Change private static final field using Java reflection

Question

I have a class with a private static final field that, unfortunately, I need to change it at run-time.

Using reflection I get this error: java.lan

Answer 1

Even in spite of being final a field can be modified outside of static initializer and (at least JVM HotSpot) will execute the bytecode perfectly fine.

The problem is that Java compiler does not allow this, but this can be easily bypassed using objectweb.asm. Here is perfectly valid classfile that passes bytecode verification and succesfully loaded and initialized under JVM HotSpot OpenJDK12:

ClassWriter cw = new ClassWriter(0);
cw.visit(Opcodes.V1_8, Opcodes.ACC_PUBLIC, "Cl", null, "java/lang/Object", null);
{
    FieldVisitor fv = cw.visitField(Opcodes.ACC_PRIVATE | Opcodes.ACC_STATIC | Opcodes.ACC_FINAL, "fld", "I", null, null);
    fv.visitEnd();
}
{
    // public void setFinalField1() { //... }
    MethodVisitor mv = cw.visitMethod(Opcodes.ACC_PUBLIC | Opcodes.ACC_STATIC, "setFinalField1", "()V", null, null);
    mv.visitMaxs(2, 1);
    mv.visitInsn(Opcodes.ICONST_5);
    mv.visitFieldInsn(Opcodes.PUTSTATIC, "Cl", "fld", "I");
    mv.visitInsn(Opcodes.RETURN);
    mv.visitEnd();
}
{
    // public void setFinalField2() { //... }
    MethodVisitor mv = cw.visitMethod(Opcodes.ACC_PUBLIC | Opcodes.ACC_STATIC, "setFinalField2", "()V", null, null);
    mv.visitMaxs(2, 1);
    mv.visitInsn(Opcodes.ICONST_2);
    mv.visitFieldInsn(Opcodes.PUTSTATIC, "Cl", "fld", "I");
    mv.visitInsn(Opcodes.RETURN);
    mv.visitEnd();
}
cw.visitEnd();

In Java, the class looks roughly speaking as follows:

public class Cl{
    private static final int fld;

    public static void setFinalField1(){
        fld = 5;
    }

    public static void setFinalField2(){
        fld = 2;
    }
}

which cannot be compiled with javac, but can be loaded and executed by JVM.

JVM HotSpot has special treatment of such classes in the sense that it prevents such "constants" from participating in constant folding. This check is done on the bytecode rewriting phase of class initialization:

// Check if any final field of the class given as parameter is modified
// outside of initializer methods of the class. Fields that are modified
// are marked with a flag. For marked fields, the compilers do not perform
// constant folding (as the field can be changed after initialization).
//
// The check is performed after verification and only if verification has
// succeeded. Therefore, the class is guaranteed to be well-formed.
InstanceKlass* klass = method->method_holder();
u2 bc_index = Bytes::get_Java_u2(bcp + prefix_length + 1);
constantPoolHandle cp(method->constants());
Symbol* ref_class_name = cp->klass_name_at(cp->klass_ref_index_at(bc_index));
if (klass->name() == ref_class_name) {
   Symbol* field_name = cp->name_ref_at(bc_index);
   Symbol* field_sig = cp->signature_ref_at(bc_index);

   fieldDescriptor fd;
   if (klass->find_field(field_name, field_sig, &fd) != NULL) {
      if (fd.access_flags().is_final()) {
         if (fd.access_flags().is_static()) {
            if (!method->is_static_initializer()) {
               fd.set_has_initialized_final_update(true);
            }
          } else {
            if (!method->is_object_initializer()) {
              fd.set_has_initialized_final_update(true);
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
}

The only restriction that JVM HotSpot checks is that the final field should not be modified outside of the class that the final field is declared at.