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Published Jun. 30, 2025

Error "Someone may be trying to circumvent the permission checker" when deleting a virtual instance

Written By

Jamilly Macedo

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Issue

  • When attempting to delete a virtual instance, users may encounter the following error: 
javax.portlet.PortletException: com.liferay.portal.kernel.exception.SystemException: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Someone may be trying to circumvent the permission checker: {companyId=12345, name=com.liferay.document.library, primKey=com.liferay.document.library, scope=4}
   at com.liferay.portal.kernel.portlet.bridges.mvc.BaseMVCActionCommand.processAction(BaseMVCActionCommand.java:69)
   at com.liferay.portal.kernel.portlet.bridges.mvc.MVCPortlet.callActionMethod(MVCPortlet.java:378)
   at com.liferay.portal.kernel.portlet.LiferayPortlet.processAction(LiferayPortlet.java:88)
   (...)
Caused by: com.liferay.portal.kernel.exception.SystemException: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Someone may be trying to circumvent the permission checker: {companyId=12345, name=com.liferay.document.library, primKey=com.liferay.document.library, scope=4}
   at com.liferay.portal.kernel.dao.orm.DefaultActionableDynamicQuery.doPerformActions(DefaultActionableDynamicQuery.java:340)
   at com.liferay.portal.kernel.dao.orm.DefaultActionableDynamicQuery.performActions(DefaultActionableDynamicQuery.java:86)
   at com.liferay.portal.service.impl.CompanyLocalServiceImpl.doDeleteCompany(CompanyLocalServiceImpl.java:1441)
   (...)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Someone may be trying to circumvent the permission checker: {companyId=12345, name=com.liferay.document.library, primKey=com.liferay.document.library, scope=4}
   at com.liferay.portal.security.permission.AdvancedPermissionChecker._hasUserPermissionImpl(AdvancedPermissionChecker.java:1526)
   at com.liferay.portal.security.permission.AdvancedPermissionChecker._hasPermissionImpl(AdvancedPermissionChecker.java:1482)
   at com.liferay.portal.security.permission.AdvancedPermissionChecker.hasPermission(AdvancedPermissionChecker.java:306)
   at com.liferay.portal.security.permission.BasePermissionChecker.hasPermission(BasePermissionChecker.java:114)
   (...)

Environment

  • Liferay DXP 7.2

Resolution

  • This error occurs due to the necessity of deleting all repositories within the virtual instance before it can be successfully removed.
  • To resolve this issue, we need to run the deleteRepositories.groovy. 
    • The script only operates on one instance. We should edit the variable VirtualInstanceCompanyId for that instance to apply the script successfully.

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