NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · LSHException

XML layout for newer version of BSIM

Error message

XML layout for newer version of BSIM

What it means

Thrown by DescriptionManager.restoreXml when the document's layout_version attribute is greater than the running code's LAYOUT_VERSION. This is the forward-incompatibility guard: the newer layout may use fields or semantics this code cannot safely read.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Features/BSim/src/main/java/ghidra/features/bsim/query/description/DescriptionManager.java:675

	 * @param parser is the XML parser
	 * @param vectorFactory is the factory to use for building feature vectors
	 * @throws LSHException if there are inconsistencies in the XML
	 */
	public void restoreXml(XmlPullParser parser, LSHVectorFactory vectorFactory)
			throws LSHException {
		major = 0;
		minor = 0;
		settings = 0;
		int layout_version = 0;
		XmlElement el = parser.start("description");
		if (el.hasAttribute("layout_version")) {
			layout_version = SpecXmlUtils.decodeInt(el.getAttribute("layout_version"));
		}
		if (layout_version < LAYOUT_VERSION) {
			throw new LSHException("Old XML layout is no longer supported");
		}
		if (layout_version > LAYOUT_VERSION) {
			throw new LSHException("XML layout for newer version of BSIM");
		}
		if (el.hasAttribute("major")) {
			major = (short) SpecXmlUtils.decodeInt(el.getAttribute("major"));
			minor = (short) SpecXmlUtils.decodeInt(el.getAttribute("minor"));
		}
		if (el.hasAttribute("settings")) {
			settings = SpecXmlUtils.decodeInt(el.getAttribute("settings"));
		}
		while (parser.peek().isStart()) {
			parser.start("execlist");
			ExecutableRecord erec = ExecutableRecord.restoreXml(parser, this);
			while (parser.peek().isStart()) {
				FunctionDescription.restoreXml(parser, vectorFactory, this, erec);
			}
			parser.end();
		}
		parser.end();
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. Upgrade this Ghidra installation to the version that produced the document.
2. Re-export the data from the newer Ghidra using an export path compatible with this version if available.
3. Confirm the file actually came from a newer version (check the layout_version value) and align versions across producers/consumers.

int docLayout = readLayoutVersionFromXml(xmlFile);
if (docLayout > DescriptionManager.LAYOUT_VERSION) {
    // upgrade Ghidra before loading
}

try {
    man.restoreXml(parser, factory);
} catch (LSHException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("newer version of BSIM")) {
        // upgrade Ghidra to the producing version
    } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling restoreXml on a 'description' document whose layout_version attribute exceeds the value compiled into the current DescriptionManager.LAYOUT_VERSION. Happens when opening data produced by a newer Ghidra/BSim release on an older install.

Common situations: Downgrading Ghidra and trying to read a database/XML exported by a newer version; sharing BSim data across teams with mismatched Ghidra versions; the document was partially migrated.

Related errors

• Old XML layout is no longer supported
• Read bad library placeholder md5 for ExecutableRecord
• Query signature data has no setting information
• Query signature data does not match database
• Trying to insert signature data with slight differences in s

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/20e984aca99ebead. Report an issue: GitHub.