Incompatibility between RestAssured MockMvc and Spring Framework 7 breaks MOCKMVC base tests

[alexaugustobr]

Describe the bug
When using headers on the requests and running generated contract tests in MOCKMVC mode, tests fail with a NoSuchMethodError originating from RestAssured's MockMvc module. The exception is:

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: 'org.springframework.test.web.servlet.request.MockHttpServletRequestBuilder org.springframework.test.web.servlet.request.MockHttpServletRequestBuilder.header(java.lang.String, java.lang.Object[])'
    at io.restassured.module.mockmvc.internal.MockMvcRequestSenderImpl.applyHeaders(MockMvcRequestSenderImpl.java:514)
    at io.restassured.module.mockmvc.internal.MockMvcRequestSenderImpl.sendRequest(MockMvcRequestSenderImpl.java:348)
    ...
    at com.example.demo.GreetingTest.validate_shouldReturnGreeting(GreetingTest.java:28)

This appears to be caused by RestAssured's MockMvc integration calling MockHttpServletRequestBuilder.header(String, Object[]), a method signature that is not present in Spring Framework 7's MockHttpServletRequestBuilder (used by Spring Boot 4). In short: RestAssured's MockMvc module is not compatible with Spring Framework 7, which prevents contract tests in MOCKMVC test mode from running.

Versions (important)

• Spring Cloud: 2025.1.0
• Spring Cloud Verifier: 5.0.0
• Spring Boot: 4.0.0
• Java 25
• RestAssured 5.5.6 (transitive dependency via Spring Cloud Contract)

Sample
Repro repo (minimal demo):
https://github.com/alexaugustobr/spring-cloud-contract-demo-bug-rest-assured-mockmvc

Relevant snippets:

build.gradle

plugins {
	id 'java'
	id 'org.springframework.boot' version '4.0.0'
	id 'io.spring.dependency-management' version '1.1.7'
	id 'org.springframework.cloud.contract' version '5.0.0'
}

group = 'com.example'
version = '0.0.1-SNAPSHOT'
description = 'Demo project for Spring Boot'

java {
	toolchain {
		languageVersion = JavaLanguageVersion.of(25)
	}
}

repositories {
	mavenCentral()
}

ext {
	set('springCloudVersion', "2025.1.0")
}

dependencies {
	implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-webmvc'
	testImplementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-webmvc-test'
	testImplementation 'org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-starter-contract-verifier'
	testRuntimeOnly 'org.junit.platform:junit-platform-launcher'
}

dependencyManagement {
	imports {
		mavenBom "org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-dependencies:${springCloudVersion}"
	}
}

contracts {

}

tasks.named('contractTest') {
	useJUnitPlatform()
}

tasks.named('test') {
	useJUnitPlatform()
}

contracts {
    testMode = 'MOCKMVC'
    baseClassForTests = 'com.example.demo.RestAssuredMockMVCBaseContractTest'
}

contracts/greeting/contract.groovy

package contracts.greeting

import org.springframework.cloud.contract.spec.Contract

Contract.make {
    description 'Should return greeting with given name'

    request {
        method GET()
        headers {
            accept(applicationJson())
        }
        url('/greeting') {
            queryParameters {
                parameter 'message': 'Alex'
            }
        }
    }

    response {
        status OK()
        headers {
            contentType(applicationJson())
        }
        body([ message: 'Hello, Alex!' ])
    }
}

RestAssuredMockMVCBaseContractTest.java

@WebMvcTest(controllers = GreetingController.class)
public abstract class RestAssuredMockMVCBaseContractTest {

    @Autowired
    private WebApplicationContext context;

    @BeforeEach
    void setUp() {
        RestAssuredMockMvc.mockMvc(
                MockMvcBuilders.webAppContextSetup(context)
                        .defaultResponseCharacterEncoding(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)
                        .build()
        );

        RestAssuredMockMvc.enableLoggingOfRequestAndResponseIfValidationFails();
    }
}

What I tried

Attempted to use CUSTOM test mode and write a custom test base, following the documentation, but I couldn't get it working. I had faced another bug related to @LocalServerPort not being injected correctly in Spring Boot 4 after adding Spring Cloud Verifier. I can share details if helpful.

[alexaugustobr]

I believe is related to this issue on Rest-Assured: rest-assured/rest-assured#1850

[marcingrzejszczak]

This got fixed with Rest Assured 6.0.0 cc @ryanjbaxter . The problem is that bumping RA from 5 to 6 theoretically is a breaking change...

@johanhaleby - are you planning to backport some fixes to 5.5.x line? E.g. the PR I did would (theoretically) allow to support 3 major versions of Spring (5,6,7) in 5.x line of RA.

[johanhaleby]

@marcingrzejszczak I think it's a bit tricky build-wise because rest assured 5.5 is compatible with Java 8. And also, I don't want to support two different branches, I have enough to do as it is :) But if someone could help out and backport the changes to the 5.5 branch I could make a final 5.5.6 release if that helps.

[marcingrzejszczak]

I mean I can help you out with that one PR of mine. The caveat is that it seems to support Framework 7 but it doesn't mean that it fully does. The tests work and the samples passed so maybe that's better than nothing? 😬

@wilkinsona what is the Spring Boot approach with Rest Assured 6? Are you planning to add it for 4.1? Or 5.0?

[wilkinsona]

FWIW, I wouldn't try to support Framework 5, 6, 7 in the same version of Rest Assured.

Boot's involvement with Rest Assured was really light (only through Spring REST Docs' Rest Assured integration). I don't think there's anything stopping someone from using Rest Assured 6.0 with Boot 4.0, they'll just have to manage the version. We don't have any firm plans to reinstate support, such as it was, in Boot at the moment.

[johanhaleby]

@marcingrzejszczak @wilkinsona I think that version 6 of RA already supports 5,6,7 of spring mockmvc and webtestclient. For good or bad, there's reflection magic going on to resolve the differences, so I think a backport to 5.5.x should work.

[marcingrzejszczak]

@johanhaleby I created an issue so that you create a branch to which I can backport my pr.