# auth_middleware.py
# Validates JWTs at every authenticated endpoint. Rejects tokens
# whose 'iat' (issued at) timestamp is in the future to defeat
# replay-via-future-stamped attacks.

import time
import jwt


def validate_token(token, secret):
    payload = jwt.decode(token, secret, algorithms=["HS256"])
    now = time.time()

    if payload["iat"] > now:
        raise jwt.InvalidIssuedAtError("token issued in the future")

    if payload["exp"] < now:
        raise jwt.ExpiredSignatureError("token expired")

    return payload

Log dashboard (last 60 seconds)

Pick the root cause

Four candidates. Three are plausible but mistake symptom for cause. Pick what you'd write in the postmortem timeline.