[JIRA] Created: (JXT-90) NullPointerException in createClassInstance in org.opensaml.xml.XMLConfigurator

[jbuhacoff@idp.protectnetwork.org (JIRA)]

NullPointerException in createClassInstance in org.opensaml.xml.XMLConfigurator
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                 Key: JXT-90
                 URL: https://issues.shibboleth.net/jira/browse/JXT-90
             Project: XMLTooling - Java
          Issue Type: Bug
          Components: Validation
    Affects Versions: 1.3.4
         Environment: Stand-alone Java application using system classloader
            Reporter: jbuhacoff at idp.protectnetwork.org
            Assignee: Brent Putman
            Priority: Minor


In a stand-alone Java application using the system classloader, when using OpenSAML to verify a SAML assertion, the function createClassInstance is called (for example, to create an instance of XSAnyBuilder) and causes a NullPointerException.

This happens because the getClassLoader() function may return null if the class was loaded by the system, or bootstrap, class loader. I tested with Sun JRE versions 1.5, 1.6, and 1.7 and they all do return null for the bootstrap classloader.

Here are the relevant lines from XMLConfigurator in xmltooling version 1.3.4: 

328	            ClassLoader classLoader = this.getClass().getClassLoader();
329	            Class clazz = classLoader.loadClass(className);

When running in a web container or Junit test in an IDE, there is a custom classloader hierarchy in place and everything works fine. But in an independent environment using the system class loader, the code throws a NullPointerException.

This can be easily fixed by inserting the following line between the two lines shown:

  if( classLoader == null ) { classLoader = ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader(); }

I made this patch in my own project and it's working fine now.

Hope you will adopt this little fix in the next release.


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