[ObsPresentation][APM] Handle malformed span.links data in trace samples by MiriamAparicio · Pull Request #251442 · elastic/kibana

MiriamAparicio · 2026-02-03T12:37:02Z

Summary

Fixes an issue where span.links data that is not an array (e.g., null, object, or string) would cause trace sample requests to fail or return empty responses. This can occur with certain OTel data formats.

Changes:

Replace ?? operator with explicit Array.isArray() check to ensure span.links is always an array before calling .filter()
Add comprehensive unit tests for malformed data scenarios
Covers cases where span.links is null, object, string, or other non-array values

BEFORE

AFTER

Screen.Recording.2026-02-03.at.12.16.46.mov

elasticmachine · 2026-02-03T12:37:08Z

Pinging @elastic/obs-presentation-team (Team:obs-presentation)

crespocarlos

Thanks for the quick fix. left some questions

crespocarlos · 2026-02-03T12:46:33Z

x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/server/routes/span_links/get_linked_children.ts

-          span_id: event[OTEL_SPAN_LINKS_SPAN_ID],
-        }),
+      [SPAN_LINKS]: Array.isArray(source?.span?.links)
+        ? source.span.links


If Elasticsearch returns a valid span.links but not as an array, aren't we discarding it?

if it's not an array it will crash when we try to do linkedChild[SPAN_LINKS].some(), that was actually the error here, span.links was returning an object not an array

what if we did something like:

const spanLinksArray = source?.span?.links ? Array.isArray(source?.span?.links) ? source.span.links : [source.span.links] : undefined ... [SPAN_LINKS]: spanLinksArray ? spanLinksArray ...

I'm concerned that we're discarding the data because it's malformed, while we could ensure it's in the correct format instead.

Right, this makes sense, I think in this specific case the issue was that the data returned was just a single span.link, that for some reason was not returned as an array but the single object:

source.span.links = { span: { id: 'acb417d416b46fb1' }, trace: { id: '87314fa66e73ccf103627be79f2e6612' } }

Your approach will work, wrapping this into an array

source.span.links =[{ span: { id: 'acb417d416b46fb1' }, trace: { id: '87314fa66e73ccf103627be79f2e6612' } }]

Good catch!

crespocarlos · 2026-02-03T12:47:19Z

x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/server/routes/span_links/get_linked_children.test.ts

+    });
+
+    it.each([
+      ['object', { trace: { id: 'test-trace-id' }, span: { id: 'span-1' } }],


For this scenario, why is the expected result to be {}?

this scenario is the case where span.links is malformed, and we don't have OTEL_SPAN_LINKS_TRACE_ID or OTEL_SPAN_LINKS_SPAN_ID fields, so mapOtelToSpanLink will return an empty array, and getSpanLinksCountById reduce on empty array return {}

but we could enforce it to be an array, right?

fixed the tests

jennypavlova

The code LGTM 💯 Thanks for the fix!

crespocarlos · 2026-02-03T16:18:20Z

x-pack/solutions/observability/plugins/apm/server/routes/span_links/get_linked_children.ts

+      ? Array.isArray(source?.span?.links)
+        ? source.span.links
+        : [source.span.links]
+      : [];


Suggested change

: [];

: undefined;

If we return an empty array here, mapOtelToSpanLink will never be called if span.links is undefined.

fixed here f34644b

elasticmachine · 2026-02-04T10:45:37Z

💚 Build Succeeded

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Commit: f34644b

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💔 Build #389341 failed 9dc0a38
💔 Build #389235 failed 68126f2

kibanamachine · 2026-02-04T11:38:51Z

Starting backport for target branches: 9.3

https://github.com/elastic/kibana/actions/runs/21669973216

…les (elastic#251442) ## Summary Fixes an issue where span.links data that is not an array (e.g., null, object, or string) would cause trace sample requests to fail or return empty responses. This can occur with certain OTel data formats. ### Changes: - Replace ?? operator with explicit `Array.isArray()` check to ensure `span.links` is always an array before calling `.filter()` - Add comprehensive unit tests for malformed data scenarios - Covers cases where `span.links` is null, object, string, or other non-array values BEFORE <img width="2880" height="2084" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d853554d-0bb5-4451-bc8e-bea16f5560f8" /> AFTER https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8f3fb7b8-77e5-484f-bfbe-9ffed89c9f0c (cherry picked from commit fe0a748)

kibanamachine · 2026-02-04T11:46:33Z

💚 All backports created successfully

Status	Branch	Result
✅	9.3

Note: Successful backport PRs will be merged automatically after passing CI.

Questions ?

Please refer to the Backport tool documentation

…e samples (#251442) (#251639) # Backport This will backport the following commits from `main` to `9.3`: - [[ObsPresentation][APM] Handle malformed span.links data in trace samples (#251442)](#251442)  ### Questions ? Please refer to the [Backport tool documentation](https://github.com/sorenlouv/backport)  Co-authored-by: Miriam <31922082+MiriamAparicio@users.noreply.github.com>

Handle malformed span.links data in trace samples

68126f2

MiriamAparicio added the release_note:skip Skip the PR/issue when compiling release notes label Feb 3, 2026

MiriamAparicio requested a review from a team as a code owner February 3, 2026 12:37

MiriamAparicio added backport:version Backport to applied version labels v9.3.0 v9.4.0 Team:obs-presentation Focus: APM UI, Infra UI, Hosts UI, Universal Profiling, Obs Overview and left Navigation labels Feb 3, 2026

crespocarlos reviewed Feb 3, 2026

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jennypavlova approved these changes Feb 3, 2026

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pr review comments and fix & remove unnecessary tests

9dc0a38

crespocarlos reviewed Feb 3, 2026

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fix test, don't return empty array but undefined

f34644b

crespocarlos approved these changes Feb 4, 2026

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MiriamAparicio merged commit fe0a748 into elastic:main Feb 4, 2026
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kibanamachine mentioned this pull request Feb 4, 2026

[9.3] [ObsPresentation][APM] Handle malformed span.links data in trace samples (#251442) #251639

Merged

MiriamAparicio mentioned this pull request Feb 23, 2026

[APM] Audit: Add optional chaining or defaults for arrays before .find() (PageFatalReactError \"reading 'find'\") #254200

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elasticmachine commented Feb 3, 2026

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elasticmachine commented Feb 4, 2026

💚 Build Succeeded

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kibanamachine commented Feb 4, 2026

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💚 All backports created successfully

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MiriamAparicio commented Feb 3, 2026 •

edited by kibanamachine

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MiriamAparicio Feb 3, 2026 •

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