ScoringRewrite (SCORING_BOOLEAN_REWRITE, CONSTANT_SCORE_BOOLEAN_REWRITE) passes FuzzyQuery's negative per-term boosts to BoostQuery, so a fuzzy query that matches a term shorter than its edit distance throws 'boost must be a positive float'; the classic Highlighter hits it with default settings (cat~ over text containing 'a') (known: #10608 / LUCENE-9568) (released since 8.0)

Finding LFV-1097Area: core/search / multi-term rewrites (ScoringRewrite with FuzzyQuery boosts)Priority: mediumImpact: crashNovelty: known upstream

AI-assisted finding, confirmed by automated checks, not yet triaged by a human Lucene committer. This site files nothing upstream.

What it shows

You highlight the parsed query cat~ with the classic Highlighter over 'a cat sat on a mat', or search FuzzyQuery('cat', 2) with SCORING_BOOLEAN_REWRITE over an index holding the term 'a', and expect highlights or two hits. Instead the rewrite throws IllegalArgumentException 'boost must be a positive float, got -1.0': FuzzyTermsEnum gives 'a' a negative boost, and ScoringRewrite passes it to BoostQuery, while TopTermsRewrite clips such boosts to 0.

Expected vs actual

• Expected: The test passes: it asserts the documented behaviour.
• Actual: The rewrite throws IllegalArgumentException 'boost must be a positive float, got -1.0': FuzzyTermsEnum gives 'a' a negative boost, and ScoringRewrite passes it to BoostQuery, while TopTermsRewrite clips such boosts to 0.

Files

• src/org/apache/lucene/search/TestScoringRewriteNegativeFuzzyBoost.java (JUnit test)

Run it

• Tested on Lucene main e1faeba08bde (2026-11-02): reproduced.
• Tested on Lucene main 645d4fe14a20 (2026-10-28): reproduced.
• How to read the outcome: a failing test is the finding reproducing (the failure message states expected against actual).
• Seeds: a rerun with the same seed replays the same random choices. Assertions off (-da -dsa -Dtests.asserts=false) is the production-like setting.

# Lucene checkout at the tested commit, built with: ./gradlew --no-daemon assemble   (JDK 25)
LUCENE=/path/to/lucene; V=12.0.0-SNAPSHOT
CP=$LUCENE/lucene/core/build/libs/lucene-core-$V.jar
CP=$CP:$LUCENE/lucene/codecs/build/libs/lucene-codecs-$V.jar
CP=$CP:$LUCENE/lucene/test-framework/build/libs/lucene-test-framework-$V.jar
CP=$CP:randomizedtesting-runner-2.9.2.jar:junit-4.13.2.jar:hamcrest-3.0.jar   # test-framework dependencies (Maven Central)
CP=$CP:junit-platform-console-standalone-6.1.3.jar   # JUnit Platform console launcher (Maven Central)

javac -d classes -cp "$CP" $(find src -name '*.java')

# run 1: assertions on, seed DEADBEEF
java -ea -esa --add-modules jdk.incubator.vector --enable-native-access=ALL-UNNAMED -Dtests.seed=DEADBEEF \
     -cp "classes:$CP" org.junit.platform.console.ConsoleLauncher \
     execute --select-class org.apache.lucene.search.TestScoringRewriteNegativeFuzzyBoost

Gradle alternative: copy the test into the matching module's src/test/ tree of the checkout and run ./gradlew -p lucene/<module> test --tests <class> -Ptests.seed=<seed> (add -Ptests.asserts=false for a run without assertions).

Feedback

Open an issue in lucene-ai-bug-hunt. Please do not open issues or pull requests in apache/lucene about this finding unless a Lucene committer agrees it should be filed.

Snapshot of 2026-11-04. AI-assisted; not yet triaged by a human Lucene committer. Feedback: open an issue in lucene-ai-bug-hunt.