hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · IllegalStateException

Unrecognized marker: {}

Error message

Unrecognized marker: {}

What it means

In the OTHER-marker branch, consumeNonStringValue() scans the unquoted literal (expected to be true, false, null or a number) and returns -1 when it reaches the end of input without ever hitting a delimiter (whitespace or a structural marker like } ] , :). The reader then reports the character at the current position as an 'Unrecognized marker'. In practice the JSON is truncated in the middle of (or right after) a bare value, or has garbage trailing characters.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/type/format/StringJsonDocumentReader.java:210

							throw new IllegalStateException( "unexpected quote read in current processing state " +
															this.processingStates.getCurrent() );
					}
				case KEY_VALUE_SEPARATOR:  // that's the start of an attribute value
					//assert this.processingStates.getCurrent() == JsonProcessingState.OBJECT_KEY_NAME;
					// flush the OBJECT_KEY_NAME
					//this.processingStates.pop();
					break;
				case SEPARATOR:
					// unless we are processing an array, following SEPARATOR that will a key
					break;
				case OTHER:
					// here we are in front of a boolean, a null or a numeric value.
					// if none of these cases we're going to raise IllegalStateException
					// put back what we've read
					moveBufferPosition(-1);
					final int valueSize = consumeNonStringValue();
					if (valueSize == -1) {
						throw new IllegalStateException( "Unrecognized marker: " + StringJsonDocumentMarker.markerOf(
								this.jsonString.charAt( this.position )));
					}
					switch ( this.processingStates.getCurrent() ) {
						case ARRAY:
						case OBJECT:
							return getUnquotedValueType(this.jsonString.charAt( this.jsonValueStart));
						default:
							throw new IllegalStateException( "unexpected read ["+
															this.jsonString.substring( this.jsonValueStart,this.jsonValueEnd )+
															"] in current processing state " +
															this.processingStates.getCurrent() );
					}
				default: {
					throw new IllegalStateException( "unexpected marker ["+
													marker +
													"] at position " + this.position );
				}
			}

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

1. Retrieve the full failing column value and check its tail for truncation or appended garbage; repair it
2. Widen the column / fix the producer so complete JSON is stored
3. Validate on write with a strict parser so truncated values never reach the database
4. Catch IllegalStateException during bulk reads to quarantine bad rows

Example fix

-- before: value truncated by a too-narrow column ('{"a": tru')
ALTER TABLE entity_table ALTER COLUMN json_col TYPE text;
UPDATE entity_table SET json_col = '{"a": true}';
-- after: complete document stored

static void assertCompleteJson(String candidate) {
    try {
        new com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper().readTree(candidate);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Refusing to store truncated/invalid JSON: " + e.getMessage(), e);
    }
}

try {
    results = query.getResultList();
} catch (IllegalStateException e) {
    if (e.getMessage() != null && e.getMessage().startsWith("Unrecognized marker")) {
        logQuarantineRow(e); // isolate the bad row instead of failing the whole load
        return List.of();
    }
    throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Documents like {"a": tru (literal cut off at end of input), [123 (bare number running to the limit), or {"a":1}xyz where trailing non-marker text extends to the end of the string so no delimiter is ever found.

Common situations: Column value truncated by an ETL/transport layer or manual editing; a VARCHAR column too short for the JSON so it was silently cut; another writer appending diagnostics text after the JSON; reading a partially-written value because the writer had no transactional protection.

Related errors

• unexpected end of JSON [{}] in current processing state {}
• unexpected quote read in current processing state {}
• unexpected read [{}] in current processing state {}
• Can't find ending quote of key name
• Expected JSON object end, but none found.

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7925a569d0754fa4. Report an issue: GitHub.