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Flex Gateway flex-external-processor OOM caused by WSDL Validation Policy retry loop with URL-encoded filenames

Publish Date: Jul 23, 2026
Description

The flex-external-processor component receives policy update events via gRPC in a continuous loop. When the WSDLValidation policy
  attempts to load a WSDL file whose filename contains URL-encoded characters (e.g., %20 representing a trailing space), the Java schema
  loader fails to resolve the file path. The error logged is:

  Unable to load resource file:///tmp/unzip.../filename.wsdl null

  Because the failure is treated as transient, the policy is retried repeatedly on each configuration delivery cycle. Each retry extracts
  the WSDL zip bundle to a new /tmp/unzip* directory without cleaning up the previous extraction. This results in:

  - Progressive accumulation of /tmp/unzip* directories
  - Unbounded memory growth from temp files and schema parser objects not being released
  - Eventually OOM-kill of the flex-external-processor pod

  Versions affected: 1.13.1, 1.13.2, 1.13.3

  The issue does NOT affect WSDL files with clean filenames (no spaces or URL-encoded characters). Inbound flow (Inbound messages from
  citizens) works correctly. Only outbound messages that trigger the WSDL validation are affected.

Resolution

Short-term workaround (customer-applied):
  - Remove URL-encoded characters and trailing spaces from all WSDL filenames used by the WSDL Validation policy. Use decoded, canonical
  paths.
  - If external hosting is required, ensure encodings are normalized before reaching the gateway.
  - Operational mitigation: set resource limits on the flex-external-processor pod, add liveness/readiness probes, and optionally add a
  CronJob to periodically clean /tmp/unzip* directories.

  Long-term fix:
  Engineering bug W-23442789 has been filed. The fix will include:
  - URL normalization and proper decoding before resolution
  - Bounded retry strategy with exponential backoff
  - Cycle detection and size caps to prevent unbounded memory growth

Additional Resources

- GUS Investigation: W-23379341 (Closed - New Bug Logged)
  - GUS Bug: W-23442789 (Status: New)
  - MuleSoft Docs — SOAP Schema Validation Policy: https://docs.mulesoft.com/gateway/latest/policies-included-soap-schema-validation

Knowledge Article Number

005389192

 
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