Spring Context Initialization fails when upgrading to version 4.2.3

Question

My project has been running great using Spring 4.2.2.RELEASE and Spring Security 4.0.3.RELEASE. I want to upgrade to the latest Spring version, 4.2.3.RELEASE to take advantage of a bugfix included in the release. I am using Maven for dependency management, so I've adjusted my POMs to look like this:

Parent Project POM:

<modules>
    <module>api</module>
    <module>model</module>
</modules>

<properties>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>

    <spring.version>4.2.3.RELEASE</spring.version>
    <spring-security.version>4.0.3.RELEASE</spring-security.version>

    <!-- ... -->
</properties>

API POM:

<dependencies>
    <!-- ... -->

    <!-- Spring dependencies -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
        <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
        <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
        <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-tx</artifactId>
        <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-aop</artifactId>
        <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-messaging</artifactId>
        <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-websocket</artifactId>
        <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- Spring security dependencies -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-security-web</artifactId>
        <version>${spring-security.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-security-config</artifactId>
        <version>${spring-security.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-security-messaging</artifactId>
        <version>${spring-security.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <!-- ... -->
</dependencies>

When I try to run my project using maven, I get the following exception at runtime:

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: interface org.springframework.core.annotation.SynthesizedAnnotation is not visible from class loader
at java.lang.reflect.Proxy$ProxyClassFactory.apply(Proxy.java:581)
at java.lang.reflect.Proxy$ProxyClassFactory.apply(Proxy.java:557)
at java.lang.reflect.WeakCache$Factory.get(WeakCache.java:230)
at java.lang.reflect.WeakCache.get(WeakCache.java:127)
at java.lang.reflect.Proxy.getProxyClass0(Proxy.java:419)
at java.lang.reflect.Proxy.newProxyInstance(Proxy.java:719)
at org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotationUtils.synthesizeAnnotation(AnnotationUtils.java:1404)
at org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotatedElementUtils.findMergedAnnotation(AnnotatedElementUtils.java:405)
at org.springframework.web.method.HandlerMethod.getMethodAnnotation(HandlerMethod.java:234)
at com.mangofactory.swagger.readers.operation.OperationDeprecatedReader.execute(OperationDeprecatedReader.java:8)
at com.mangofactory.swagger.readers.operation.OperationDeprecatedReader.execute(OperationDeprecatedReader.java:5)
at com.mangofactory.swagger.core.CommandExecutor.execute(CommandExecutor.java:13)
at com.mangofactory.swagger.readers.ApiOperationReader.execute(ApiOperationReader.java:112)
at com.mangofactory.swagger.readers.ApiDescriptionReader.execute(ApiDescriptionReader.java:48)
at com.mangofactory.swagger.readers.ApiDescriptionReader.execute(ApiDescriptionReader.java:19)
at com.mangofactory.swagger.core.CommandExecutor.execute(CommandExecutor.java:13)
at com.mangofactory.swagger.scanners.ApiListingScanner.scan(ApiListingScanner.java:100)
at com.mangofactory.swagger.core.SwaggerApiResourceListing.initialize(SwaggerApiResourceListing.java:72)
at com.mangofactory.swagger.plugin.SwaggerSpringMvcPlugin.initialize(SwaggerSpringMvcPlugin.java:427)
at com.mangofactory.swagger.plugin.SwaggerPluginAdapter.onApplicationEvent(SwaggerPluginAdapter.java:51)
at com.mangofactory.swagger.plugin.SwaggerPluginAdapter.onApplicationEvent(SwaggerPluginAdapter.java:21)
at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.invokeListener(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:163)
at org.springframework.context.event.SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.multicastEvent(SimpleApplicationEventMulticaster.java:136)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.publishEvent(AbstractApplicationContext.java:380)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.publishEvent(AbstractApplicationContext.java:334)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishRefresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:851)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:540)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:667)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initWebApplicationContext(FrameworkServlet.java:539)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.initServletBean(FrameworkServlet.java:493)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.HttpServletBean.init(HttpServletBean.java:136)
at javax.servlet.GenericServlet.init(GenericServlet.java:244)
at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHolder.initServlet(ServletHolder.java:612)
at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHolder.initialize(ServletHolder.java:395)
at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.initialize(ServletHandler.java:871)
at org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletContextHandler.startContext(ServletContextHandler.java:298)
at org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext.startWebapp(WebAppContext.java:1345)
at org.eclipse.jetty.maven.plugin.JettyWebAppContext.startWebapp(JettyWebAppContext.java:296)
at org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext.startContext(WebAppContext.java:1338)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandler.doStart(ContextHandler.java:741)
at org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext.doStart(WebAppContext.java:501)
at org.eclipse.jetty.maven.plugin.JettyWebAppContext.doStart(JettyWebAppContext.java:365)
at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:68)
at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.ContainerLifeCycle.start(ContainerLifeCycle.java:132)
at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.ContainerLifeCycle.doStart(ContainerLifeCycle.java:114)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.AbstractHandler.doStart(AbstractHandler.java:61)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandlerCollection.doStart(ContextHandlerCollection.java:163)
at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:68)
at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.ContainerLifeCycle.start(ContainerLifeCycle.java:132)
at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.ContainerLifeCycle.doStart(ContainerLifeCycle.java:114)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.AbstractHandler.doStart(AbstractHandler.java:61)
at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:68)
at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.ContainerLifeCycle.start(ContainerLifeCycle.java:132)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.Server.start(Server.java:387)
at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.ContainerLifeCycle.doStart(ContainerLifeCycle.java:114)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.AbstractHandler.doStart(AbstractHandler.java:61)
at org.eclipse.jetty.server.Server.doStart(Server.java:354)
at org.eclipse.jetty.maven.plugin.JettyServer.doStart(JettyServer.java:73)
at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:68)
at org.eclipse.jetty.maven.plugin.AbstractJettyMojo.startJetty(AbstractJettyMojo.java:534)
at org.eclipse.jetty.maven.plugin.AbstractJettyMojo.execute(AbstractJettyMojo.java:357)
at org.eclipse.jetty.maven.plugin.JettyRunMojo.execute(JettyRunMojo.java:167)
at org.eclipse.jetty.maven.plugin.JettyStartMojo.execute(JettyStartMojo.java:48)
at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:132)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:208)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:153)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:145)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:116)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:80)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.builder.singlethreaded.SingleThreadedBuilder.build(SingleThreadedBuilder.java:51)
at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute(LifecycleStarter.java:120)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:347)
at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:154)
at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute(MavenCli.java:582)
at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain(MavenCli.java:214)
at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:158)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:497)
at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:289)
at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:229)
at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:415)
at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:356)

I noticed that Spring Security 4.0.3.RELEASE depends on Spring 4.2.2.RELEASE (my old version). Could this be causing the issue?

Answer 1

Like @Marcinek suggested this is a known issue in spring. I did manage to narrow it down further and the spring team has fixed the problem as well .

In any case, this problem has been addressed in the 2.3.0 version using a work around.

I noticed from the stack trace that you're using a very old version of springfox (used to be swagger-springmvc). It might be worth upgrading to the latest version, since the 1.x version and prior will no longer be supported. The latest version brings back support for 3.2.x version of spring as well. Plus if you have any investments in swagger 1.2 in terms of tooling, the springfox library also supports that version of the spec.

More info available in the updated documentation .

Answer 2

According to this spring.io jira issue

https://jira.spring.io/browse/SPR-13696

This seems to be a problem with mixing up two spring versions. So yes, mixing up two versions of spring is not a good idea.