Cannot Restore XML Backup Due to PropertyValueException Not Null

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

Symptoms

During restore, the logs show a message like:

1 ERROR [Importing data task] [confluence.importexport.impl.ReverseDatabinder] endElement net.sf.hibernate.PropertyValueException: not-null property references a null or transient value: com.atlassian.user.impl.hibernate.DefaultHibernateUser.name

Cause

This means there's an unexpected null value in a table. In the above example, the error is in the name column in the USERS table. We've also seen them in the ATTACHMENTS table.

Resolution

Remove the row with the null value, redo the xml export, and reimport.

Updated on April 24, 2025

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