hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · HibernateException

Cannot interpret discriminator value ({discriminatorRole}) :

Error message

Cannot interpret discriminator value ({discriminatorRole}) : {discriminatorValue}

What it means

Error "Cannot interpret discriminator value ({discriminatorRole}) : {discriminatorValue}" thrown in hibernate/hibernate-orm.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/metamodel/internal/ShortNameImplicitDiscriminatorStrategy.java:36

public class ShortNameImplicitDiscriminatorStrategy implements ImplicitDiscriminatorStrategy {
	public static final ShortNameImplicitDiscriminatorStrategy SHORT_NAME_STRATEGY = new ShortNameImplicitDiscriminatorStrategy();

	@Override
	public Object toDiscriminatorValue(EntityMappingType entityMapping, NavigableRole discriminatorRole, MappingMetamodelImplementor mappingModel) {
		return entityMapping.getImportedName();
	}

	@Override
	public EntityMappingType toEntityMapping(Object discriminatorValue, NavigableRole discriminatorRole, MappingMetamodelImplementor mappingModel) {
		if ( discriminatorValue instanceof String assumedEntityName ) {
			final String importedName = mappingModel.getImportedName( assumedEntityName );
			final var entityMapping = mappingModel.findEntityDescriptor( importedName );
			if ( entityMapping != null ) {
				return entityMapping;
			}
		}

		throw new HibernateException( "Cannot interpret discriminator value (" + discriminatorRole + ") : " + discriminatorValue );
	}
}

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

1. Map every subclass with a matching @DiscriminatorValue that corresponds to its (short) entity name, or switch to an explicit DiscriminatorStrategy.
2. Verify the discriminator column values in existing rows match the implicit short class names.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown when an implicit discriminator strategy using short entity names cannot map a discriminator value back to a known entity in the hierarchy.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/84f4260b0a466e38. Report an issue: GitHub.