"org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Failed to read candidate component class:" When trying to use a configuration class

Question

I am new to Spring, and I'm trying to make a configuration class to configure Spring Security for a spring boot API. However when I created a class with the @Configuration annotation, I got an error. It's the same error whether I try to define beans in the class or if it's an empty class. I tried doing it in a simpler project and I didn't get that error. Here is my config class:

package com.school_database_access_api;

import javax.sql.DataSource;

import org.springframework.config.java.annotation.Configuration;

@Configuration
public class SecurityConfig
{
    
}

And here is the stack trace:

  .   ____          _            __ _ _
 /\\ / ___'_ __ _ _(_)_ __  __ _ \ \ \ \
( ( )\___ | '_ | '_| | '_ \/ _` | \ \ \ \
 \\/  ___)| |_)| | | | | || (_| |  ) ) ) )
  '  |____| .__|_| |_|_| |_\__, | / / / /
 =========|_|==============|___/=/_/_/_/

[32m :: Spring Boot :: [39m              [2m (v3.4.5)[0;39m

[2m2025-05-01T16:18:07.658+02:00[0;39m [32m INFO[0;39m [35m12848[0;39m [2m--- [SchoolDbAccessAPI] [  restartedMain] [0;39m[36mc.s.SchoolDbAccessApiApplication        [0;39m [2m:[0;39m Starting SchoolDbAccessApiApplication using Java 21.0.6 with PID 12848 (C:\Users\lucas\Projets\Eclipse-Workspace\FirstJavaApp\SchoolDbAccessAPI\target\classes started by lucas in C:\Users\lucas\Projets\Eclipse-Workspace\FirstJavaApp\SchoolDbAccessAPI)
[2m2025-05-01T16:18:07.661+02:00[0;39m [32m INFO[0;39m [35m12848[0;39m [2m--- [SchoolDbAccessAPI] [  restartedMain] [0;39m[36mc.s.SchoolDbAccessApiApplication        [0;39m [2m:[0;39m No active profile set, falling back to 1 default profile: "default"
[2m2025-05-01T16:18:07.733+02:00[0;39m [32m INFO[0;39m [35m12848[0;39m [2m--- [SchoolDbAccessAPI] [  restartedMain] [0;39m[36m.e.DevToolsPropertyDefaultsPostProcessor[0;39m [2m:[0;39m Devtools property defaults active! Set 'spring.devtools.add-properties' to 'false' to disable
[2m2025-05-01T16:18:07.733+02:00[0;39m [32m INFO[0;39m [35m12848[0;39m [2m--- [SchoolDbAccessAPI] [  restartedMain] [0;39m[36m.e.DevToolsPropertyDefaultsPostProcessor[0;39m [2m:[0;39m For additional web related logging consider setting the 'logging.level.web' property to 'DEBUG'
[2m2025-05-01T16:18:07.891+02:00[0;39m [33m WARN[0;39m [35m12848[0;39m [2m--- [SchoolDbAccessAPI] [  restartedMain] [0;39m[36mConfigServletWebServerApplicationContext[0;39m [2m:[0;39m Exception encountered during context initialization - cancelling refresh attempt: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Failed to read candidate component class: file [C:\Users\lucas\Projets\Eclipse-Workspace\FirstJavaApp\SchoolDbAccessAPI\target\classes\com\school_database_access_api\SecurityConfig.class]
[2m2025-05-01T16:18:07.959+02:00[0;39m [31mERROR[0;39m [35m12848[0;39m [2m--- [SchoolDbAccessAPI] [  restartedMain] [0;39m[36mo.s.boot.SpringApplication              [0;39m [2m:[0;39m Application run failed

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Failed to read candidate component class: file [C:\Users\lucas\Projets\Eclipse-Workspace\FirstJavaApp\SchoolDbAccessAPI\target\classes\com\school_database_access_api\SecurityConfig.class]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.scanCandidateComponents(ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.java:510) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.findCandidateComponents(ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.java:351) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathBeanDefinitionScanner.doScan(ClassPathBeanDefinitionScanner.java:277) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScanAnnotationParser.parse(ComponentScanAnnotationParser.java:128) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.doProcessConfigurationClass(ConfigurationClassParser.java:346) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.processConfigurationClass(ConfigurationClassParser.java:281) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.parse(ConfigurationClassParser.java:204) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.parse(ConfigurationClassParser.java:172) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.processConfigBeanDefinitions(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:418) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.postProcessBeanDefinitionRegistry(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:290) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanDefinitionRegistryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:349) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:118) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:791) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:609) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.refresh(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:146) ~[spring-boot-3.4.5.jar:3.4.5]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:753) ~[spring-boot-3.4.5.jar:3.4.5]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:439) ~[spring-boot-3.4.5.jar:3.4.5]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:318) ~[spring-boot-3.4.5.jar:3.4.5]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1362) ~[spring-boot-3.4.5.jar:3.4.5]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1351) ~[spring-boot-3.4.5.jar:3.4.5]
    at com.school_database_access_api.SchoolDbAccessApiApplication.main(SchoolDbAccessApiApplication.java:11) ~[classes/:na]
    at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DirectMethodHandleAccessor.invoke(DirectMethodHandleAccessor.java:103) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:580) ~[na:na]
    at org.springframework.boot.devtools.restart.RestartLauncher.run(RestartLauncher.java:50) ~[spring-boot-devtools-3.4.5.jar:3.4.5]
Caused by: java.lang.annotation.AnnotationFormatError: Invalid default: public abstract org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowire org.springframework.config.java.annotation.Configuration.defaultAutowire()
    at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.getDefaultValue(Method.java:781) ~[na:na]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AttributeMethods.<init>(AttributeMethods.java:73) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AttributeMethods.compute(AttributeMethods.java:268) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap.computeIfAbsent(ConcurrentMap.java:330) ~[na:na]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AttributeMethods.forAnnotationType(AttributeMethods.java:251) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotationTypeMapping.<init>(AnnotationTypeMapping.java:119) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotationTypeMappings.addIfPossible(AnnotationTypeMappings.java:118) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotationTypeMappings.addAllMappings(AnnotationTypeMappings.java:80) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotationTypeMappings.<init>(AnnotationTypeMappings.java:72) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotationTypeMappings$Cache.createMappings(AnnotationTypeMappings.java:278) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotationTypeMappings$Cache.lambda$get$0(AnnotationTypeMappings.java:273) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap.computeIfAbsent(ConcurrentMap.java:330) ~[na:na]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotationTypeMappings$Cache.get(AnnotationTypeMappings.java:273) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotationTypeMappings.forAnnotationType(AnnotationTypeMappings.java:226) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotationTypeMappings.forAnnotationType(AnnotationTypeMappings.java:189) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.AnnotationTypeMappings.forAnnotationType(AnnotationTypeMappings.java:175) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.TypeMappedAnnotation.of(TypeMappedAnnotation.java:617) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.annotation.MergedAnnotation.of(MergedAnnotation.java:612) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.MergedAnnotationReadingVisitor.visitEnd(MergedAnnotationReadingVisitor.java:98) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.asm.ClassReader.readElementValues(ClassReader.java:3023) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.asm.ClassReader.accept(ClassReader.java:611) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.asm.ClassReader.accept(ClassReader.java:427) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReader.<init>(SimpleMetadataReader.java:48) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(SimpleMetadataReaderFactory.java:103) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.core.type.classreading.CachingMetadataReaderFactory.getMetadataReader(CachingMetadataReaderFactory.java:122) ~[spring-core-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.scanCandidateComponents(ClassPathScanningCandidateComponentProvider.java:470) ~[spring-context-6.2.6.jar:6.2.6]
    ... 23 common frames omitted

Here is my 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 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>3.4.5</version>
        <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
    </parent>
    
    <groupId>com.LucasBrelivet</groupId>
    <artifactId>SchoolDbAccessAPI</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <name>SchoolDbAccessAPI</name>
    <description>Demo project for Spring Boot</description>
    <url/>
    
    <licenses>
        <license/>
    </licenses>
    
    <developers>
        <developer/>
    </developers>
    
    <scm>
        <connection/>
        <developerConnection/>
        <tag/>
        <url/>
    </scm>
    
    <properties>
        <java.version>21</java.version>
    </properties>
    
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-devtools</artifactId>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
            <optional>true</optional>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.javaconfig</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-javaconfig</artifactId>
            <version>1.0.0.m3</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.mysql</groupId>
            <artifactId>mysql-connector-j</artifactId>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-hateoas</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springdoc/springdoc-openapi-starter-webmvc-ui -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springdoc</groupId>
            <artifactId>springdoc-openapi-starter-webmvc-ui</artifactId>
            <version>2.8.6</version>
        </dependency>
        <!--<dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-security</artifactId>
        </dependency>-->
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

The stack trace mentions the Autowire annotation, which I use in a couple places, namely fields in my controller and my tests. Apparently here it's a default, and it's invalid? A default for what? Why is it invalid, and what can I do to change it?

Answer 1

It seems that you use obsolete dependency in you pom.xml:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.javaconfig</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-javaconfig</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0.m3</version>
</dependency>

And that's why you're using incorrect import:

import org.springframework.config.java.annotation.Configuration;

Use instead:

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;

This is correct @Configuration for Spring Boot 3+ and Spring Framework 6.