spring-projects/spring-framework · error · InvalidPropertyException

Index of out of bounds in property path '${propertyName}'

Error message

Index of out of bounds in property path '${propertyName}'

What it means

Catch block in getPropertyValue(PropertyTokenHolder) for IndexOutOfBoundsException thrown while applying keys (e.g. Array.get or List.get with a bad index that escaped the earlier Collection-size check). Spring rewraps it as InvalidPropertyException 'Index of out of bounds'. Note the literal message in source is 'Index of out of bounds' (a pre-existing typo for 'out of bounds') followed by the property path.

Source

Thrown at spring-beans/src/main/java/org/springframework/beans/AbstractNestablePropertyAccessor.java:687

											currIndex + ", accessed using property path '" + propertyName + "'");
						}
					}
					else {
						throw new InvalidPropertyException(getRootClass(), this.nestedPath + propertyName,
								"Property referenced in indexed property path '" + propertyName +
										"' is neither an array nor a List/Set/Collection/Iterable nor a Map; " +
										"returned value was [" + value + "]");
					}
					indexedPropertyName.append(PROPERTY_KEY_PREFIX).append(key).append(PROPERTY_KEY_SUFFIX);
				}
			}
			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);
		}
	}


	/**

View on GitHub (pinned to e8729d0438)

Solutions

1. Validate the index against the collection size before reading.
2. Enable autoGrowNestedPaths (with an adequate autoGrowCollectionLimit) for read tolerance.
3. Pre-size or populate the collection so the index exists.

Example fix

// before
List<Integer> ids = List.of(1, 2, 3);
bean.setIds(ids);
Object v = wrapper.getPropertyValue("ids[5]"); // OOB

// after
int idx = 5;
Object v = ((List<?>) wrapper.getPropertyValue("ids")).size() > idx
    ? wrapper.getPropertyValue("ids[" + idx + "]") : null;

Object coll = wrapper.getPropertyValue(propertyName.replaceAll("\\[.*$", ""));
int idx = Integer.parseInt(propertyName.replaceAll(".*\\[|\\].*", ""));
int size = coll.getClass().isArray() ? Array.getLength(coll)
    : (coll instanceof Collection<?> c ? c.size() : -1);
if (idx >= 0 && idx < size) {
    wrapper.getPropertyValue(propertyName);
}

static boolean indexInBounds(Object coll, int idx) {
    if (coll == null) return false;
    if (coll.getClass().isArray()) return idx >= 0 && idx < Array.getLength(coll);
    if (coll instanceof Collection<?> c) return idx >= 0 && idx < c.size();
    return false;
}

try { Object v = wrapper.getPropertyValue(propertyName); }
catch (InvalidPropertyException ex) { v = null; }

When it happens

Trigger: getProperty("items[99]") on a List/array of size 5 with autoGrow off (the generic Collection guard does not cover List/array direct access); reading an array index beyond its length.

Common situations: Reading past the end of a List/array via SpEL or BeanWrapper; binding code using untrusted indices; autoGrow disabled while expecting tolerant reads.

Related errors

• Invalid array index in property path '{tokens.canonicalName}
• Invalid list index in property path '{tokens.canonicalName}'
• Cannot get element with index {index} from Collection of siz
• Cannot get element with index {index} from Iterable of size
• No property handler found

AI-assisted analysis of spring-projects/spring-framework@e8729d0438 (2026-08-04). Data as JSON: /data/errors/c0e98fb08cfad0dc.json. Report an issue: GitHub.