goharbor/harbor · error

empty JSON data

Error message

empty JSON data

What it means

Returned by CheckInReport.FromJSON when the job check-in message is empty. The scan job's check-in data must be a JSON object with digest, registration_uuid, mime_type and raw_report; an empty string is rejected before unmarshal.

Source

Thrown at src/pkg/scan/job.go:74

	authorizationBearer = "Bearer"
	authorizationBasic  = "Basic"

	service = "harbor-registry"
)

// CheckInReport defines model for checking in the scan report with specified mime.
type CheckInReport struct {
	Digest           string `json:"digest"`
	RegistrationUUID string `json:"registration_uuid"`
	MimeType         string `json:"mime_type"`
	RawReport        string `json:"raw_report"`
}

// FromJSON parse json to CheckInReport
func (cir *CheckInReport) FromJSON(jsonData string) error {
	if len(jsonData) == 0 {
		return errors.New("empty JSON data")
	}

	return json.Unmarshal([]byte(jsonData), cir)
}

// ToJSON marshal CheckInReport to JSON
func (cir *CheckInReport) ToJSON() (string, error) {
	jsonData, err := json.Marshal(cir)
	if err != nil {
		return "", errors.Wrap(err, "To JSON: CheckInReport")
	}

	return string(jsonData), nil
}

// Job for running scan in the job service with async way
type Job struct{}

View on GitHub (pinned to 7b2fd08cc5)

Solutions

1. Make the adapter always check in a serialized CheckInReport JSON, even on failure paths
2. Verify the adapter returns a non-empty body and no intermediary (proxy/gateway) strips it
3. Check adapter logs for the check-in POST payload size and content

Example fix

// before
func (j *Job) CheckIn(msg string) { _ = cir.FromJSON(msg) } // msg == ""

// after
func (j *Job) CheckIn(msg string) error {
    if len(msg) == 0 {
        return errors.New("empty check-in data from scanner adapter")
    }
    return cir.FromJSON(msg)
}

if len(checkInMsg) == 0 {
    return errors.New("scanner adapter checked in with empty report data")
}
var cir job.CheckInReport
if err := cir.FromJSON(checkInMsg); err != nil {
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: The scanner adapter calls job check-in with an empty message string; the scan job's CheckIn callback receives an empty status message from the job service; adapter returns empty raw_report payload.

Common situations: Custom scanner adapters implemented against the job check-in API that post no message; truncation of large report payloads by proxies; version mismatch where the adapter's check-in contract differs from Harbor's.

Related errors

• Internal dir for tls {} not exist
• Trace enabled but no trace exporter set
• empty json data to parse
• check scan report timeout
• File {} not exist

AI-assisted analysis of goharbor/harbor@7b2fd08cc5 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/dbf0ecce3148d47f. Report an issue: GitHub.