spring-projects/spring-framework · error · InvalidPropertyException

Illegal attempt to get property '${actualName}' threw except

Error message

Illegal attempt to get property '${actualName}' threw exception

What it means

Catch-all block in getPropertyValue(PropertyTokenHolder) for any Exception not matched by the earlier, more specific catches. Spring wraps it as InvalidPropertyException 'Illegal attempt to get property ... threw exception'. Seeing this (rather than the InvocationTargetException variant) means the failure happened outside the reflective getter call itself, for example inside Spring's own value-processing or argument conversion.

Source

Thrown at spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/AbstractNestablePropertyAccessor.java:699

			return value;
		}
		catch (InvalidPropertyException ex) {
			throw ex;
		}
		catch (IndexOutOfBoundsException ex) {
			throw new InvalidPropertyException(getRootClass(), this.nestedPath + propertyName,
					"Index of out of bounds in property path '" + propertyName + "'", ex);
		}
		catch (NumberFormatException | TypeMismatchException ex) {
			throw new InvalidPropertyException(getRootClass(), this.nestedPath + propertyName,
					"Invalid index in property path '" + propertyName + "'", ex);
		}
		catch (InvocationTargetException ex) {
			throw new InvalidPropertyException(getRootClass(), this.nestedPath + propertyName,
					"Getter for property '" + actualName + "' threw exception", ex);
		}
		catch (Exception ex) {
			throw new InvalidPropertyException(getRootClass(), this.nestedPath + propertyName,
					"Illegal attempt to get property '" + actualName + "' threw exception", ex);
		}
	}


	/**
	 * Return the {@link PropertyHandler} for the specified {@code propertyName}, navigating
	 * if necessary. Return {@code null} if not found rather than throwing an exception.
	 * @param propertyName the property to obtain the descriptor for
	 * @return the property descriptor for the specified property,
	 * or {@code null} if not found
	 * @throws BeansException in case of introspection failure
	 */
	protected @Nullable PropertyHandler getPropertyHandler(String propertyName) throws BeansException {
		Assert.notNull(propertyName, "Property name must not be null");
		AbstractNestablePropertyAccessor nestedPa = getPropertyAccessorForPropertyPath(propertyName);
		return nestedPa.getLocalPropertyHandler(getFinalPath(nestedPa, propertyName));
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to e8729d0438)

Solutions

1. Read the exception's cause to locate the original failure and fix it at the source.
2. If using a custom PropertyHandler, ensure its getValue() only throws InvocationTargetException for target failures.
3. Verify reflection access is permitted (module opens / no SecurityManager blocking).
4. Reproduce with debug logging on org.springframework.beans to capture the underlying cause.

Example fix

// before
@Override public Object getValue() throws Exception {
    if (cached == null) throw new IllegalStateException("not initialized");
    return cached;
}

// after
@Override public Object getValue() throws Exception {
    if (cached == null) cached = compute(); // initialize lazily instead of throwing
    return cached;
}

// Validate custom PropertyHandler.getValue() does not throw non-InvocationTargetException;
// ensure module opens the package to spring-beans before access.

static boolean canReflectivelyAccess(Class<?> bean) {
    return bean.getModule().isOpen(bean.getPackageName(), BeanWrapper.class.getModule());
}

try {
    Object v = wrapper.getPropertyValue(propertyName);
} catch (InvalidPropertyException ex) {
    Throwable cause = ex.getCause();
    // classify and handle (security, illegal state, custom handler bug)
}

When it happens

Trigger: An IllegalStateException or IllegalArgumentException raised while preparing arguments for ph.getValue(); a security/PrivilegedAction failure during getter access; a custom PropertyHandler subclass whose getValue() throws a non-InvocationTargetException.

Common situations: Custom BeanWrapper subclasses/PropertyHandler implementations that throw; security-manager restrictions on reflection; Spring internal failures during resolvable-type resolution; edge cases in Groovy-generated methods.

Related errors

• Bean property '{propertyName}' is not readable or has an inv
• Getter for property '${actualName}' threw exception
• Nested property in path '{propertyName}' does not exist
• No property handler found
• Invalid array index in property path '{tokens.canonicalName}

AI-assisted analysis of spring-projects/spring-framework@e8729d0438 (2026-08-04). Data as JSON: /data/errors/849d2c09f3cdfc2b.json. Report an issue: GitHub.