Accessing Confluence administration pages error out with 'AOP configuration seems to be invalid'

Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.

Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.

*Except Fisheye and Crucible

Summary

Browsing through Confluence administration pages may error out with 'AOP configuration seems to be invalid' 

Environment

This problem was identified in Confluence server and datacenter version 7.4.6. It could also affect later versions of Confluence.

Diagnosis

The following is found in atlassian-confluence.log:

1 2 3 2020-12-30 20:02:47,648 ERROR \[http-nio-8090-exec-3] \[common.error.jersey.ThrowableExceptionMapper] toResponse Uncaught exception thrown by REST service: AOP configuration seems to be invalid: tried calling method \[public default java.util.Collection com.atlassian.plugin.PluginAccessor.getModules(com.atlassian.plugin.predicate.ModuleDescriptorPredicate\)] on target \[com.atlassian.plugin.manager.ProductPluginAccessor@5cbb85]; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: java.lang.ClassCastException@27ce7ecd \-\- referer: https://localhost/admin/dailybackupadmin.action \| url: /rest/licensing/1.0/plugins/plm-licensed \| traceId: a2551bebfe5f0c48 \| userName: admin org.springframework.aop.AopInvocationException: AOP configuration seems to be invalid: tried calling method \[public default java.util.Collection com.atlassian.plugin.PluginAccessor.getModules(com.atlassian.plugin.predicate.ModuleDescriptorPredicate\)] on target \[com.atlassian.plugin.manager.ProductPluginAccessor@5cbb85]; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: java.lang.ClassCastException@27ce7ecd

Cause

Plugin Licensing Manager (PLM) from Adaptavist is installed and no longer compatible.

Per Plugin Licensing Manager (Retired):

The PLM was retired in May 2016 and has been replaced by Atlassian's Universal Plugin Manager (UPM). All licensing now goes through the Atlassian Marketplace.

Solution

Uninstall Adaptavist's Plugin Licensing Manager. To uninstall the plugin:

  1. As a Confluence administrator, navigate to the Manage Apps page

  2. Filter the search by User-installed

  3. Look for Adaptavist's Plugin Licensing Manager

  4. Click on it and on Uninstall button

In case we can't access this page, proceed with Deleting an add-on from the database guide.

Updated on March 20, 2025

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