spring-boot: NullPointerException when using Spring Data JPA native queries in Spring Boot 2.7.9 and 3.0.3

My build randomly stopped working today. After a couple hours of troubleshooting looking at some useless errors, my coworkers and I figured out that updating to 2.7.9 was what broke things. (we automatically update minor versions). This issue is very likely due to a sub-dependency issue, but I don’t have the time to figure out which one causes it.

Here’s the error (I’ve removed sensitive names)

org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'basicSecurityConfiguration' defined in file [/app/build/classes/kotlin/main/com/focused/odin/BasicSecurityConfiguration.class]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor parameter 0; 
nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'RedactedServiceName' defined in file [/app/build/classes/kotlin/main/com/focused/odin/service/RedactedServiceName.class]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor parameter 2; 
nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'redactedRepositoryName' defined in com.focused.odin.repository.unclassified.RedactedRepositoryName defined in @EnableJpaRepositories declared on JPAConfiguration: Invocation of init method failed; 
nested exception is org.springframework.data.repository.query.QueryCreationException: Could not create query for public abstract void com.focused.odin.repository.unclassified.RedactedRepositoryName.redactedRepsitoryFunction(long); 
Reason: Cannot invoke "String.contains(java.lang.CharSequence)" because "variable" is null; 
nested exception is java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "String.contains(java.lang.CharSequence)" because "variable" is null
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.createArgumentArray(ConstructorResolver.java:800) ~[spring-beans-5.3.25.jar:5.3.25]
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.autowireConstructor(ConstructorResolver.java:229) ~[spring-beans-5.3.25.jar:5.3.25]
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.autowireConstructor(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1372) ~[spring-beans-5.3.25.jar:5.3.25]
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBeanInstance(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1222) ~[spring-beans-5.3.25.jar:5.3.25]
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:582) ~[spring-beans-5.3.25.jar:5.3.25]
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:542) ~[spring-beans-5.3.25.jar:5.3.25]
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.lambda$doGetBean$0(AbstractBeanFactory.java:335) ~[spring-beans-5.3.25.jar:5.3.25]
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:234) ~[spring-beans-5.3.25.jar:5.3.25]
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:333) ~[spring-beans-5.3.25.jar:5.3.25]
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:208) ~[spring-beans-5.3.25.jar:5.3.25]
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:955) ~[spring-beans-5.3.25.jar:5.3.25]
        at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:918) ~[spring-context-5.3.25.jar:5.3.25]
        at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:583) ~[spring-context-5.3.25.jar:5.3.25]
        at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.refresh(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:147) ~[spring-boot-2.7.9.jar:2.7.9]
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:731) ~[spring-boot-2.7.9.jar:2.7.9]
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:408) ~[spring-boot-2.7.9.jar:2.7.9]
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:307) ~[spring-boot-2.7.9.jar:2.7.9]
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1303) ~[spring-boot-2.7.9.jar:2.7.9]
        at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1292) ~[spring-boot-2.7.9.jar:2.7.9]

there’s a bunch of caused by caused by caused by. But the last one is this:

Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "String.contains(java.lang.CharSequence)" because "variable" is null
        at org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.query.QueryUtils.createCountQueryFor(QueryUtils.java:607) ~[spring-data-jpa-2.7.8.jar:2.7.8]
        at org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.query.DefaultQueryEnhancer.createCountQueryFor(DefaultQueryEnhancer.java:49) ~[spring-data-jpa-2.7.8.jar:2.7.8]
        at org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.query.StringQuery.deriveCountQuery(StringQuery.java:119) ~[spring-data-jpa-2.7.8.jar:2.7.8]
        at org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.query.AbstractStringBasedJpaQuery.<init>(AbstractStringBasedJpaQuery.java:72) ~[spring-data-jpa-2.7.8.jar:2.7.8]
        at org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.query.NativeJpaQuery.<init>(NativeJpaQuery.java:53) ~[spring-data-jpa-2.7.8.jar:2.7.8]
        at org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.query.JpaQueryFactory.fromMethodWithQueryString(JpaQueryFactory.java:51) ~[spring-data-jpa-2.7.8.jar:2.7.8]
        at org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.query.JpaQueryLookupStrategy$DeclaredQueryLookupStrategy.resolveQuery(JpaQueryLookupStrategy.java:169) ~[spring-data-jpa-2.7.8.jar:2.7.8]
        at org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.query.JpaQueryLookupStrategy$CreateIfNotFoundQueryLookupStrategy.resolveQuery(JpaQueryLookupStrategy.java:253) ~[spring-data-jpa-2.7.8.jar:2.7.8]
        at org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.query.JpaQueryLookupStrategy$AbstractQueryLookupStrategy.resolveQuery(JpaQueryLookupStrategy.java:93) ~[spring-data-jpa-2.7.8.jar:2.7.8]
        at org.springframework.data.repository.core.support.QueryExecutorMethodInterceptor.lookupQuery(QueryExecutorMethodInterceptor.java:103) ~[spring-data-commons-2.7.8.jar:2.7.8]
        ... 71 common frames omitted

Then the function on the repository that’s causing the issue looks something like this:

  @Modifying
  @Transactional
  @Query(
    value = """
      UPDATE redacted
      SET
        value = true
      WHERE
        fk_value = :id
      AND
        string_value = 'Password Expires Soon'
      AND
        boolean_value is false""",
    nativeQuery = true
  )
  fun redactedRepositoryFunction(id: Long)

I’m confident that it’s these nativeQuery repository functions that are breaking because if I comment out this function a different nativeQuery in a different repository causes the same error to throw.

I’m happy to help track this down however I can. I’d be surprised if I’m the only one who has/will run into this.