NullPointerException in new InitialContext() if IIOP endpoints are unreachable

[tnagao7]

Environment Details

• ORB version: ORB 5.0.0 (included in GlassFish 7.0.25)
• JDK version: OpenJDK 21.0.7
• OS: Linux

Problem Description

Unexpected NullPointerException is thrown in new InitialContext() if the specified IIOP endpoints are unreachable.

# java --add-opens java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED -cp /opt/glassfish7/glassfish/lib/gf-client.jar:hello-ejb.jar SampleClient
Jul 16, 2025 2:11:23 PM com.sun.enterprise.v3.server.CommonClassLoaderServiceImpl createClasspathElements
WARNING: The startup context property is not set: com.sun.aas.installRoot
Jul 16, 2025 2:11:24 PM org.glassfish.enterprise.iiop.impl.GlassFishORBManager getORB
INFO: ORB initialization succeeded: com.sun.corba.ee.impl.orb.ORBImpl@176996c3
Jul 16, 2025 2:12:27 PM org.glassfish.enterprise.iiop.impl.GroupInfoServiceObserverImpl doMembershipChange
SEVERE: Problem with membership change notification. Exception occurred.
java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.util.Collection.toArray()" because "c" is null
        at java.base/java.util.ArrayList.<init>(ArrayList.java:181)
        at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.folb.GroupInfoServiceBase.getClusterInstanceInfo(GroupInfoServiceBase.java:78)
        at com.sun.corba.ee.impl.folb.ClientGroupManager.getClusterInstanceInfo(ClientGroupManager.java:551)
        at org.glassfish.enterprise.iiop.impl.GroupInfoServiceObserverImpl.doMembershipChange(GroupInfoServiceObserverImpl.java:66)
        at org.glassfish.enterprise.iiop.impl.GroupInfoServiceObserverImpl.forceMembershipChange(GroupInfoServiceObserverImpl.java:52)
        at org.glassfish.enterprise.iiop.impl.NamingClusterInfoImpl.initGroupInfoService(NamingClusterInfoImpl.java:83)
        at com.sun.enterprise.naming.impl.SerialInitContextFactory.getInitialContext(SerialInitContextFactory.java:144)
        at com.sun.enterprise.naming.SerialInitContextFactory.getInitialContext(SerialInitContextFactory.java:46)
        at java.naming/javax.naming.spi.NamingManager.getInitialContext(NamingManager.java:520)
        at java.naming/javax.naming.InitialContext.getDefaultInitCtx(InitialContext.java:305)
        at java.naming/javax.naming.InitialContext.init(InitialContext.java:236)
        at java.naming/javax.naming.InitialContext.<init>(InitialContext.java:208)
        at SampleClient.main(SampleClient.java:9)

Steps to reproduce

The issue can be reproduced by running a standalone client app like below in GlassFish 7.0.25.

import java.util.Properties;
import javax.naming.InitialContext;
import javax.naming.NamingException;

public class SampleClient {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws NamingException {
        Properties properties = new Properties();
        properties.setProperty("com.sun.appserv.iiop.endpoints", "dummyhost:3700");
        InitialContext ic = new InitialContext(properties);
        // ...
    }
}

In the above app, the com.sun.appserv.iiop.endpoints property refers to an unreachable IIOP endpoint.

The standalone client app can be run as follows.

$ java --add-opens java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED -cp .:/path/to/glassfish/lib/gf-client.jar SampleClient

Then NullPointerException occurrs as in the log mentioned earlier.