hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · IllegalArgumentException

Identifier may not be null

Error message

Identifier may not be null

What it means

Error "Identifier may not be null" thrown in hibernate/hibernate-orm.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/event/spi/LoadEvent.java:85

			@Nullable Object instanceToLoad,
			@Nonnull LockOptions lockOptions,
			boolean isAssociationFetch,
			@Nonnull EventSource source,
			@Nullable Boolean readOnly) {
		super( source );
		this.entityId = entityId;
		this.entityClassName = entityClassName;
		this.instanceToLoad = instanceToLoad;
		this.lockOptions = lockOptions;
		this.isAssociationFetch = isAssociationFetch;
		this.readOnly = readOnly;
		validate();
	}

	@Internal
	public void validate() {
		if ( entityId == null ) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException( "Identifier may not be null" );
		}

		final var lockMode = lockOptions.getLockMode();
		if ( lockMode == LockMode.WRITE ) {
			throw new IllegalArgumentException( "Invalid lock mode: " + LockMode.WRITE );
		}
		else if ( lockMode == null ) {
			lockOptions.setLockMode( LockMode.NONE );
		}
	}

	@Nonnull
	public Object getEntityId() {
		return entityId;
	}

	@Internal
	public void setEntityId(@Nonnull Object entityId) {

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

1. Ensure the identifier passed to load()/get() is non-null before the call.
2. Validate the id value earlier in the call chain where it is produced.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown when a caller passes a null Identifier to the API guarded in LoadEvent.java:85.

Common situations: Typical situations: calling the method with an uninitialized variable; a lookup that returned null being passed straight through; missing null-checks in application code before invoking Hibernate.

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a7b99a0bbf7ceee7. Report an issue: GitHub.