Remove duplicate Content-Type header in error cases

Prior to this commit, the `DispatcherServlet` would try and reset the
response buffer in case of errors, if the response is not committed
already. This allows for more flexible error handling, even if the
response was being handled already when it errored.

Resetting the response buffer clears the body but leaves HTTP response
headers intact. This is done on purpose as to not clear headers
previously added by Servlet Filters. By leaving in place some headers
like "Content-Type", this does not take into account the fact that the
response body was cleared and that error handling will perform another
round of content negotiation. While this isn't a problem for some
Servlet containers which enforce a single "Content-Type" header value,
this can cause multiple/duplicate values for some others.

This commit ensures that the "Content-Type" response header is removed
at the same time as we clear the "producible media types" attribute:
another pass of content negotiation will be performed for error
handling.

Fixes gh-34366

Author: bclozel

spring-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/DispatcherServlet.java

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2024 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2025 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 import org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource;
 import org.springframework.core.io.support.PropertiesLoaderUtils;
 import org.springframework.core.log.LogFormatUtils;
+import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
 import org.springframework.http.HttpMethod;
 import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
 import org.springframework.http.server.RequestPath;
@@ -1341,9 +1342,10 @@ protected ModelAndView processHandlerException(HttpServletRequest request, HttpS
 
 		// Success and error responses may use different content types
 		request.removeAttribute(HandlerMapping.PRODUCIBLE_MEDIA_TYPES_ATTRIBUTE);
-		// Reset the response body buffer if the response is not committed already,
-		// leaving the response headers in place.
+		// Reset the response content-type header and body buffer if the response is not committed already,
+		// leaving the other response headers in place.
 		try {
+			response.setHeader(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE, null);
 			response.resetBuffer();
 		}
 		catch (IllegalStateException illegalStateException) {

spring-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/DispatcherServletTests.java

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2024 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2025 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -924,6 +924,23 @@ void shouldAttemptToResetResponseBufferIfCommitted() throws Exception {
 		assertThat(response.getHeader("Test-Header")).isEqualTo("spring");
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	void shouldResetContentTypeIfNotCommitted() throws Exception {
+		StaticWebApplicationContext context = new StaticWebApplicationContext();
+		context.setServletContext(getServletContext());
+		context.registerSingleton("/error", ErrorController.class);
+		DispatcherServlet servlet = new DispatcherServlet(context);
+		servlet.init(servletConfig);
+
+		MockHttpServletRequest request = new MockHttpServletRequest(getServletContext(), "GET", "/error");
+		MockHttpServletResponse response = new MockHttpServletResponse();
+		assertThatThrownBy(() -> servlet.service(request, response)).isInstanceOf(ServletException.class)
+				.hasCauseInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class);
+		assertThat(response.getContentAsByteArray()).isEmpty();
+		assertThat(response.getStatus()).isEqualTo(400);
+		assertThat(response.getHeaderNames()).doesNotContain(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_TYPE);
+	}
+
 
 	public static class ControllerFromParent implements Controller {
 
@@ -976,6 +993,7 @@ private static class ErrorController implements Controller {
 		public ModelAndView handleRequest(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
 			response.setStatus(400);
 			response.setHeader("Test-Header", "spring");
+			response.addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
 			if (request.getAttribute("commit") != null) {
 				response.flushBuffer();
 			}