NullPointerException is thrown when making a SOAP service call to Portal_UserService - addUser

• Type: Regression Bug
• Status: Closed
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: Master
• Fix Version/s: 7.0.0 DXP FP89, 7.0.10.13 DXP SP13, 7.0.X, 7.1.10 DXP FP17, 7.1.10.4 SP4, 7.1.X, 7.2.10 DXP FP4, 7.2.X, 7.3.0 CE GA1, 7.3.10 DXP GA1, Master
• Component/s: Web Services > SOAP
• Labels:
  • ee-ts
  • liferay-dxp-70-sp13
  • liferay-dxp-71-sp4
  • liferay-fixpack-de-89-7010
  • liferay-fixpack-dxp-17-7110
  • liferay-fixpack-dxp-4-7210
• Branch Version/s:
  7.2.x, 7.1.x, 7.0.x
• Backported to Branch:
  Committed
• Fix Priority: 3
• Last Working Version:
  7.2.10.1 DXP SP1
• Git Pull Request: https://github.com/brianchandotcom/liferay-portal/pull/82827

Description
A NullPointerException is thrown when a SOAP Service call is made to the addUser operation with fewer arguments.

Context
The addUser operation has overloaded methods, where one method has fewer arguments than the other method.

• Method with fewer arguments: UserServiceSoap.java#L211-L221
• Method with more arguments: UserServiceSoap.java#L294-L310

The bug is reproduced when making a service call to the method with fewer arguments.

Issue
When making a SOAP Service call with the addUser operation to the method with fewer arguments, the call actually ends up at the method with more arguments.

As a result, a NullPointerException is encountered, due to the unexpected additional arguments that are now being provided as nulls.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Startup Liferay with 7.2 DXP with Fix Pack 3
2. Setup Postman (or any other tool that can send SOAP requests)
3. Create Request in Postman
   • Option 1: Import the attached script into Postman (see section below - Additional Resource: Postman Script)
   • Option 2: Prepare a POST request to: http://localhost:8080/api/axis/Portal_UserService?wsdl
     • Navigate to 'Authorization' tab
       • Input the test Liferay user's credentials (e.g. [e-mail]//test)
     • Navigate to 'Headers' tab
       • Add the following Header:
         • Key: SOAPAction
         • Value:
     • Navigate to the 'Body' tab
       • Input the following SOAP body:

         <soapenv:Envelope xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:urn="urn:http.service.portal.liferay.com" xmlns:soapenc="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/">
            <soapenv:Header/>
            <soapenv:Body>
               <urn:addUser soapenv:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/">
                  <companyId xsi:type="xsd:long">20101</companyId>
                  <autoPassword xsi:type="xsd:boolean">false</autoPassword>
                  <password1 xsi:type="xsd:string">test</password1>
                  <password2 xsi:type="xsd:string">test</password2>
                  <autoScreenName xsi:type="xsd:boolean">false</autoScreenName>
                  <screenName xsi:type="xsd:string">testSoapUser</screenName>
                  <emailAddress xsi:type="xsd:string">[e-mail]</emailAddress>
                  <facebookId xsi:type="xsd:long">0</facebookId>
                  <openId xsi:type="xsd:string"></openId>
                  <locale xsi:type="xsd:string"></locale>
                  <firstName xsi:type="xsd:string">TestSoapUser</firstName>
                  <middleName xsi:type="xsd:string"></middleName>
                  <lastName xsi:type="xsd:string">Test</lastName>
                  <prefixId xsi:type="xsd:long">0</prefixId>
                  <suffixId xsi:type="xsd:long">0</suffixId>
                  <male xsi:type="xsd:boolean">true</male>
                  <birthdayMonth xsi:type="xsd:int">1</birthdayMonth>
                  <birthdayDay xsi:type="xsd:int">1</birthdayDay>
                  <birthdayYear xsi:type="xsd:int">2019</birthdayYear>
                  <jobTitle xsi:type="xsd:string">User</jobTitle>
                  <groupIds xsi:type="urn:ArrayOf_xsd_long" soapenc:arrayType="xsd:long[]"/>
                  <organizationIds xsi:type="urn:ArrayOf_xsd_long" soapenc:arrayType="xsd:long[]"/>
                  <roleIds xsi:type="urn:ArrayOf_xsd_long" soapenc:arrayType="xsd:long[]"/>
                  <userGroupIds xsi:type="urn:ArrayOf_xsd_long" soapenc:arrayType="xsd:long[]"/>
                  <sendEmail xsi:type="xsd:boolean">false</sendEmail>
                  <serviceContext xsi:type="ser:ServiceContext" xmlns:ser="http://service.kernel.portal.liferay.com"/>
               </urn:addUser>
            </soapenv:Body>
         </soapenv:Envelope>

       • Note: Modify the companyId to your Liferay Instance's companyId, if needed
4. Click Send

Expected Results:
No errors are encountered and the user: TestSoapUser is successfully created

Actual Results:
NullPointerException is encountered

---

Additional Resource: Postman Script
Here is also a copy of the Postman script that's based on the steps above: SOAP - NPE - POC.postman_collection.json

This can be imported within Postman: https://learning.getpostman.com/docs/postman/collections/data-formats/#importing-postman-data

Additional Test Results - Works with 7.2 DXP SP1 (Fix Pack 2)

• Startup Liferay with 7.2 DXP SP1
• Follow steps 2-4

Result:
No errors are encountered and the user: TestSoapUser is successfully created