ERROR at SpringKafkaBatchListenerInstrumentation

[amalacho]

Hi, In my application based on spring boot starter parent in version 4.0.6

I got error like this:

`2026-05-27 12:00:59,907 [org.springframework.kafka.KafkaListenerEndpointContainer#9-0-C-1] ERROR co.elastic.apm.agent.bci.IndyBootstrap - Advice threw an exception, this should never happen!

java.util.NoSuchElementException: null

at java.util.ArrayDeque.removeFirst(ArrayDeque.java:360) ~[?:?]

at java.util.ArrayDeque.remove(ArrayDeque.java:521) ~[?:?]

at co.elastic.apm.agent.impl.ActiveStack.deactivate(ActiveStack.java:119) ~[elastic-apm-agent.jar:1.55.6]

at co.elastic.apm.agent.impl.ElasticApmTracer.deactivate(ElasticApmTracer.java:940) ~[elastic-apm-agent.jar:1.55.6]

at co.elastic.apm.agent.impl.transaction.TraceStateImpl.deactivate(TraceStateImpl.java:71) ~[elastic-apm-agent.jar:1.55.6]

at co.elastic.apm.agent.impl.transaction.TraceStateImpl.deactivate(TraceStateImpl.java:33) ~[elastic-apm-agent.jar:1.55.6]

at co.elastic.apm.agent.kafka.SpringKafkaBatchListenerInstrumentation$SpringKafkaBatchListenerAdvice.onExit(SpringKafkaBatchListenerInstrumentation.java:96) ~[elastic-apm-agent.jar:1.55.6]

at org.springframework.kafka.listener.KafkaMessageListenerContainer$ListenerConsumer.invokeBatchListener(KafkaMessageListenerContainer.java:2225) [spring-kafka-4.0.5.jar:4.0.5]

at org.springframework.kafka.listener.KafkaMessageListenerContainer$ListenerConsumer.invokeListener(KafkaMessageListenerContainer.java:2201) [spring-kafka-4.0.5.jar:4.0.5]

at org.springframework.kafka.listener.KafkaMessageListenerContainer$ListenerConsumer.invokeIfHaveRecords(KafkaMessageListenerContainer.java:1559) [spring-kafka-4.0.5.jar:4.0.5]

at org.springframework.kafka.listener.KafkaMessageListenerContainer$ListenerConsumer.pollAndInvoke(KafkaMessageListenerContainer.java:1499) [spring-kafka-4.0.5.jar:4.0.5]

at org.springframework.kafka.listener.KafkaMessageListenerContainer$ListenerConsumer.run(KafkaMessageListenerContainer.java:1368) [spring-kafka-4.0.5.jar:4.0.5]

at java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncRun.run(CompletableFuture.java:1825) [?:?]

at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1474) [?:?]`

How can I solve it? I am attaching APM agent jar to my app running at k8s

[amalacho]

In another project where I use org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-starter-gateway-server-webmvc

I got error:
2026-05-28 09:43:47,572 [http-nio-8080-exec-9] ERROR co.elastic.apm.agent.bci.IndyBootstrap - Advice threw an exception, this should never happen!

[jackshirazi]

disable_instrumentations=kafka

[amalacho]

But is it solution or workaround? won't I lose tracing data?

[jackshirazi]

It's a workaround. I don't know if you'll lose trace data as I don't have any details of your app. You already won't be getting trace data where those errors are happening (but it doesn't affect the application, only tracing), so possibly there is no loss for your situation.

To actually fix the error, I'd need a reproducible case to identify what is causing the discrepancy between activations and deactivations. This is all async edge-case activity that is almost impossible to investigate usefully without a reproducible example

[ESRJIM1]

We are also experiencing this issue in production.

Environment:

Elastic APM Java Agent: 1.49.0
Java: 21.0.4 (BellSoft)
Platform: AKS
Kafka producer instrumentation enabled

Symptoms:

IndyBootstrap - Advice threw an exception
KafkaProducerHeadersInstrumentation.beforeSend
ActiveStack - Deactivating a context which is not the currently active one

Business functionality is unaffected and Kafka messages are published successfully.

Current workaround: ELASTIC_APM_DISABLE_INSTRUMENTATIONS=kafka

Can confirm the issue is still reproducible in 1.55.6.