Issue Summary

When using JQL like issue.property != "value" via the Match API or webhooks, issues where the property has never been set are incorrectly returned. Standard JQL search in the issue navigator behaves as expected; this problem is specific to issue match (match REST API and webhooks). This bug affects the semantics of `issue.property` in the Match API/webhooks and makes them inconsistent with standard JQL evaluation.

Steps to Reproduce

• In a Jira Cloud project, create three issues:
  • Issue 1: set an issue property, for example issue.property[key].path = "a".
  • Issue 2: set issue.property[key].path = "ab".
  • Issue 3: leave issue.property[key].path unset (do not set this property at all).
• In Jira's Issue Navigator (NIN), run this JQL: issue.property[key].path != "a"
  Result in NIN:
  • Only Issue 2 is returned.
  • This is the expected behavior: only issues where the property exists and is not equal to "a" are returned.

• Now call the Match API with the same JQL:
  • Endpoint: POST /rest/api/3/match
  • Body:
    jqls: [issue.property[key].path != "a"]
• Result in Match API (and webhooks that use it):
  • Issue 2 is returned.
  • Issue 3 (where issue.property[path].value is not set at all) is also returned.

Expected Results

JQL evaluation for issue properties in Match API and webhooks should be consistent with:

• Jira's Issue Navigator, and
• Other standard fields like assignee and reporter.

For a query like issue.property[key].path != "a":

• Only issues where the property exists and its value is not "a" should match.
• Issues where the property has never been set should not match.

Using the example above:

For issue.property[key].path != "a":

• Expected: only Issue 2 is returned.
• Issue 3 should not be returned because the property is not set.

Actual Results

In Match API and webhooks:

• Issues where the issue property is not set at all are treated as if they satisfy:
  • issue.property[key].path!= "a"

This means:

• The same JQL returns different results in NIN versus Match API/webhooks.
• Issue properties behave differently from other JQL fields, where unset values do not match != queries.

Workaround

To find issues where a property is either not set or has a value other than "a", use one of the following JQL queries:

• issue.property[key].path != "a" OR issue.property[key].path IS EMPTY

• issue.property[key].path != "a" OR issue.property[key].path = EMPTY

To find issues where the property is set but does not equal "a", use one of these queries instead:

• issue.property[key].path != "a" AND issue.property[key].path IS NOT EMPTY

• issue.property[key].path != "a" AND issue.property[key].path != EMPTY