apache/cassandra · error · MarshalException

A local deletion time should not be a legacy overflowed valu

Error message

A local deletion time should not be a legacy overflowed value

What it means

Cells store localDeletionTime == INVALID_DELETION_TIME (a legacy sentinel that once meant an overflowed/unset value) as invalid. Modern Cassandra distinguishes NO_DELETION_TIME and uses real values otherwise; encountering the legacy sentinel during validate() indicates data written by a very old or broken encoder and is rejected with MarshalException.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/rows/AbstractCell.java:193

            digest.updateWithCounterContext(value(), accessor());
        else
            digest.update(value(), accessor());

        digest.updateWithLong(timestamp())
              .updateWithInt(ttl())
              .updateWithBoolean(isCounterCell());
        if (path() != null)
            path().digest(digest);
    }

    public void validate()
    {
        if (ttl() < 0)
            throw new MarshalException("A TTL should not be negative");
        if (localDeletionTime() < 0)
            throw new MarshalException("A local deletion time should not be negative");
        if (localDeletionTime() == INVALID_DELETION_TIME)
            throw new MarshalException("A local deletion time should not be a legacy overflowed value");
        if (isExpiring() && localDeletionTime() == NO_DELETION_TIME)
            throw new MarshalException("Shoud not have a TTL without an associated local deletion time");

        // non-frozen UDTs require both the cell path & value to validate,
        // so that logic is pushed down into ColumnMetadata. Tombstone
        // validation is done there too as it also involves the cell path
        // for complex columns
        column().validateCell(this);
    }

    public boolean hasInvalidDeletions()
    {
        if (ttl() < 0 || localDeletionTime() == INVALID_DELETION_TIME || localDeletionTime() < 0 || (isExpiring() && localDeletionTime() == NO_DELETION_TIME))
            return true;
        return false;
    }

    public long maxTimestamp()

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

1. Scrub and rewrite the SSTables (`nodetool scrub`) to convert legacy values.
2. Complete the full upgrade path (do not skip major format upgrades) before reading data.
3. Restore data from a backup taken on a supported version.
4. Replace the affected cells by rewriting the rows (read/rewrite via CQL where possible).

Example fix

// before: accepting legacy sentinel
if (ldt == INVALID_DELETION_TIME) ldt = NO_DELETION_TIME;
// after: rewrite data through the modern writer instead of silently remapping
if (ldt == INVALID_DELETION_TIME)
    throw new MarshalException("legacy overflowed localDeletionTime, scrub required");

if (cell.localDeletionTime() == INVALID_DELETION_TIME) throw new IllegalStateException("legacy overflowed localDeletionTime; rewrite data");

boolean isModernDeletionTime(AbstractCell<?> c) { return c.localDeletionTime() != INVALID_DELETION_TIME; }

try { row.validate(); } catch (MarshalException e) { scheduleScrub(keyspace, table); }

When it happens

Trigger: Reading SSTables written by legacy versions that used the overflow sentinel; cells whose localDeletionTime equals Integer.MIN_VALUE-derived legacy constants; corrupted data accidentally matching the sentinel.

Common situations: Upgrades from very old Cassandra versions (pre-2.1 era formats); hand-migrated SSTables; corruption repair attempts that re-wrote deletion times incorrectly.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• A local deletion time should not be negative
• Shoud not have a TTL without an associated local deletion ti
• A local deletion time should not be negative in '%s'
• A TTL should not be negative
• REVOKE operation is not supported by AllowAllAuthorizer

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7a6f1101018de5bc. Report an issue: GitHub.