Nathan Xu ( https://hibernate.atlassian.net/secure/ViewProfile.jspa?accountId=557058%... ) *commented* on HHH-14128 ( https://hibernate.atlassian.net/browse/HHH-14128?atlOrigin=eyJpIjoiYzQzZT... ) Re: NullPointerException when building sessionFactory ( https://hibernate.atlassian.net/browse/HHH-14128?atlOrigin=eyJpIjoiYzQzZT... ) You can set a breakpoint at AbstractLoadPlanBuildingAssociationVisitationStrategy Line #669 to narrow down the entity and the field. Maybe the one-to-many collection involve some class which is not specified as entity. Definitively a coding imperfection for the javadoc of {{org.hibernate.loader.plan.spi.FetchSource#resolveEntityReference()}}has said null value could be returned. Your persistence.xml seems not very helpful to narrow down the root cause, though, at least for someone who is not using JBoss product. ( https://hibernate.atlassian.net/browse/HHH-14128#add-comment?atlOrigin=ey... ) Add Comment ( https://hibernate.atlassian.net/browse/HHH-14128#add-comment?atlOrigin=ey... ) Get Jira notifications on your phone! Download the Jira Cloud app for Android ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.atlassian.android.jira.... ) or iOS ( https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1006972087?pt=696495&ct=Em... ) This message was sent by Atlassian Jira (v1001.0.0-SNAPSHOT#100140- sha1:5beb332 )