Cannot change Global Space Permissions if confluence-users group is deleted

Issue Summary

When managing our Site Administration, we can create and delete groups the way we want. Though, deleting some of the default groups, like the confluence-users, can turn up some weird issues on Confluence.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Delete the confluence-users group;
   • Before deleting it, make sure to create a new group, add this group with Product Access and make it the default, so you can remove the confluence-users;
2. Go to Confluence > Settings > Space Permissions;
3. Edit the default space permissions;
4. Uncheck any checkbox and save it.

Expected Results

The changes are saved successfully.

Actual Results

You are redirected to an error screen saying "_Oops - an error has occurred _" and the changes are not appliable.

Notes:

• This error generates a 500 error on the browser console in the endpoint /wiki/admin/permissions/doeditdefaultspacepermissions.action
• In the logs the below stack trace is shown on this event:

  java.lang.NullPointerException: 
  com.atlassian.confluence.security.administrators.AbstractEditPermissionsAdministrator.applyPermissionChanges(AbstractEditPermissionsAdministrator.java:375)
  com.atlassian.confluence.security.actions.AbstractEditPermissionAction.executeAction(AbstractEditPermissionAction.java:48)
  com.atlassian.confluence.security.actions.EditSpacePermissionDefaultsAction.execute(EditSpacePermissionDefaultsAction.java:50)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:168)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.interceptor.AroundInterceptor.intercept(AroundInterceptor.java:35)
  com.atlassian.confluence.impl.profiling.TimingLogXWorkInterceptor.intercept(TimingLogXWorkInterceptor.java:37)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.core.ConfluenceWorkflowInterceptor.intercept(ConfluenceWorkflowInterceptor.java:58)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.interceptor.AroundInterceptor.intercept(AroundInterceptor.java:35)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.xwork.interceptors.XsrfTokenInterceptor.intercept(XsrfTokenInterceptor.java:100)
  com.atlassian.confluence.xwork.ConfluenceXsrfTokenInterceptor.intercept(ConfluenceXsrfTokenInterceptor.java:39)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.security.interceptors.CaptchaInterceptor.intercept(CaptchaInterceptor.java:42)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.interceptor.AroundInterceptor.intercept(AroundInterceptor.java:35)
  com.atlassian.confluence.impl.profiling.TimingLogXWorkInterceptor.intercept(TimingLogXWorkInterceptor.java:37)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.interceptor.AroundInterceptor.intercept(AroundInterceptor.java:35)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.validation.MessageHolderInterceptor.intercept(MessageHolderInterceptor.java:36)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.interceptor.AroundInterceptor.intercept(AroundInterceptor.java:35)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.util.LoggingContextInterceptor.intercept(LoggingContextInterceptor.java:44)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.core.CancellingInterceptor.intercept(CancellingInterceptor.java:21)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.xwork.HttpMethodValidationInterceptor.intercept(HttpMethodValidationInterceptor.java:68)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.themes.ThemeContextInterceptor.intercept(ThemeContextInterceptor.java:42)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.security.actions.PermissionCheckInterceptor.intercept(PermissionCheckInterceptor.java:63)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.setup.webwork.BootstrapAwareInterceptor.intercept(BootstrapAwareInterceptor.java:21)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.interceptor.AroundInterceptor.intercept(AroundInterceptor.java:35)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.user.actions.UserAwareInterceptor.intercept(UserAwareInterceptor.java:53)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.pages.actions.CommentAwareInterceptor.intercept(CommentAwareInterceptor.java:39)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.pages.actions.PageAwareInterceptor.intercept(PageAwareInterceptor.java:66)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.spaces.actions.SpaceAwareInterceptor.intercept(SpaceAwareInterceptor.java:71)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.security.interceptors.ConfluenceAccessInterceptor.intercept(ConfluenceAccessInterceptor.java:31)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.xwork.FlashScopeInterceptor.intercept(FlashScopeInterceptor.java:27)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.interceptor.AroundInterceptor.intercept(AroundInterceptor.java:35)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.core.actions.LastModifiedInterceptor.intercept(LastModifiedInterceptor.java:27)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.atlassian.confluence.core.ConfluenceAutowireInterceptor.intercept(ConfluenceAutowireInterceptor.java:38)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.interceptor.AroundInterceptor.intercept(AroundInterceptor.java:35)
  com.opensymphony.xwork.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:165)...

• On the site we replicate this bug, before to delete the confluence-users group we get the id, external_id, and directory_id;
• Creating a new group with the same name doesn't seem to work;
• Updating the id, external_id, and directory_id on the cwd_group table to the same info as the original group doesn't seem to work too.

Workaround

Currently there is no known workaround for this behavior. A workaround will be added here when available