Possible regression in Criteria.and(String) behavior between Spring Data MongoDB 5.0.7 and 5.1.0

[Alfagun74]

Description

After upgrading from Spring Data MongoDB 5.0.7 to 5.1.0, we observed a behavior change when using org.springframework.data.mongodb.core.query.Criteria.

The following test passes with Spring Data MongoDB 5.0.7:

class CriteriaTest {

    @Test
    void test() {
        final Criteria criteria = Criteria.where("ID1").is("1");
        criteria.and("ID2").is("2");

        Query query = Query.query(criteria);

        Assertions.assertEquals(
                "Query: { \"ID1\" : \"1\", \"ID2\" : \"2\"}, Fields: {}, Sort: {}",
                query.toString());
    }
}

The resulting query is:

{ "ID1" : "1", "ID2" : "2" }

After upgrading to Spring Data MongoDB 5.1.0, the same test fails. The resulting query only contains the first criterion:

{ "ID1" : "1" }

Changing the code to use the returned Criteria instance restores the expected behavior:

Criteria criteria = Criteria.where("ID1").is("1");
criteria = criteria.and("ID2").is("2");

Impact

The observed behavior suggests that Criteria.and(String) no longer updates the original Criteria instance and instead only applies changes to the returned object.

Existing code continues to compile successfully, but query semantics may change at runtime after upgrading. This can be difficult to detect, especially in applications without dedicated tests covering the generated MongoDB queries.

We were unable to find any mention of this behavior change in the Spring Data MongoDB 5.1.0 release notes and therefore wanted to report it as a possible regression.

Environment

• Spring Boot 4.0.7 / Spring Data MongoDB 5.0.7
• Spring Boot 4.1.0 / Spring Data MongoDB 5.1.0
• Java: 25

[yok41]

We can confirm the issue and have found a possible explanation for the behavior.

Between Spring Data MongoDB 5.0.6 and Spring Data MongoDB 5.1.0 the behavior of
Criteria(List<Criteria> criteriaChain, String key) has changed.

---

Spring Data MongoDB 5.0.6

The passed-in criteriaChain is used directly and extended via this which modifies the original reference.

Source code 5.0.6:

protected Criteria(List<Criteria> criteriaChain, String key) {
    this.criteriaChain = criteriaChain;
    this.criteriaChain.add(this);
    this.key = key;
}

---

Spring Data MongoDB 5.1.0

First a new ArrayList is created from the passed-in list. this is added only to this copy. The original list remains unchanged.

Source code 5.1.0:

protected Criteria(List<Criteria> criteriaChain, String key) {
    this.criteriaChain = new ArrayList<>(criteriaChain);
    this.criteriaChain.add(this);
    this.key = key;
}

---

The behavior when adding to the criteriaChain is now idempotent

[blueiceprj]

This is the solution : #5210 (comment)

Thankfully, solving these problems with AI doesn't take long.

[rsobies]

hi, are you going to restore previous implementation?

[spanasiuk]

Bumping this. Such changes should be properly announced in the change logs as breaking