| Pattern / Scenario | MIT01 Validation |
MIT02 Circuit Breaker |
MIT03 Degrade |
MIT04 Backoff |
MIT05 Bulkhead |
MIT06 Rate Limit |
MIT07 Idempotent |
MIT08 Monitor |
MIT09 Chaos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1 — Silent error propagation | ● | ◉ | ● | ● | ◉ | ||||
| P2 — Error amplification | ● | ● | ◉ | ◉ | ◉ | ◉ | |||
| P3 — Feedback loops | ◉ | ● | ● | ● | ◉ | ||||
| P4 — Resource exhaustion | ● | ● | ● | ● | ◉ | ◉ | ● | ||
| P5 — Dependency chain collapse | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ◉ | ||
| P6 — Adversarial cascade | ● | ◉ | ● | ◉ | ◉ |
MIT02 (circuit breakers) is the most broadly applicable control — it appears as a primary mitigation for 4 of the 6 failure patterns. It is the architectural equivalent of a pressure relief valve: when failure pressure builds up in one part of the system, the circuit opens and prevents it from spreading.
MIT01 (output validation) and MIT06 (rate limiting + confirmation) together cover both ends of the cascade — detection at the source and blast radius limitation at the terminal. Patterns 1 and 6 (silent propagation and adversarial stepping stone) have no circuit breaker as a primary control because the malicious/bad data isn't an availability failure — it's a content failure. Only content validation (MIT01) and action gating (MIT06) directly address content-based cascades.
Pattern 4 (resource exhaustion) requires the deepest set of controls: bulkhead isolation, circuit breaking, graceful degradation, exponential backoff with jitter, and chaos testing — all five are primary controls. Resource exhaustion cascades have the most self-reinforcing dynamics, requiring the most layered defense.