From 8fb119df1ecc97d4391276b02189fc32c3e7bf46 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: rstoyanchev <rossen.stoyanchev@broadcom.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2026 09:00:52 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Determine validation groups in HandlerMethod

Closes gh-36274
---
 .../web/method/HandlerMethod.java             | 26 +++++++++++++++++++
 .../support/InvocableHandlerMethod.java       |  9 ++-----
 2 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/method/HandlerMethod.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/method/HandlerMethod.java
index 04aef80e148..ba369b21d6b 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/method/HandlerMethod.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/method/HandlerMethod.java
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 import org.springframework.util.ClassUtils;
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 import org.springframework.validation.annotation.Validated;
+import org.springframework.validation.annotation.ValidationAnnotationUtils;
 import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ResponseStatus;
 
 /**
@@ -72,6 +73,8 @@ public class HandlerMethod extends AnnotatedMethod {
 	/** Logger that is available to subclasses. */
 	protected static final Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(HandlerMethod.class);
 
+	private static final Class<?>[] EMPTY_CLASS_ARRAY = new Class<?>[0];
+
 
 	private final Object bean;
 
@@ -85,6 +88,8 @@ public class HandlerMethod extends AnnotatedMethod {
 
 	private final boolean validateReturnValue;
 
+	private Class<?> @Nullable [] validationGroups;
+
 	private @Nullable HttpStatusCode responseStatus;
 
 	private @Nullable String responseStatusReason;
@@ -191,16 +196,25 @@ public class HandlerMethod extends AnnotatedMethod {
 		this.beanFactory = handlerMethod.beanFactory;
 		this.messageSource = handlerMethod.messageSource;
 		this.beanType = handlerMethod.beanType;
+
 		this.validateArguments = (initValidateFlags ?
 				MethodValidationInitializer.checkArguments(this.beanType, getMethodParameters()) :
 				handlerMethod.validateArguments);
+
 		this.validateReturnValue = (initValidateFlags ?
 				MethodValidationInitializer.checkReturnValue(this.beanType, getBridgedMethod()) :
 				handlerMethod.validateReturnValue);
+
+		this.validationGroups = (handler != null && (shouldValidateArguments() || shouldValidateReturnValue()) ?
+				ValidationAnnotationUtils.determineValidationGroups(handler, getBridgedMethod()) :
+				handlerMethod.validationGroups);
+
 		this.responseStatus = handlerMethod.responseStatus;
 		this.responseStatusReason = handlerMethod.responseStatusReason;
+
 		this.resolvedFromHandlerMethod = (handlerMethod.resolvedFromHandlerMethod != null ?
 				handlerMethod.resolvedFromHandlerMethod : handlerMethod);
+
 		this.description = handlerMethod.toString();
 	}
 
@@ -281,6 +295,18 @@ public class HandlerMethod extends AnnotatedMethod {
 		return this.validateReturnValue;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Return validation groups declared in
+	 * {@link org.springframework.validation.annotation.Validated @Validated}
+	 * either on the method, or on the containing target class of the method, or
+	 * for an AOP proxy without a target (with all behavior in advisors), also
+	 * check on proxied interfaces.
+	 * @since 7.0.4
+	 */
+	public Class<?>[] getValidationGroups() {
+		return (this.validationGroups != null ? this.validationGroups : EMPTY_CLASS_ARRAY);
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Return the specified response status, if any.
 	 * @since 4.3.8
diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/method/support/InvocableHandlerMethod.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/method/support/InvocableHandlerMethod.java
index 65bc8821288..be6f82ecdf5 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/method/support/InvocableHandlerMethod.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/method/support/InvocableHandlerMethod.java
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ import org.springframework.core.MethodParameter;
 import org.springframework.core.ParameterNameDiscoverer;
 import org.springframework.util.CollectionUtils;
 import org.springframework.util.ObjectUtils;
-import org.springframework.validation.annotation.ValidationAnnotationUtils;
 import org.springframework.validation.method.MethodValidator;
 import org.springframework.web.bind.WebDataBinder;
 import org.springframework.web.bind.support.SessionStatus;
@@ -78,8 +77,6 @@ public class InvocableHandlerMethod extends HandlerMethod {
 
 	private @Nullable MethodValidator methodValidator;
 
-	private Class<?>[] validationGroups = EMPTY_GROUPS;
-
 
 	/**
 	 * Create an instance from a {@code HandlerMethod}.
@@ -151,8 +148,6 @@ public class InvocableHandlerMethod extends HandlerMethod {
 	 */
 	public void setMethodValidator(@Nullable MethodValidator methodValidator) {
 		this.methodValidator = methodValidator;
-		this.validationGroups = (methodValidator != null && (shouldValidateArguments() || shouldValidateReturnValue()) ?
-				ValidationAnnotationUtils.determineValidationGroups(getBean(), getBridgedMethod()) : EMPTY_GROUPS);
 	}
 
 
@@ -185,14 +180,14 @@ public class InvocableHandlerMethod extends HandlerMethod {
 
 		if (shouldValidateArguments() && this.methodValidator != null) {
 			this.methodValidator.applyArgumentValidation(
-					getBean(), getBridgedMethod(), getMethodParameters(), args, this.validationGroups);
+					getBean(), getBridgedMethod(), getMethodParameters(), args, getValidationGroups());
 		}
 
 		Object returnValue = doInvoke(args);
 
 		if (shouldValidateReturnValue() && this.methodValidator != null) {
 			this.methodValidator.applyReturnValueValidation(
-					getBean(), getBridgedMethod(), getReturnType(), returnValue, this.validationGroups);
+					getBean(), getBridgedMethod(), getReturnType(), returnValue, getValidationGroups());
 		}
 
 		return returnValue;