java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot read field "annotations" because "variableDeclaration" is null

[saicharanvennapusa]

NullPointerException in SourceTypeBinding.resolveTypeFor when compiling anonymous inner class with annotated field on Java 25

AspectJ 1.9.25.1 fails with a NullPointerException when compiling code that contains an anonymous inner class with an annotated field when targeting Java 25. The same code compiles successfully with AspectJ 1.9.22.1 and Java 21.

Code:

TestConfig.java

package com.test;

import jakarta.validation.constraints.NotNull;

public class TestConfig {
    public void testMethod() {
        // Anonymous inner class with annotation - this triggers the bug
        Object obj = new Object() {
            @NotNull(message = "test message")
            String field;
        };
        System.out.println("Created: " + obj);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new TestConfig().testMethod();
        System.out.println("Success!");
    }
}


**LoggingAspect.java**

package com.test;

import org.aspectj.lang.JoinPoint;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Before;

@Aspect
public class LoggingAspect {

    @Before("execution(* com.test.TestConfig.testMethod(..))")
    public void logBeforeTestMethod(JoinPoint joinPoint) {
        System.out.println(">>> ASPECT TRIGGERED: Before executing " + joinPoint.getSignature());
    }
}

pom.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>com.test</groupId>
    <artifactId>aspectj-test</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <packaging>jar</packaging>

    <properties>
        <maven.compiler.release>25</maven.compiler.release>
        <maven.compiler.source>25</maven.compiler.source>
        <maven.compiler.target>25</maven.compiler.target>
        <aspectj.version>1.9.25.1</aspectj.version>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.aspectj</groupId>
            <artifactId>aspectjrt</artifactId>
            <version>${aspectj.version}</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>jakarta.validation</groupId>
            <artifactId>jakarta.validation-api</artifactId>
            <version>3.0.2</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>dev.aspectj</groupId>
                <artifactId>aspectj-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>1.14.1</version>
                <configuration>
                    <showWeaveInfo>true</showWeaveInfo>
                    <verbose>true</verbose>
                    <Xlint>ignore</Xlint>
                    <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
                    <source>25</source>
                    <target>25</target>
                </configuration>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>compile</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
                <dependencies>
                    <dependency>
                        <groupId>org.aspectj</groupId>
                        <artifactId>aspectjtools</artifactId>
                        <version>${aspectj.version}</version>
                    </dependency>
                </dependencies>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>


Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a Maven project with the files above
2. Ensure JAVA_HOME points to Java 25
3. Run mvn clean compile

Expected Behavior

The project should compile successfully and AspectJ should weave the aspect into the target class.


<img width="1453" height="612" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/edb60edf-1cdc-4d04-9645-224550f0726e" />