From the mailing list: I tried to upgrade from 1.2.2 to 1.2.4 (and this problem occurred after every release after 1.2.2). Whenever I try to send a SOAP request to my service and it contains: <someNode></someNode> or <someNode />, I get a null pointer exception. If I put a line break in the node, or even a blank space, it works fine: <someNode> </someNode> The stack trace is below: MIT: 52234 [http-8080-Processor22] ERROR org.codehaus.xfire.handler.DefaultFaultHandler - Fault occurred! java.lang.NullPointerException at org.codehaus.xfire.aegis.stax.ElementReader.getValue(ElementReader.java:131) at org.codehaus.xfire.aegis.type.basic.StringType.readObject(StringType.java:21) at org.codehaus.xfire.aegis.type.basic.BeanType.readObject(BeanType.java:159) at org.codehaus.xfire.aegis.AegisBindingProvider.readParameter(AegisBindingProvider.java:162) at org.codehaus.xfire.service.binding.AbstractBinding.read(AbstractBinding.java:206) at org.codehaus.xfire.service.binding.WrappedBinding.readMessage(WrappedBinding.java:50) at org.codehaus.xfire.soap.handler.SoapBodyHandler.invoke(SoapBodyHandler.java:42) at org.codehaus.xfire.handler.HandlerPipeline.invoke(HandlerPipeline.java:131) at org.codehaus.xfire.transport.DefaultEndpoint.onReceive(DefaultEndpoint.java:64) at org.codehaus.xfire.transport.AbstractChannel.receive(AbstractChannel.java:38) at org.codehaus.xfire.transport.http.XFireServletController.invoke(XFireServletController.java:301) at org.codehaus.xfire.transport.http.XFireServletController.doService(XFireServletController.java:130) at org.codehaus.xfire.spring.remoting.XFireServletControllerAdapter.handleRequest(XFireServletControllerAdapter.java:67) at org.codehaus.xfire.spring.remoting.XFireExporter.handleRequest(XFireExporter.java:48) at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.SimpleControllerHandlerAdapter.handle(SimpleControllerHandlerAdapter.java:44) at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:717) at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:658) at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:392) at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doPost(FrameworkServlet.java:357) at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:760) at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:853) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:252) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:173) at org.acegisecurity.util.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:264) at org.acegisecurity.intercept.web.FilterSecurityInterceptor.invoke(FilterSecurityInterceptor.java:107) at org.acegisecurity.intercept.web.FilterSecurityInterceptor.doFilter(FilterSecurityInterceptor.java:72) at org.acegisecurity.util.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:274) at org.acegisecurity.ui.ExceptionTranslationFilter.doFilter(ExceptionTranslationFilter.java:110) at org.acegisecurity.util.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:274) at org.acegisecurity.ui.rememberme.RememberMeProcessingFilter.doFilter(RememberMeProcessingFilter.java:142) at org.acegisecurity.util.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:274) at org.acegisecurity.ui.AbstractProcessingFilter.doFilter(AbstractProcessingFilter.java:217) at org.acegisecurity.util.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:274) at org.acegisecurity.ui.AbstractProcessingFilter.doFilter(AbstractProcessingFilter.java:217) at org.acegisecurity.util.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:274) at org.acegisecurity.ui.logout.LogoutFilter.doFilter(LogoutFilter.java:108) at org.acegisecurity.util.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:274) at org.acegisecurity.context.HttpSessionContextIntegrationFilter.doFilter(HttpSessionContextIntegrationFilter.java:191) at org.acegisecurity.util.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:274) at org.acegisecurity.util.FilterChainProxy.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:148) at org.acegisecurity.util.FilterToBeanProxy.doFilter(FilterToBeanProxy.java:90) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:202) at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:173) at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:213) at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:178) at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:126) at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:105) at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:107) at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:148) at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:869) at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11BaseProtocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.processConnection(Http11BaseProtocol.java:664) at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.PoolTcpEndpoint.processSocket(PoolTcpEndpoint.java:527) at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.LeaderFollowerWorkerThread.runIt(LeaderFollowerWorkerThread.java:80) at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable.run(ThreadPool.java:684) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:595)