An unknown exception occured executing Validator com.atlassian.jira.workflow.SkippableValidator

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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

While trying to clone an issue with attachments, it might display a workflow exception error about the validator even though the original issue has attachments.

Environment

8.20.6

9.4.7

ℹ️ This issue was not tested on other versions than the above. However, it is most likely this issue is happening way before these versions.

Diagnosis

After trying to clone the issue with attachments, you should along with the Jira UI error, the following error on the logs.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 2023-08-01 15:49:55,125+0000 JiraTaskExecutionThread-10 ERROR admin 949x3798x1 if3i00 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx /secure/CloneIssueDetails.jspa [c.a.j.bc.issue.DefaultIssueService] com.atlassian.jira.workflow.WorkflowException: An unknown exception occured executing Validator com.atlassian.jira.workflow.SkippableValidator@101ee09d: root cause: java.lang.NullPointerException com.atlassian.jira.exception.CreateException: com.atlassian.jira.workflow.WorkflowException: An unknown exception occured executing Validator com.atlassian.jira.workflow.SkippableValidator@101ee09d: root cause: java.lang.NullPointerException at com.atlassian.jira.issue.managers.DefaultIssueManager.createIssue(DefaultIssueManager.java:508) at com.atlassian.jira.issue.managers.DefaultIssueManager.createIssueObject(DefaultIssueManager.java:602) at com.atlassian.jira.issue.managers.RequestCachingIssueManager.createIssueObject(RequestCachingIssueManager.java:212) at com.atlassian.jira.bc.issue.CloneIssueCommand.call(CloneIssueCommand.java:133) at com.atlassian.jira.bc.issue.CloneIssueCommand.call(CloneIssueCommand.java:61) at com.atlassian.jira.task.TaskManagerImpl$TaskCallableDecorator.call(TaskManagerImpl.java:528) at com.atlassian.jira.task.TaskManagerImpl$TaskCallableDecorator.call(TaskManagerImpl.java:486) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:515) at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264) at com.atlassian.jira.task.ForkedThreadExecutor$ForkedRunnableDecorator.run(ForkedThreadExecutor.java:216) at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:829) Caused by: com.atlassian.jira.workflow.WorkflowException: An unknown exception occured executing Validator com.atlassian.jira.workflow.SkippableValidator@101ee09d: root cause: java.lang.NullPointerException at com.atlassian.jira.workflow.OSWorkflowManager.createIssue(OSWorkflowManager.java:773) at com.atlassian.jira.issue.managers.DefaultIssueManager.createIssue(DefaultIssueManager.java:499) ... 11 more Caused by: com.opensymphony.workflow.WorkflowException: An unknown exception occured executing Validator com.atlassian.jira.workflow.SkippableValidator@101ee09d: root cause: java.lang.NullPointerException at com.opensymphony.workflow.AbstractWorkflow.verifyInputs(AbstractWorkflow.java:1477) at com.opensymphony.workflow.AbstractWorkflow.initialize(AbstractWorkflow.java:606) at com.atlassian.jira.workflow.OSWorkflowManager.createIssue(OSWorkflowManager.java:754) ... 12 more Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException at com.atlassian.jira.issue.managers.DefaultAttachmentManager.getStoredAttachments(DefaultAttachmentManager.java:193) at com.atlassian.jira.issue.managers.DefaultAttachmentManager.getAttachments(DefaultAttachmentManager.java:187) at com.atlassian.jira.issue.AbstractIssue.getAttachments(AbstractIssue.java:71) at ch.beecom.jira.jsu.workflow.check.fieldsrequired.FieldsRequiredCheck.performCheck(FieldsRequiredCheck.java:101) at ch.beecom.jira.jsu.workflow.check.AbstractCheck.performCheckAsPreconditionAware(AbstractCheck.java:267) at com.atlassian.jira.workflow.SkippableValidator.validate(SkippableValidator.java:45) at com.opensymphony.workflow.AbstractWorkflow.verifyInputs(AbstractWorkflow.java:1466)

Cause

From the log above, we can see the ch.beecom.jira.jsu class, which is related to the Fields Required validator feature from the JSU Automation Suite for Jira Workflows app.

This bug should happen with any 3rd-party app that uses this validator feature. It's known it happens with ScriptRunner too.

This issue happens because the Clone Issue process doesn't load the Attachment Manager class, so it can't load the issue attachments during the process, causing the NPE.

Solution

Solution/Workaround

This bug is already tracked under this JRASERVER-76123 - Users cannot clone issues if the field required workflow validator includes the field Attachment ticket.

The workaround for the cloning issue in this scenario is to disable the validator in order to clone the issue.

Updated on April 8, 2025

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