# java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "String.getBytes(String)" because "message" is null

**URL:** <https://community.smartbear.com/t/java-lang-nullpointerexception-cannot-invoke-string-getbytes-string-because-message-is-null/832>\
**Category:** ReadyAPI\
**Tags:** readyapi, api, latest\
**Created:** [October 31, 2026, 1:39am UTC](https://community.smartbear.com/t/java-lang-nullpointerexception-cannot-invoke-string-getbytes-string-because-message-is-null/832 "2026-10-31T01:39:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Douglas\_Young](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex049/user_avatar/community.smartbear.com/douglas_young/32/1028_2.png) [@Douglas\_Young](https://community.smartbear.com/u/Douglas_Young)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2026, 1:39am UTC](https://community.smartbear.com/t/java-lang-nullpointerexception-cannot-invoke-string-getbytes-string-because-message-is-null/832/1 "2026-10-31T01:39:48Z")

</div>

What is ReadyAPI 4.3.0 trying to tell me with this error it emits when loading my composite project. I don’t have any properties named “message”. I do have about 650 User-specific properties in various testcase files, about 451 of which are intentionally empty of values. So why do I get 13 instances of this error?

`Fri Oct 30 13:11:19 PDT 2026: ERROR: java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "String.getBytes(String)" because "message" is null`  
`java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "String.getBytes(String)" because "message" is null`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.settings.AESCipher.encrypt(AESCipher.java:35)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.impl.wsdl.support.UserSpecificProperties.saveCurrentStateToConfig(UserSpecificProperties.java:168)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.impl.WorkspaceImpl.saveWorkspaceConfig(WorkspaceImpl.java:631)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.impl.WorkspaceImpl.save(WorkspaceImpl.java:618)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.impl.WorkspaceImpl.save(WorkspaceImpl.java:580)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.impl.WorkspaceImpl.afterProjectImport(WorkspaceImpl.java:901)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.impl.WorkspaceImpl.afterProjectImport(WorkspaceImpl.java:891)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.impl.WorkspaceImpl.importNewProject(WorkspaceImpl.java:775)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.impl.WorkspaceImpl.reloadProject(WorkspaceImpl.java:1010)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.impl.WorkspaceImpl.reloadProject(WorkspaceImpl.java:989)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.impl.WorkspaceImpl.openProject(WorkspaceImpl.java:1129)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.impl.wsdl.actions.project.OpenProjectAction.perform(OpenProjectAction.java:41)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.impl.wsdl.actions.project.OpenProjectAction.perform(OpenProjectAction.java:1)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.support.action.swing.SwingActionDelegate.actionPerformed(SwingActionDelegate.java:155)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.support.action.swing.DefaultActionList.performDefaultAction(DefaultActionList.java:97)`  
`at com.eviware.soapui.ui.TreeMouseListener$1.run(TreeMouseListener.java:318)`  
`at java.desktop/java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(InvocationEvent.java:318)`  
`at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:773)`  
`at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:720)`  
`at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:714)`  
`at java.base/java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:400)`  
`at java.base/java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:87)`  
`at java.desktop/java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:742)`  
`at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:203)`  
`at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:124)`  
`at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:113)`  
`at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:109)`  
`at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:101)`  
`at java.desktop/java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:90)`