Spring Boot WebMvcTest, what is causing IllegalArgumentException here?

Question

i have the following WebMvcTest in a Spring Boot project. I have HTTPS and JWT token authentication enabled. The test worked before i had HTTPS and JWT, but after adding them it gives an IllegalArgumentException.

I can't for the life of me figure out where the exception is coming from. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Test class:

@RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
@WebMvcTest(controllers = ActionController.class)
public class ActionControllerTests {

    @Autowired
    private MockMvc mvc;

    @MockBean
    private ActionService service;

    @MockBean
    private UserDetailsService userDetailsService;

    @MockBean
    private JwtRequestFilter jwtRequestFilter;

    @Test
    @WithMockUser
    public void testGetActions_returns_result_from_service() throws Exception {
        int actionId = 1;
        Action action = new Action();
        action.setId(actionId);
        List<Action> actionsList = Arrays.asList(action);

        given(service.getActions()).willReturn(actionsList);

        mvc.perform(get("/actions").secure(true)
                .contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON))
                .andExpect(status().isOk())
                .andExpect(jsonPath("$", hasSize(1)))
                .andExpect(jsonPath("$[0].id", Matchers.is(actionId)));
    }
}

It throws this IllegalArgumentException:

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Attribute name must not be null

    at org.springframework.util.Assert.notNull(Assert.java:198)
    at org.springframework.mock.web.MockHttpServletRequest.setAttribute(MockHttpServletRequest.java:756)
    at javax.servlet.ServletRequestWrapper.setAttribute(ServletRequestWrapper.java:257)
    at javax.servlet.ServletRequestWrapper.setAttribute(ServletRequestWrapper.java:257)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:117)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:334)
    at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.logout.LogoutFilter.doFilter(LogoutFilter.java:116)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:334)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.CorsFilter.doFilterInternal(CorsFilter.java:92)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:119)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:334)
    at org.springframework.security.web.header.HeaderWriterFilter.doHeadersAfter(HeaderWriterFilter.java:92)
    at org.springframework.security.web.header.HeaderWriterFilter.doFilterInternal(HeaderWriterFilter.java:77)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:119)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:334)
    at org.springframework.security.web.context.SecurityContextPersistenceFilter.doFilter(SecurityContextPersistenceFilter.java:105)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:334)
    at org.springframework.security.web.context.request.async.WebAsyncManagerIntegrationFilter.doFilterInternal(WebAsyncManagerIntegrationFilter.java:56)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:119)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:334)
    at org.springframework.security.web.access.channel.ChannelProcessingFilter.doFilter(ChannelProcessingFilter.java:157)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:334)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy.doFilterInternal(FilterChainProxy.java:215)
    at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:178)
    at org.springframework.mock.web.MockFilterChain.doFilter(MockFilterChain.java:134)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.RequestContextFilter.doFilterInternal(RequestContextFilter.java:100)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:119)
    at org.springframework.mock.web.MockFilterChain.doFilter(MockFilterChain.java:134)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.FormContentFilter.doFilterInternal(FormContentFilter.java:93)
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:119)
    at org.springframework.mock.web.MockFilterChain.doFilter(MockFilterChain.java:134)
    at org.springframework.test.web.servlet.MockMvc.perform(MockMvc.java:183)
    at nl.kars.lms.controller.ActionControllerTests.testGetActions_returns_result_from_service(ActionControllerTests.java:57)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:566)
    at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:50)
    at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
    at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:47)
    at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.InvokeMethod.evaluate(InvokeMethod.java:17)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestExecutionCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestExecutionCallbacks.java:74)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestExecutionCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestExecutionCallbacks.java:84)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestMethodCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestMethodCallbacks.java:75)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestMethodCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestMethodCallbacks.java:86)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.SpringRepeat.evaluate(SpringRepeat.java:84)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runLeaf(ParentRunner.java:325)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:251)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:97)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:290)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:71)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:288)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:58)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:268)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.java:61)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.java:70)
    at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:363)
    at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.run(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:190)
    at org.junit.runner.JUnitCore.run(JUnitCore.java:137)
    at com.intellij.junit4.JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.startRunnerWithArgs(JUnit4IdeaTestRunner.java:68)
    at com.intellij.rt.junit.IdeaTestRunner$Repeater.startRunnerWithArgs(IdeaTestRunner.java:33)
    at com.intellij.rt.junit.JUnitStarter.prepareStreamsAndStart(JUnitStarter.java:230)
    at com.intellij.rt.junit.JUnitStarter.main(JUnitStarter.java:58)

Thanks a bunch.

Answer 1

For me removing below line fix the issue

 @MockBean
 protected JwtTokenFilter jwtTokenFilter;

It seems that @WebMvcTest automatically configures security beans.

Answer 2

Mocking jwtRequestFilter causes Spring to attempt to use the mock as an actual filter. This is what is causing the exception.

Kumar V's answer of adding @AutoConfigureMockMvc(addFilters = false) is only a workaround because it disables the JwtRequestFilter, which is not good practice in this case.

You have 2 options:

1. Remove the mocked JwtRequestFilter entirely, or
2. Configure all necessary behavior into the mocked jwtRequestFilter with given().willReturn();

I recommend option 1 in this scenario, unless there is a specific reason why you do not want to use the real JwtRequestFilter.

Answer 3

Looks like some internal filters (related to security) kicked in for this request.

If your test case is not intended to test anything related to filters, we can disable all the filters using @AutoConfigureMockMvc(addFilters = false) for your test case