hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · HibernateException

Identifier of an instance of '${persister.getEntityName()}'

Error message

Identifier of an instance of '${persister.getEntityName()}' was altered from ${entryId} to ${currentId}

What it means

Error "Identifier of an instance of '${persister.getEntityName()}' was altered from ${entryId} to ${currentId}" thrown in hibernate/hibernate-orm.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/event/internal/DefaultFlushEntityEventListener.java:88

			final Object currentId = persister.getIdentifier( object, session );
			// Small optimization: always try to avoid getIdentifierType().isEqual(..) when possible.
			// (However, it's not safe to invoke the equals() method as it might trigger side effects.)
			if ( entryId != currentId
						&& !entry.getStatus().isDeletedOrGone()
						&& !persister.getIdentifierType().isEqual( entryId, currentId, session.getFactory() ) ) {
				throwIdentifiedAlteredException( persister, entryId, currentId );
			}
		}
		// else this is a situation where the entity id is assigned by a post-insert
		// generator and was saved outside the transaction, forcing it to be delayed
	}

	// Used by Hibernate Reactive
	protected void throwIdentifiedAlteredException(
			@Nonnull EntityPersister persister,
			@Nonnull Object entryId,
			@Nonnull Object currentId) {
		throw new HibernateException( "Identifier of an instance of '" + persister.getEntityName()
									+ "' was altered from " + entryId + " to " + currentId );
	}

	private void checkNaturalId(
			@Nonnull EntityPersister persister,
			@Nonnull Object entity,
			@Nonnull EntityEntry entry,
			@Nonnull Object[] current,
			@Nullable Object[] loaded,
			@Nonnull SessionImplementor session) {
		if ( !isUninitializedEnhanced( entity ) ) {
			final var naturalIdMapping = persister.getNaturalIdMapping();
			if ( naturalIdMapping != null && entry.getStatus() != Status.READ_ONLY ) {
				naturalIdMapping.verifyFlushState( entry.getId(), current, loaded, session );
			}
		}
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

1. Do not modify the identifier (@Id) property of a managed entity after it has been persisted; identifiers must be immutable.
2. If a new identifier is required, delete the old row and insert a new entity with the new id.
3. Check for code (setters, reflection, or deserialization) that assigns a new id to an already-persistent instance.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown when dirty checking detects that a managed entity's identifier value was changed.

Common situations: Typical situations: assigning a new value to the @Id property of a persistent entity; reflection or deserialization altering the id field.

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ed4ee9179a448eb8. Report an issue: GitHub.