From 39359628d950d7268e96a4eecdfac9dd047b9e2d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Denis Bilenko <denis.bilenko@databricks.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2026 11:43:48 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] structaccess: say parent is nil when setting through a nil
 parent

Set returned 'cannot set key "k" on invalid' for nil map/pointer parents
omitted via omitempty. Report the parent path as nil instead. Also avoids a
panic when writing into a nil map.

Co-authored-by: Isaac <no-reply@databricks.com>
---
 libs/structs/structaccess/set.go      | 13 ++++++++-
 libs/structs/structaccess/set_test.go | 40 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 52 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/libs/structs/structaccess/set.go b/libs/structs/structaccess/set.go
index 02752e456ea..20752e63e0d 100644
--- a/libs/structs/structaccess/set.go
+++ b/libs/structs/structaccess/set.go
@@ -70,11 +70,17 @@ func setValueAtNode(parentVal reflect.Value, node *structpath.PathNode, value an
 	// Dereference parent if it's a pointer
 	for parentVal.Kind() == reflect.Pointer {
 		if parentVal.IsNil() {
-			return errors.New("parent is nil pointer")
+			return nilParentError(node)
 		}
 		parentVal = parentVal.Elem()
 	}
 
+	// getValue returns an invalid value for a nil parent omitted via json omitempty.
+	// Writing into a nil map would panic.
+	if !parentVal.IsValid() || ((parentVal.Kind() == reflect.Map || parentVal.Kind() == reflect.Slice) && parentVal.IsNil()) {
+		return nilParentError(node)
+	}
+
 	valueVal := reflect.ValueOf(value)
 
 	if idx, isIndex := node.Index(); isIndex {
@@ -101,6 +107,11 @@ func setValueAtNode(parentVal reflect.Value, node *structpath.PathNode, value an
 	return errors.New("unsupported path node type")
 }
 
+// nilParentError reports that the parent of node is nil. Missing parents are not allocated.
+func nilParentError(node *structpath.PathNode) error {
+	return fmt.Errorf("cannot set %s: parent %s is nil", node.String(), node.Parent().String())
+}
+
 // setArrayElement sets an element in an array or slice
 func setArrayElement(parentVal reflect.Value, index int, valueVal reflect.Value) error {
 	kind := parentVal.Kind()
diff --git a/libs/structs/structaccess/set_test.go b/libs/structs/structaccess/set_test.go
index 0d55b9881f8..7921e226a52 100644
--- a/libs/structs/structaccess/set_test.go
+++ b/libs/structs/structaccess/set_test.go
@@ -910,3 +910,43 @@ func TestGetSet_DashIsAFieldNameWhenTheTagHasOptions(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, "set", target.Named, "Set must write to Named")
 	assert.Equal(t, "s", target.Skipped, "json:\"-\" field must stay out of reach")
 }
+
+func TestSet_NilParent(t *testing.T) {
+	type Leaf struct {
+		N int `json:"n,omitempty"`
+	}
+	type Mid struct {
+		C *Leaf `json:"c,omitempty"`
+	}
+	type T struct {
+		M  map[string]string `json:"m,omitempty"`
+		P  *Leaf             `json:"p,omitempty"`
+		A  *Mid              `json:"a,omitempty"`
+		S  []string          `json:"s,omitempty"`
+		NM map[string]string `json:"nm"`
+		NP *Leaf             `json:"np"`
+		NS []string          `json:"ns"`
+	}
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		path     string
+		errorMsg string
+	}{
+		{"m.k", "cannot set m.k: parent m is nil"},
+		{"p.n", "cannot set p.n: parent p is nil"},
+		{"a.c.n", "cannot set a.c.n: parent a.c is nil"},
+		{"s[0]", "cannot set s[0]: parent s is nil"},
+		{"nm.k", "cannot set nm.k: parent nm is nil"},
+		{"np.n", "cannot set np.n: parent np is nil"},
+		{"ns[0]", "cannot set ns[0]: parent ns is nil"},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.path, func(t *testing.T) {
+			target := &T{A: &Mid{}}
+			err := structaccess.SetByString(target, tt.path, "5")
+			assert.EqualError(t, err, tt.errorMsg)
+			assert.Equal(t, &T{A: &Mid{}}, target)
+		})
+	}
+}