I reproduced the issue with annotation
{code}
@Target({ElementType.TYPE})
public @interface MyAnnotation {
String[] value();
}
{code}
added to a type with null element
{code}
@MyAnnotation({null})
public class C {
}
{code}
In this case, method validateNamedValue gets parameter value=null and fails at line
{code}
String stringValue = value.toString();
{code}
which was 136th line in one of previous versions.