[ES|QL] Missing backport of "FROM *-*" bug fix

[nflexfo]

Elasticsearch Version

8.17.4

Installed Plugins

No response

Java Version

bundled

OS Version

Linux

Problem Description

In ES|QL, the pattern FROM *-* leads to the following exception:

java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: Index 0 out of bounds for length 0

Looking at IdentifierBuilder::validateIndexPattern(), the index pattern goes from:

1. "*-*"
2. "-" after index.replace(WILDCARD, "").strip();
3. "" (empty) after removeExclusion(index); (using index.substring(1);)
4. Call to MetadataCreateIndexService.validateIndexOrAliasName(index, InvalidIndexNameException::new);
5. Throws the exception when calling index.charAt(0) == '_' , since the string is empty

Note that this issue seems to be already addressed by commit d6133235a339, pull request #119960.

Altough, the pull request #120060 seems to backport it to 8.x branch, it is not present in 8.17.4. Is it an overlook or will it be present in the next patch version?

Thanks.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Switch to ES|QL mode
2. Request FROM *-*

Logs (if relevant)

[2025-04-15T06:53:09,528][WARN ][o.e.x.e.a.EsqlResponseListener] [b7bd49a58476] Request failed with status [INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR]: java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: Index 0 out of bounds for length 0
	at java.base/jdk.internal.util.Preconditions$1.apply(Preconditions.java:55)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.util.Preconditions$1.apply(Preconditions.java:52)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.util.Preconditions$4.apply(Preconditions.java:213)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.util.Preconditions$4.apply(Preconditions.java:210)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.util.Preconditions.outOfBounds(Preconditions.java:98)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.util.Preconditions.outOfBoundsCheckIndex(Preconditions.java:106)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.util.Preconditions.checkIndex(Preconditions.java:302)
	at java.base/java.lang.String.checkIndex(String.java:4930)
	at java.base/java.lang.StringLatin1.charAt(StringLatin1.java:46)
	at java.base/java.lang.String.charAt(String.java:1629)
	at org.elasticsearch.server@8.17.4/org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.MetadataCreateIndexService.validateIndexOrAliasName(MetadataCreateIndexService.java:237)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.IdentifierBuilder.validateIndexPattern(IdentifierBuilder.java:104)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.IdentifierBuilder.lambda$visitIndexPattern$0(IdentifierBuilder.java:70)
	at java.base/java.util.ArrayList.forEach(ArrayList.java:1597)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.IdentifierBuilder.visitIndexPattern(IdentifierBuilder.java:63)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.ExpressionBuilder.visitIndexPattern(ExpressionBuilder.java:92)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.LogicalPlanBuilder.visitFromCommand(LogicalPlanBuilder.java:259)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.LogicalPlanBuilder.visitFromCommand(LogicalPlanBuilder.java:87)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.EsqlBaseParser$FromCommandContext.accept(EsqlBaseParser.java:2192)
	at org.antlr.v4.runtime.tree.AbstractParseTreeVisitor.visitChildren(AbstractParseTreeVisitor.java:46)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.EsqlBaseParserBaseVisitor.visitSourceCommand(EsqlBaseParserBaseVisitor.java:50)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.EsqlBaseParser$SourceCommandContext.accept(EsqlBaseParser.java:400)
	at org.antlr.v4.runtime.tree.AbstractParseTreeVisitor.visitChildren(AbstractParseTreeVisitor.java:46)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.EsqlBaseParserBaseVisitor.visitSingleCommandQuery(EsqlBaseParserBaseVisitor.java:43)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.EsqlBaseParser$SingleCommandQueryContext.accept(EsqlBaseParser.java:302)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.ParserUtils.typedParsing(ParserUtils.java:68)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.LogicalPlanBuilder.plan(LogicalPlanBuilder.java:103)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.LogicalPlanBuilder.visitSingleStatement(LogicalPlanBuilder.java:128)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.LogicalPlanBuilder.visitSingleStatement(LogicalPlanBuilder.java:87)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.EsqlBaseParser$SingleStatementContext.accept(EsqlBaseParser.java:218)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.ParserUtils.typedParsing(ParserUtils.java:68)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.LogicalPlanBuilder.plan(LogicalPlanBuilder.java:103)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.EsqlParser.invokeParser(EsqlParser.java:92)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.parser.EsqlParser.createStatement(EsqlParser.java:55)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.session.EsqlSession.parse(EsqlSession.java:264)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.session.EsqlSession.execute(EsqlSession.java:150)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.execution.PlanExecutor.esql(PlanExecutor.java:80)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.plugin.TransportEsqlQueryAction.innerExecute(TransportEsqlQueryAction.java:185)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.plugin.TransportEsqlQueryAction.lambda$execute$1(TransportEsqlQueryAction.java:154)
	at org.elasticsearch.server@8.17.4/org.elasticsearch.action.ActionListener.run(ActionListener.java:454)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.plugin.TransportEsqlQueryAction.execute(TransportEsqlQueryAction.java:154)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.plugin.TransportEsqlQueryAction.execute(TransportEsqlQueryAction.java:56)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.core.async.AsyncTaskManagementService.asyncExecute(AsyncTaskManagementService.java:188)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.plugin.TransportEsqlQueryAction.doExecuteForked(TransportEsqlQueryAction.java:140)
	at org.elasticsearch.xpack.esql.plugin.TransportEsqlQueryAction.lambda$doExecute$0(TransportEsqlQueryAction.java:132)
	at org.elasticsearch.server@8.17.4/org.elasticsearch.action.ActionRunnable$4.doRun(ActionRunnable.java:101)
	at org.elasticsearch.server@8.17.4/org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.AbstractRunnable.run(AbstractRunnable.java:27)
	at org.elasticsearch.server@8.17.4/org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.TimedRunnable.doRun(TimedRunnable.java:34)
	at org.elasticsearch.server@8.17.4/org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.ThreadContext$ContextPreservingAbstractRunnable.doRun(ThreadContext.java:1023)
	at org.elasticsearch.server@8.17.4/org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.AbstractRunnable.run(AbstractRunnable.java:27)
	at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1144)
	at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:642)
	at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1575)

[elasticsearchmachine]

Pinging @elastic/es-analytical-engine (Team:Analytics)

[wchaparro]

@craigtaverner OK pulling back to 8.17.*

[wchaparro]

we delayed this, so at this point, we recommend to upgrade to 8.18