PH35078: SOAP RESPONSE MESSAGE IS NOT VALID, BUT WEBSPHERE PARSING SHOULD NOT FAIL IT WITH NULLPOINTEREXCEPTION.

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• This problem occurs because the SOAP response message, which
  contains the SOAP Fault, is not valid. The SOAP Body contains
  <ns17:UpdateThirdPartyRequest> as the first child element,
  which is not allowed according to the SOAP specification. When
  I removed this element from SOAP Body of the response message
  and only kept the <Fault> element, the test passed.
  According
  to the SOAP specification, the Fault element must be the only
  child element of SOAP Body as described in section 5.4 of SOAP
  specification:
  Section 5.4:
  (https://www.w3.org/TR/soap12-part1/#soapfault)
  To be
  recognized as carrying SOAP error information, a SOAP message
  MUST contain a single SOAP Fault element information item as
  the only child element information item of the SOAP Body.
  Also,
  in the following Oracle tutorial (https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19
  159-01/819-3669/bnbin/index.html), I see this
  statement:
  "Furthermore, if there is a SOAP fault element in
  the SOAP body, there can be no other elements in the SOAP
  body."
  Although the SOAP response message is not valid,
  WebSphere should not fail with NullPointerException.
  
  
  Example:
  [10/02/21 10:08:16:226 AEDT] 0000008f webapp E
  com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebApp logServletError
  SRVE0293E: [Servlet Error]-[ClientServlet]:
  javax.xml.ws.WebServiceException:
  java.lang.NullPointerException
   at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.Except
  
  ionFactory.createWebServiceException(ExceptionFactory.java:175)
  
  at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.ExceptionFactory.makeWebServiceExcepti
  on(ExceptionFactory.java:70)
   at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.Exceptio
  nFactory.makeWebServiceException(ExceptionFactory.java:128)
   at
  org.apache.axis2.jaxws.client.dispatch.BaseDispatch.invoke(BaseD
  ispatch.java:246)
  ..
  Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
  
  at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.message.impl.XMLPartBase.getXMLFault(X
  MLPartBase.java:413)
   at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.message.impl.Mes
  sageImpl.getXMLFault(MessageImpl.java:627)
   at org.apache.axis2.
  jaxws.client.dispatch.BaseDispatch.getFaultResponse(BaseDispatch
  .java:851)
   at org.apache.axis2.jaxws.client.dispatch.BaseDispat
  ch.invoke(BaseDispatch.java:206)
   ... 28 more
  

Local fix

• Correct Soap message
  

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED:  IBM WebSphere Application Server users of   *
  *                  JAX-WS Web Services applications            *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: NullPointerException occurs when        *
  *                      processing SOAP response with           *
  *                      incorrect SOAP Fault data               *
  ****************************************************************
  * RECOMMENDATION:                                              *
  ****************************************************************
  The following NullPointerException occurs when processing SOAP
  response which contains extra element inside the SOAP Body
  along with the Fault element:
  Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
  at
  org.apache.axis2.jaxws.message.impl.XMLPartBase.getXMLFault(XMLP
  artBase.java:413)
  at
  org.apache.axis2.jaxws.message.impl.MessageImpl.getXMLFault(Mess
  ageImpl.java:627)
  at
  org.apache.axis2.jaxws.client.dispatch.BaseDispatch.getFaultResp
  onse(BaseDispatch.java:851)
  

Problem conclusion

• This problem occurred because the SOAP Body in the SOAP
  response message contained an extra element along with the
  Fault element, which is not allowed according to the SOAP
  specification. The Web services code will be updated to throw
  a meaningful error message when processing incorrect response
  message.
  
  The fix for this APAR is targeted for inclusion in fix pack
  8.5.5.21. For more information, see 'Recommended Updates
  for WebSphere Application Server':
  https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/715553
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  WEBS APP SERV N

• Fixed component ID

  5724H8800

Applicable component levels

• R850 PSY

     UP

• R900 PSY

     UP