Symptoms

When administrators tries to access the permissions tab on the Project Administration page, a java.lang.NullPointerException is thrown.

The following appears in the atlassian-jira.log:

2016-01-13 22:58:10,993 http-nio-8080-exec-23 WARN test 1378x104376x1 40dvcs 10.0.2.56 /plugins/servlet/project-config/TES/permissions [c.atlassian.ozymandias.SafePluginPointAccess] Unable to run plugin code because of 'java.lang.NullPointerException - null'.

Or you may see the following error from the UI:

java.lang.NullPointerException
java.lang.NullPointerException
at java.util.Comparator.lambda$comparing$77a9974f$1(Comparator.java:469) [?:1.8.0_102]
at java.util.TimSort.binarySort(TimSort.java:296) [?:1.8.0_102]
at java.util.TimSort.sort(TimSort.java:221) [?:1.8.0_102]
at java.util.Arrays.sort(Arrays.java:1512) [?:1.8.0_102]
at java.util.stream.SortedOps$SizedRefSortingSink.end(SortedOps.java:348) [?:1.8.0_102]
at java.util.stream.Sink$ChainedReference.end(Sink.java:258) [?:1.8.0_102]
...

Cause

This error is caused by invalid entries for project permissions.

Resolution

1. Run the following query to confirm there are invalid entries:

   select *
   from nodeassociation
   where association_type = 'ProjectScheme'
   and not exists (select 'x' from project where project.id = source_node_id);

2. Stop JIRA

3. Run the following query to delete the invalid entries:

   delete
   from nodeassociation
   where association_type = 'ProjectScheme'
   and not exists (select 'x' from project where project.id = source_node_id);

4. Restart JIRA