From e0d35d49bcac8d749c247bdd5109fc4472190cb0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: acidburns <neon22@web.de>
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2026 00:31:10 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Validate RTC epoch before setting time

- Reject out-of-range DS3231 epochs and log accept/reject under SERIAL_DEBUG_MODE
- Document RTC validation so LoRa TimeSync can recover
---
 README.md            |  1 +
 src/time_manager.cpp | 12 ++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 13 insertions(+)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index dfc0a42..6007090 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -306,6 +306,7 @@ inline constexpr uint16_t EXPECTED_SENDER_IDS[NUM_SENDERS] = { 0xF19C };
 - Receiver keeps sending time sync every 60 seconds.
 - If a sender’s timestamps drift from receiver time by more than `TIME_SYNC_DRIFT_THRESHOLD_SEC`, the receiver enters a burst mode (every `TIME_SYNC_BURST_INTERVAL_MS` for `TIME_SYNC_BURST_DURATION_MS`).
 - Sender raises a local `TimeSync` error if it has not received a time beacon for `TIME_SYNC_ERROR_TIMEOUT_MS` (default 2 days). This is shown on the sender OLED only and is not sent over LoRa.
+- RTC loads are validated (reject out-of-range epochs) so LoRa TimeSync can recover if the RTC is wrong.
 
 ## Build Environments
 - `lilygo-t3-v1-6-1`: production build (debug on)
diff --git a/src/time_manager.cpp b/src/time_manager.cpp
index f7bf88c..91bcd6a 100644
--- a/src/time_manager.cpp
+++ b/src/time_manager.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ static bool g_time_synced = false;
 static bool g_tz_set = false;
 static bool g_rtc_present = false;
 static uint32_t g_last_sync_utc = 0;
+static constexpr uint32_t kMinValidEpoch = 1672531200UL; // 2023-01-01
+static constexpr uint32_t kMaxValidEpoch = 4102444800UL; // 2100-01-01
 
 static void note_last_sync(uint32_t epoch) {
   if (epoch == 0) {
@@ -142,6 +144,16 @@ bool time_try_load_from_rtc() {
   }
   uint32_t epoch = 0;
   if (!rtc_ds3231_read_epoch(epoch) || epoch == 0) {
+    if (SERIAL_DEBUG_MODE) {
+      Serial.println("rtc: read failed");
+    }
+    return false;
+  }
+  bool valid = epoch >= kMinValidEpoch && epoch <= kMaxValidEpoch;
+  if (SERIAL_DEBUG_MODE) {
+    Serial.printf("rtc: epoch=%lu %s\n", static_cast<unsigned long>(epoch), valid ? "accepted" : "rejected");
+  }
+  if (!valid) {
     return false;
   }
   time_set_utc(epoch);