hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · StrictJpaComplianceViolation

Strict JPA query language compliance was violated: use of OR

Error message

Strict JPA query language compliance was violated: use of ORDER BY clause in subquery

What it means

Error "Strict JPA query language compliance was violated: use of ORDER BY clause in subquery" thrown in hibernate/hibernate-orm.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/query/hql/internal/SemanticQueryBuilder.java:1154

					);
				}

				if ( processingStateStack.depth() > 1 && sqmQueryPart.getOrderByClause() == null ) {
					throw new SemanticException(
							"A 'limit', 'offset', or 'fetch' clause requires an 'order by' clause when used in a subquery",
							query
					);
				}

				setOffsetFetchLimit( sqmQueryPart, limitClauseContext, offsetClauseContext, fetchClauseContext );
			}
		}
	}

	protected void visitOrderBy(SqmQueryPart<?> sqmQueryPart, HqlParser.OrderByClauseContext ctx) {
		if ( ctx != null ) {
			if ( creationOptions.useStrictJpaCompliance() && processingStateStack.depth() > 1 ) {
				throw new StrictJpaComplianceViolation(
						StrictJpaComplianceViolation.Type.SUBQUERY_ORDER_BY
				);
			}
			sqmQueryPart.setOrderByClause( visitOrderByClause( ctx ) );
		}
	}

	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
	private void setOffsetFetchLimit(SqmQueryPart<?> sqmQueryPart, HqlParser.LimitClauseContext limitClauseContext, HqlParser.OffsetClauseContext offsetClauseContext, HqlParser.FetchClauseContext fetchClauseContext) {
		// these casts are all fine because the parser only accepts literals and parameters
		sqmQueryPart.setOffsetExpression( (SqmExpression<? extends Number>) visitOffsetClause(offsetClauseContext) );
		if ( limitClauseContext == null ) {
			sqmQueryPart.setFetchExpression(
					(SqmExpression<? extends Number>) visitFetchClause(fetchClauseContext),
					visitFetchClauseType(fetchClauseContext)
			);
		}
		else if ( fetchClauseContext == null ) {

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

1. Disable strict JPA compliance to allow ORDER BY in subqueries.
2. Remove the ORDER BY from the subquery.

When it happens

Trigger: An HQL extension is used while strict JPQL compliance is enabled.

Common situations: Running HQL-specific syntax (CTEs, limit/offset, collection functions) with hibernate.jpa.compliance.query=true.

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7fd0071c436df18c. Report an issue: GitHub.