I’m facing an intermittent StackOverflowError during compilation after adding Lombok to my project even though I’m not using any Lombok annotations yet.

Environment

• Java 21

• Spring Boot 2.7

• Maven Compiler Plugin 3.1

• Build command: mvn clean package

• Also occurs with IntelliJ internal compiler

Problem

After adding Lombok as a dependency (with provided scope), the build behaves inconsistently:

• Sometimes the project compiles successfully

• Other times it fails with a StackOverflowError during compilation

• The error occurs both via Maven and IntelliJ

Important:
I am not using any Lombok annotations in the code yet, just adding the dependency triggers the issue.

Additional Context

We are already using a Log4j annotation processor configured with:

only

This is set in a custom execution (process-classes phase).

Some team members suspect this might be related, but:

• This configuration has existed for a long time

• Its original purpose is unclear

• Removing it is currently not an option due to unknown impact on the system

What I’ve Tried

• Added Lombok with provided scope

• Tried excluding Lombok from annotation processing

• Clean builds (mvn clean)

• Rebuilding multiple times

Despite this, the issue still occurs randomly.

Question

• Why would simply adding Lombok (without using any annotations) cause a StackOverflowError during compilation?

• Could this be related to annotation processing conflicts (e.g., with only)?

• Is there a way to prevent Lombok from interfering with annotation processing entirely?