Do not load concrete types in annotation metadata

This change fixes a regression introduced in the previous commit.

Closes gh-35252

spring-core/spring-core.gradle

@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ dependencies {
 	optional("org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-stdlib")
 	optional("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-core")
 	optional("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-reactor")
+    testCompileOnly("com.github.ben-manes.caffeine:caffeine")
 	testFixturesImplementation("io.projectreactor:reactor-test")
 	testFixturesImplementation("org.assertj:assertj-core")
 	testFixturesImplementation("org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter")

spring-core/src/main/java24/org/springframework/core/type/classreading/ClassFileAnnotationMetadata.java

@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ abstract class ClassFileAnnotationMetadata {
 				return createMergedAnnotation(className, annotationValue.annotation(), classLoader);
 			}
 			case AnnotationValue.OfClass classValue -> {
-				return loadClass(classValue.className().stringValue(), classLoader);
+				return fromTypeDescriptor(classValue.className().stringValue());
 			}
 			case AnnotationValue.OfEnum enumValue -> {
 				return parseEnum(enumValue, classLoader);
@@ -105,13 +105,8 @@ abstract class ClassFileAnnotationMetadata {
 	}
 
 	private static Class<?> loadClass(String className, @Nullable ClassLoader classLoader) {
-		try {
-			String name = fromTypeDescriptor(className);
-			return ClassUtils.forName(name, classLoader);
-		}
-		catch (ClassNotFoundException ex) {
-			return Object.class;
-		}
+		String name = fromTypeDescriptor(className);
+		return ClassUtils.resolveClassName(name, classLoader);
 	}
 
 	private static Object parseArrayValue(String className, @Nullable ClassLoader classLoader, AnnotationValue.OfArray arrayValue) {
@@ -160,7 +155,7 @@ abstract class ClassFileAnnotationMetadata {
 				return MergedAnnotation.class;
 			}
 			case AnnotationValue.OfClass _ -> {
-				return Class.class;
+				return String.class;
 			}
 			case AnnotationValue.OfEnum enumValue -> {
 				return loadClass(enumValue.className().stringValue(), classLoader);

spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/core/type/classreading/DefaultAnnotationMetadataTests.java

@@ -16,15 +16,26 @@
 
 package org.springframework.core.type.classreading;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
+import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
+
+import com.github.benmanes.caffeine.cache.Caffeine;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
 import org.springframework.core.type.AbstractAnnotationMetadataTests;
 import org.springframework.core.type.AnnotationMetadata;
 
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatIllegalArgumentException;
+
 /**
  * Tests for {@link SimpleAnnotationMetadata} and
  * {@link SimpleAnnotationMetadataReadingVisitor} on Java < 24,
  * and for the ClassFile API variant on Java >= 24.
  *
  * @author Phillip Webb
+ * @author Brian Clozel
  */
 class DefaultAnnotationMetadataTests extends AbstractAnnotationMetadataTests {
 
@@ -34,9 +45,25 @@ class DefaultAnnotationMetadataTests extends AbstractAnnotationMetadataTests {
 			return MetadataReaderFactory.create(source.getClassLoader())
 					.getMetadataReader(source.getName()).getAnnotationMetadata();
 		}
-		catch (Exception ex) {
+		catch (IOException ex) {
 			throw new IllegalStateException(ex);
 		}
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	void getClassAttributeWhenUnknownClass() {
+		var annotation = get(WithClassMissingFromClasspath.class).getAnnotations().get(ClassAttributes.class);
+		assertThat(annotation.getStringArray("types")).contains("com.github.benmanes.caffeine.cache.Caffeine");
+		assertThatIllegalArgumentException().isThrownBy(() -> annotation.getClassArray("types"));
+	}
+
+	@ClassAttributes(types = {Caffeine.class})
+	public static class WithClassMissingFromClasspath {
+	}
+
+	@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
+	public @interface ClassAttributes {
+		Class<?>[] types();
+	}
+
 }

spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/core/type/classreading/SimpleAnnotationMetadataTests.java

@@ -16,14 +16,25 @@
 
 package org.springframework.core.type.classreading;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
+import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
+
+import com.github.benmanes.caffeine.cache.Caffeine;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
 import org.springframework.core.type.AbstractAnnotationMetadataTests;
 import org.springframework.core.type.AnnotationMetadata;
 
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatIllegalArgumentException;
+
 /**
  * Tests for {@link SimpleAnnotationMetadata} and
  * {@link SimpleAnnotationMetadataReadingVisitor}.
  *
  * @author Phillip Webb
+ * @author Brian Clozel
  */
 class SimpleAnnotationMetadataTests extends AbstractAnnotationMetadataTests {
 
@@ -34,9 +45,26 @@ class SimpleAnnotationMetadataTests extends AbstractAnnotationMetadataTests {
 					source.getClassLoader()).getMetadataReader(
 							source.getName()).getAnnotationMetadata();
 		}
-		catch (Exception ex) {
+		catch (IOException ex) {
 			throw new IllegalStateException(ex);
 		}
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	void getClassAttributeWhenUnknownClass() {
+		var annotation = get(WithClassMissingFromClasspath.class).getAnnotations().get(ClassAttributes.class);
+		assertThat(annotation.getStringArray("types")).contains("com.github.benmanes.caffeine.cache.Caffeine");
+		assertThatIllegalArgumentException().isThrownBy(() -> annotation.getClassArray("types"));
+	}
+
+	@ClassAttributes(types = {Caffeine.class})
+	public static class WithClassMissingFromClasspath {
+	}
+
+
+	@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
+	public @interface ClassAttributes {
+		Class<?>[] types();
+	}
+
 }