NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · IllegalArgumentException

Negative value not permitted for {}

Error message

Negative value not permitted for {}

What it means

Thrown by parsePositiveIntegerOption when an integer option (e.g. --port) parses successfully via Integer.valueOf but the result is less than zero. The guard explicitly rejects negative values.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Features/BSim/src/main/java/ghidra/features/bsim/query/BSimControlLaunchable.java:370

		}
	}

	private void checkRequiredParam(String[] params, int index, String name) {
		if (params.length <= index) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing required parameter: " + name);
		}
		String p = params[index];
		if (p.startsWith("--")) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException(
				"Missing required parameter (" + name + ") before specified option: " + p);
		}
	}

	private int parsePositiveIntegerOption(String option, String optionValue) {
		try {
			int value = Integer.valueOf(optionValue);
			if (value < 0) {
				throw new IllegalArgumentException("Negative value not permitted for " + option);
			}
			return value;
		}
		catch (NumberFormatException e) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid integer value specified for " + option);
		}
	}

	/**
	 * Verify that the given file is a PEM certificate
	 * @param testFile the file to test
	 * @return true if testFile looks like a PEM certificate
	 * @throws IOException if there is a problem reading the given file
	 */
	private static boolean verifyPEMFormat(File testFile) throws IOException {
		BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(testFile));
		try {
			// All we currently do is search for the certificate header in the first 200 lines

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. Use a non-negative integer (the check allows 0 despite the method name).
2. For ports prefer 1024–65535; verify the source of the value.
3. Strip any stray minus sign from computed values before passing them.

Example fix

// before
bsim control configure host --port -5
// after
bsim control configure host --port 5432

// Reject negative integers for port-like options before launch.
try {
    int v = Integer.parseInt(portValue);
    if (v < 0) {
        System.err.println("Negative value not allowed: " + v);
        return;
    }
} catch (NumberFormatException ignored) {
    System.err.println("Not an integer: " + portValue);
}

try {
    launchable.parsePositiveIntegerOption(option, value);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().startsWith("Negative value not permitted")) {
        System.err.println("Use a non-negative integer for " + option);
    }
    throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a negative integer such as `--port -1` or `--port -5`, which Integer.valueOf accepts but fails the `value < 0` check at line 370.

Common situations: Accidental leading minus, a signed value sourced from a variable/macro, or an off-by-one producing -1.

Related errors

• Unknown command: {}
• Unsupported command: {}
• Unsupported option use: {}
• Unexpected argument: {}
• Unsupported option specification: {}=

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/eb2a7cad2d46738b. Report an issue: GitHub.