Fixed
Details
Details
Assignee
Pothys - MitrahSoft
Pothys - MitrahSoftReporter
Michael Offner
Michael OffnerPriority
BlockerLabels
Fix versions
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Created 28 February 2025 at 17:15
Updated 10 March 2025 at 13:24
Resolved 10 March 2025 at 13:24
In Lucee 6.2, numeric string parsing fails when the string contains invisible Unicode characters. This is due to the migration from Double to BigDecimal as the default number type for improved precision.
After upgrading from Lucee 6.1 to 6.2, number parsing has become more strict due to the internal switch from Double to BigDecimal. The BigDecimal constructor throws a NumberFormatException when a string contains invisible Unicode characters that were previously accepted by Double parsing.
The error message misleadingly suggests that a valid number string (e.g., "17") cannot be parsed, when in fact the string contains invisible Unicode characters not shown in the error message.
For example, when trying to parse a string that appears to be "17" but contains a zero-width space:
new BigDecimal("17\u200B", MathContext.DECIMAL128);This throws:
NumberFormatException: Character [invisible character] is neither a decimal digit number, decimal point, nor "e" notation exponential mark.And our error handling converts this to:
CasterException: cannot convert string [17] to a number; [error message]Steps to Reproduce
Use Lucee 6.2
Try to parse a string that visually appears to be a number but contains invisible Unicode characters
Example code:
<cfscript> // This string looks like "17" but has an invisible character str = "17" & chr(8203); // Adding zero-width space try { num = str * 1; // Implicit conversion will use BigDecimal in 6.2 writeOutput("Success: " & num); } catch(any e) { writeOutput("Error: " & e.message); } </cfscript>Expected Behavior
Number parsing should either:
Strip invisible Unicode characters before parsing
Provide clearer error messages that indicate the presence of invisible characters
Maintain backward compatibility with Lucee 6.1 behavior
Actual Behavior
Number parsing fails with a misleading error message that doesn't clearly indicate the presence of invisible characters.
Impact
High - This could silently break applications during upgrade from 6.1 to 6.2, especially those that process user input or data from external sources.