Error with Swagger Integration in Spring Boot: java.lang.TypeNotPresentException: Type javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest not present

I'm trying to implement API documentation using Swagger in my Spring Boot application, but I keep encountering this stack trace when attempting to run the application:

Can someone elaborate, why this might be happening why the latest core library is referring to old javax HttpServletRequest??

I have already gone through relevant questions, But they don't answer my query to the point and they talk about Swagger and SpringFox dependency fixes!!

I have listed starting from POm file, the swagger config class and the full stack trace below,any help will be highly appreciated

java.lang.TypeNotPresentException: Type javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest not present
    at java.base/sun.reflect.generics.factory.CoreReflectionFactory.makeNamedType(CoreReflectionFactory.java:117) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/sun.reflect.generics.visitor.Reifier.visitClassTypeSignature(Reifier.java:125) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/sun.reflect.generics.tree.ClassTypeSignature.accept(ClassTypeSignature.java:49) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/sun.reflect.generics.visitor.Reifier.reifyTypeArguments(Reifier.java:68) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/sun.reflect.generics.visitor.Reifier.visitClassTypeSignature(Reifier.java:138) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/sun.reflect.generics.tree.ClassTypeSignature.accept(ClassTypeSignature.java:49) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/sun.reflect.generics.repository.ClassRepository.computeSuperInterfaces(ClassRepository.java:117) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/sun.reflect.generics.repository.ClassRepository.getSuperInterfaces(ClassRepository.java:95) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.getGenericInterfaces(Class.java:1211) ~[na:na]
    at org.springframework.core.ResolvableType.getInterfaces(ResolvableType.java:517) ~[spring-core-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at org.springframework.core.ResolvableType.as(ResolvableType.java:465) ~[spring-core-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at org.springframework.core.ResolvableType.forClass(ResolvableType.java:1093) ~[spring-core-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at org.springframework.plugin.core.config.PluginRegistriesBeanDefinitionRegistrar.getTargetType(PluginRegistriesBeanDefinitionRegistrar.java:101) ~[spring-plugin-core-2.0.0.RELEASE.jar:2.0.0.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.plugin.core.config.PluginRegistriesBeanDefinitionRegistrar.registerBeanDefinitions(PluginRegistriesBeanDefinitionRegistrar.java:71) ~[spring-plugin-core-2.0.0.RELEASE.jar:2.0.0.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ImportBeanDefinitionRegistrar.registerBeanDefinitions(ImportBeanDefinitionRegistrar.java:86) ~[spring-context-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.lambda$loadBeanDefinitionsFromRegistrars$1(ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.java:376) ~[spring-context-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at java.base/java.util.LinkedHashMap.forEach(LinkedHashMap.java:721) ~[na:na]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitionsFromRegistrars(ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.java:375) ~[spring-context-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitionsForConfigurationClass(ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.java:148) ~[spring-context-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.loadBeanDefinitions(ConfigurationClassBeanDefinitionReader.java:120) ~[spring-context-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.processConfigBeanDefinitions(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:429) ~[spring-context-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.postProcessBeanDefinitionRegistry(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:290) ~[spring-context-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanDefinitionRegistryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:349) ~[spring-context-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:118) ~[spring-context-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:788) ~[spring-context-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:606) ~[spring-context-6.1.10.jar:6.1.10]
    at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.refresh(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:146) ~[spring-boot-3.3.1.jar:3.3.1]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:754) ~[spring-boot-3.3.1.jar:3.3.1]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:456) ~[spring-boot-3.3.1.jar:3.3.1]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:335) ~[spring-boot-3.3.1.jar:3.3.1]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1363) ~[spring-boot-3.3.1.jar:3.3.1]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1352) ~[spring-boot-3.3.1.jar:3.3.1]
    at com.restapi.rest_demo.RestDemoApplication.main(RestDemoApplication.java:10) ~[classes/:na]
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:641) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoaders.java:188) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:525) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:467) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/sun.reflect.generics.factory.CoreReflectionFactory.makeNamedType(CoreReflectionFactory.java:114) ~[na:na]
    ... 32 common frames omitted

Here is my pom.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>3.3.1</version>
        <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
    </parent>
    <groupId>com.restapi</groupId>
    <artifactId>rest-demo</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <name>rest-demo</name>
    <description>Demo project for Spring Boot</description>
    <url/>
    <licenses>
        <license/>
    </licenses>
    <developers>
        <developer/>
    </developers>
    <scm>
        <connection/>
        <developerConnection/>
        <tag/>
        <url/>
    </scm>
    <properties>
        <java.version>17</java.version>
    </properties>
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>io.springfox</groupId>
            <artifactId>springfox-boot-starter</artifactId>
            <version>3.0.0</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
            <version>4.0.1</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>mysql</groupId>
            <artifactId>mysql-connector-java</artifactId>
            <version>8.0.33</version>
            <scope>runtime</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.h2database</groupId>
            <artifactId>h2</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>


I also have this class set up for Swagger configuration:

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import springfox.documentation.builders.PathSelectors;
import springfox.documentation.builders.RequestHandlerSelectors;
import springfox.documentation.spi.DocumentationType;
import springfox.documentation.spring.web.plugins.Docket;
import springfox.documentation.swagger2.annotations.EnableSwagger2;

@Configuration
@EnableSwagger2
public class SwaggerConfig {

    @Bean
    public Docket api() {
        return new Docket(DocumentationType.SWAGGER_2)
                .select()
                .apis(RequestHandlerSelectors.basePackage("com.restapi.rest_demo"))
                .paths(PathSelectors.any())
                .build();
    }
}

Solution

The error was due to a compatibility issue between the versions of Spring Boot(im using 3.4.1) and Springfox.

so I had to remove the Springfox dependency:

<dependency>
    <groupId>io.springfox</groupId>
    <artifactId>springfox-boot-starter</artifactId>
    <version>3.0.0</version>
</dependency>

then replace with the SpringDoc dependency:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springdoc</groupId>
    <artifactId>springdoc-openapi-starter-webmvc-ui</artifactId>
    <version>2.1.0</version>
 </dependency>

After making these changes,I had to rebuild my project and then run it again. The Swagger UI should be available at http://localhost:8080/swagger-ui.html (adjust the port if necessary).