EBS R12 -- WF Mailer java.lang.StackOverflowError at org.apache.regexp.RE.matchNodes

Today's blog post is about a problem in Workflow Mailer (WF Mailer). This time, I will directly give the definition of the problem along with the solution offer, because I have already written lots of articles on this subject.. So, I think my followers should already know all the things about the WF Mailer itself and the mechanism of the workflow outbound & inbound.

Okay.. Let's get to the point without wasting time. 

The problem was in the IMAP side.. Some of the approved orders (approved via emails) was left in not-approved status in the EBS system. It was clear that the Inbound of the WF Mailer couldn't do its job. Besides, the newly approved orders could not be reflected to the EBS system either.

A statement level showed the following;

[Nov 10, 2021 10:04:07 PM EET]:1636574647912:-1:-1:SP-SERVER1:10.10.10.1:-1:-1:1:20420:SYSADMIN(0):-1:Thread[inboundThreadGroup1,5,inboundThreadGroup]:1505677572:72687:1636574641893:212:UNEXPECTED:[SVC-GSM-WFMLRSVC-695685-10006 : oracle.apps.fnd.cp.gsc.Processor.run()]:java.lang.StackOverflowError

at org.apache.regexp.RE.matchNodes(RE.java:1358)

at org.apache.regexp.RE.matchNodes(RE.java:1358)

at org.apache.regexp.RE.matchNodes(RE.java:1358)

at org.apache.regexp.RE.matchNodes(RE.java:1358)

A search on MOS knowledge base pointed to the following;

Workflow Mailer Stopped Working java.lang.StackOverflowError at org.apache.regexp.RE.matchNodes(RE.java:1104) (Doc ID 1505015.1) ** Especially this one.

Java.lang.StackOverflowError When Mailer Processes Inbound Email (Doc ID 2611474.1)

Once the problematic email was analyzed, we found an unexpected character code there, just beneath the NID line.

Here is the relevant part of the email;

Action:

 'Approve'

Note: ''

NID[347449/295312543679791762909718721451122233183@WFMAILPT]

Oracle ACE /

+27201

Explanation & the solution:

There was a problematic email on the IMAP side (an email, with an unexpected content sitting in the inbox of IMAP, or in the PROCESS folder). 

Remember, WF Mailer can not easily handle these kinds of unexpected things.. Actually, It could be clearly seen that there was a &#43 character just after the NID line. Note that, this HTML characters correspond to the a plus sign. 

The mobile device of the client that responded(Approved or Rejected) this WF Mailer notification  may have placed this code into this response. This caused WF mailer to crash with stack overflow. 

The WF Mailer just could not process this email, but it couldn't ignore this email either.. 

It just couldn't continue. So this email must have been removed from the inbox of the EBS WF Mailer's IMAP account. (The required EBS side operation can be done manually in this case). 

Once this problematic email that sits on IMAP Inbox/or on PROCESS folder, was removed, and just after the WF Mailer was bounced, the problem dissapeared.. WF Mailer could just do okay and the problem was solved.