{"record":{"id":"58d24f954a80632b","repo":"apache/cassandra","slug":"s-can-not-be-bigger-than-s","errorCode":null,"errorMessage":"%s can not be bigger than %s","messagePattern":"(.+?) can not be bigger than (.+?)","errorType":"validation","errorClass":"ConfigurationException","httpStatus":null,"severity":"error","filePath":"src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/guardrails/CassandraPasswordConfiguration.java","lineNumber":219,"sourceCode":"\n        if (upperCaseWarn <= upperCaseFail)\n            throw getValidationException(UPPER_CASE_WARN_KEY,\n                                         upperCaseWarn,\n                                         UPPER_CASE_FAIL_KEY,\n                                         upperCaseFail);\n\n        if (lowerCaseWarn <= lowerCaseFail)\n            throw getValidationException(LOWER_CASE_WARN_KEY,\n                                         lowerCaseWarn,\n                                         LOWER_CASE_FAIL_KEY,\n                                         lowerCaseFail);\n\n        if (illegalSequenceLength < IllegalSequenceRule.MINIMUM_SEQUENCE_LENGTH)\n            throw new ConfigurationException(format(\"Illegal sequence length can not be lower than %s.\",\n                                                    IllegalSequenceRule.MINIMUM_SEQUENCE_LENGTH));\n\n        if (characteristicsWarn > 4)\n            throw new ConfigurationException(format(\"%s can not be bigger than %s\",\n                                                    CHARACTERISTIC_WARN_KEY,\n                                                    MAX_CHARACTERISTICS));\n\n        if (characteristicsFail > 4)\n            throw new ConfigurationException(format(\"%s can not be bigger than %s\",\n                                                    CHARACTERISTIC_FAIL_KEY,\n                                                    MAX_CHARACTERISTICS));\n\n        if (characteristicsFail == characteristicsWarn)\n            throw new ConfigurationException(format(\"%s can not be equal to %s. You set %s and %s respectively.\",\n                                                    CHARACTERISTIC_FAIL_KEY,\n                                                    CHARACTERISTIC_WARN_KEY,\n                                                    characteristicsFail,\n                                                    characteristicsWarn));\n\n        if (characteristicsFail > characteristicsWarn)\n            throw new ConfigurationException(format(\"%s can not be bigger than %s. You have set %s and %s respectively.\",\n                                                    CHARACTERISTIC_FAIL_KEY,","sourceCodeStart":201,"sourceCodeEnd":237,"githubUrl":"https://github.com/apache/cassandra/blob/88fd0f6a0eaed8943f05ac9e8f947882b8ddc8f1/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/guardrails/CassandraPasswordConfiguration.java#L201-L237","documentation":"Thrown as a ConfigurationException when the password-guardrail characteristicsWarn parameter exceeds 4 (MAX_CHARACTERISTICS). Only four password characteristics exist (uppercase, lowercase, digits, specials), so a warn threshold above 4 is impossible to satisfy. The message is '%s can not be bigger than %s' with the characteristic warn key and the max.","triggerScenarios":"Setting characteristics_warn to 5 or higher in cassandra.yaml password guardrails; validateParameters runs at configuration load and rejects it.","commonSituations":"Admins not realizing there are only 4 characteristics; converting configs that counted more categories in other password tools; off-by-one confusion ('require all 4' entered as 5).","solutions":["Set characteristics_warn in cassandra.yaml to a value between 1 and 4","Remove the parameter to use defaults","Re-read the count of password characteristics in the guardrail docs before tuning"],"exampleFix":"// before\npassword_guardrails:\n  characteristics_warn: 5\n// after\npassword_guardrails:\n  characteristics_warn: 3","handlingStrategy":"validation","validationCode":"if (characteristicsWarn > MAX_CHARACTERISTICS)\n    throw new ConfigurationException(\"characteristics_warn can not be bigger than \" + MAX_CHARACTERISTICS);","typeGuard":null,"tryCatchPattern":null,"preventionTips":["Remember only 4 characteristics exist (uppercase, lowercase, digits, specials)","Clamp values to 1..4 in config generation tooling","Validate the whole guardrail block together, not key by key"],"tags":["configuration","guardrails","validation"],"backgroundTag":"value-out-of-range","analyzedSha":"88fd0f6a0eaed8943f05ac9e8f947882b8ddc8f1","analyzedAt":"2026-09-10T07:29:22.284Z","contentChangedAt":"2026-09-10T07:29:22.284Z","schemaVersion":2},"datasetVersion":"2026-09-14T16:17:12.679Z"}