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Published Sep. 10, 2025

ServletException during Liferay startup caused by a NullPointerException

Written By

Dávid Hegedüs

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Issue

  • You might encounter an issue where you face an error when starting up Liferay which prevents proper functioning:
    javax.servlet.ServletException: java.lang.NullPointerException
  at com.liferay.portal.web.internal.PortalWebShieldedContainerInitializer.initialize(PortalWebShieldedContainerInitializer.java:238)
  at com.liferay.shielded.container.internal.ShieldedContainerServletContainerInitializer.onStartup(ShieldedContainerServletContainerInitializer.java:71)
  at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:4904)
  at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:171)
  at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:683)
  at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:658)
  at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:661)
  at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptor(HostConfig.java:689)
  at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployDescriptor.run(HostConfig.java:1888)
  at java.base/java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:515)
  at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
  at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.InlineExecutorService.execute(InlineExecutorService.java:75)
  at java.base/java.util.concurrent.AbstractExecutorService.submit(AbstractExecutorService.java:118)
  at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptors(HostConfig.java:582)
  at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:472)
  at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1617)
  at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java:318)
  at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleBase.java:114)
  at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.setStateInternal(LifecycleBase.java:402)
  at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.setState(LifecycleBase.java:345)
  at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:893)
  at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.startInternal(StandardHost.java:794)
  at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:171)
  at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1332)
  at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1322)
  at java.base/java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264)
  at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.InlineExecutorService.execute(InlineExecutorService.java:75)
  at java.base/java.util.concurrent.AbstractExecutorService.submit(AbstractExecutorService.java:140)
  at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.startInternal(ContainerBase.java:866)
  at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.startInternal(StandardEngine.java:248)
  at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:171)
  at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.startInternal(StandardService.java:433)
  at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:171)
  at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.startInternal(StandardServer.java:921)
  at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:171)
  at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:772)
  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.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:347)
  at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:478)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
  at com.liferay.portal.web.internal.PortalWebShieldedContainerInitializer.lambda$initialize$2(PortalWebShieldedContainerInitializer.java:114)
  at com.liferay.portal.web.internal.PortalWebShieldedContainerInitializer._forEachChildElement(PortalWebShieldedContainerInitializer.java:253)
  at com.liferay.portal.web.internal.PortalWebShieldedContainerInitializer.initialize(PortalWebShieldedContainerInitializer.java:103)
  ... 41 more

Environment

  • Liferay DXP 7.0+

Resolution

  • Test and use a stock/default web.xml file in tomcat/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/
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