NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · IllegalArgumentException

Too many wildcards to breakpoint location

Error message

Too many wildcards to breakpoint location

What it means

Thrown by computePath when applying integer key 0 to the location PathFilter yields a non-singleton (null) KeyPath. The location filter has too many wildcards to resolve to a single concrete location path for the breakpoint.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Debug/Debugger/src/main/java/ghidra/app/plugin/core/debug/service/breakpoint/PlaceEmuBreakpointActionItem.java:97

				"Address is not associated with a breakpoint container");
		}
		PathFilter specFilter = container.getSchema().searchFor(TraceBreakpointSpec.class, true);
		if (specFilter == null) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot find path to breakpoint specifications");
		}
		KeyPath specRelPath = specFilter.applyKeys(name).getSingletonPath();
		if (specRelPath == null) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Too many wildcards to breakpoint specification");
		}
		PathFilter locFilter = container.getSchema()
				.getSuccessorSchema(specRelPath)
				.searchFor(TraceBreakpointLocation.class, true);
		if (locFilter == null) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot find path to breakpoint locations");
		}
		KeyPath locRelPath = locFilter.applyIntKeys(0).getSingletonPath();
		if (locRelPath == null) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Too many wildcards to breakpoint location");
		}
		return container.getCanonicalPath().extend(specRelPath).extend(locRelPath).toString();
	}

	@Override
	public CompletableFuture<Void> execute() {
		try (Transaction tx = trace.openTransaction("Place Emulated Breakpoint")) {
			// Defaults with emuEnable=true
			TraceBreakpointLocation loc = trace.getBreakpointManager()
					.addBreakpoint(computePath(), Lifespan.at(snap),
						BreakpointActionItem.range(address, length), Set.of(), kinds, false, null);
			loc.setName(snap, createName(address));
			loc.setEmuSleigh(snap, emuSleigh);
			return AsyncUtils.nil();
		}
		catch (DuplicateNameException e) {
			throw new AssertionError(e);
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. Use a schema whose breakpoint location path has at most one wildcard (the location index).
2. Eliminate extra wildcard segments in the location container schema.
3. Pin non-index key segments to constants in the schema.
4. Use the standard debugger schema, which guarantees a single-wildcard location path.

Example fix

// before
KeyPath locRelPath = locFilter.applyIntKeys(0).getSingletonPath();
if (locRelPath == null) throw ...; // 'Too many wildcards to breakpoint location'

// after - inspect filter cardinality
List<KeyPath> locPaths = locFilter.applyIntKeys(0).getPaths();
if (locPaths.size() != 1) {
    throw new IllegalStateException(
        "Location filter ambiguous (" + locPaths.size() + "): " + locFilter);
}

PathFilter f = locFilter;
boolean single = f != null && f.applyIntKeys(0).getSingletonPath() != null;

static boolean locPathResolves(PathFilter f) {
    return f != null && f.applyIntKeys(0).getSingletonPath() != null;
}

try {
    item.execute();
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
    Msg.showError(this, null, "Ambiguous location path", e.getMessage());
}

When it happens

Trigger: locFilter.applyIntKeys(0).getSingletonPath() returns null because the location PathFilter contains more than one wildcard segment.

Common situations: A custom schema where the breakpoint location path has multiple variable keys; schema templates with extra wildcards in the location branch; malformed/incompatible schema definitions.

Related errors

• Too many wildcards to breakpoint specification
• Cannot find path to breakpoint locations
• Cannot find path to breakpoint specifications
• Address does not belong to a memory in the trace
• Address is not associated with a breakpoint container

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/12fbc97f4716a64b. Report an issue: GitHub.