IllegalStateException When Calling sendError() After Response Commit and StackOverflowError During JSON Conversion

[YuJun Oh]

Problem Description

In our Spring Boot application, we're encountering an IllegalStateException when attempting to call sendError() after the HTTP response has already been committed. Additionally, during the processing of a request, a HttpMessageNotWritableException triggers a StackOverflowError due to infinite recursion during JSON conversion.

Error Log

2024-03-09T23:09:33.425+09:00 WARN 13960 --- [nio-9090-exec-4] .w.s.m.s.DefaultHandlerExceptionResolver : Failure while trying to resolve exception [org.springframework.http.converter.HttpMessageNotWritableException]

java.lang.IllegalStateException: Cannot call sendError() after the response has been committed
at org.apache.catalina.connector.ResponseFacade.checkCommitted(ResponseFacade.java:485) ~[tomcat-embed-core-10.1.18.jar:10.1.18]
at org.apache.catalina.connector.ResponseFacade.sendError(ResponseFacade.java:337) ~[tomcat-embed-core-10.1.18.jar:10.1.18]
at jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletResponseWrapper.sendError(HttpServletResponseWrapper.java:97) ~[tomcat-embed-core-10.1.18.jar:6.0]
at jakarta.servlet.http.HttpServletResponseWrapper.sendError(HttpServletResponseWrapper.java:97) ~[tomcat-embed-core-10.1.18.jar:6.0]

2024-03-09T23:09:33.434+09:00 ERROR 13960 --- [nio-9090-exec-4] o.a.c.c.C.[.[.[/].[dispatcherServlet] : Servlet.service() for servlet [dispatcherServlet] in context with path [] threw exception [Request processing failed: org.springframework.http.converter.HttpMessageNotWritableException: Could not write JSON: Infinite recursion (StackOverflowError)] with root cause

java.lang.StackOverflowError: null

Reproduction Steps

The issue appears to manifest when handling specific requests that lead to an infinite recursion due to cyclic references during JSON conversion. Also, attempting to call sendError() after the response has already been committed results in an IllegalStateException.

Suspected Causes

• StackOverflowError: Arises from cyclic references among objects being converted to JSON, leading to infinite recursion.
• IllegalStateException: Results from attempting to call sendError() after the response has already been committed due to incorrect handling flow.