Factory method 'mvcResourceUrlProvider' threw exception; nested exception is java.lang.NoSuchFieldError: defaultInstance

I just upgraded to spring boot 2.3.4.RELEASE and now i have to following error when i try to start the application:

    2020-10-12 10:16:23.870 ERROR 651 --- [           main] o.s.boot.SpringApplication               : Application run failed

org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'webMvcRequestHandlerProvider' defined in URL [jar:file: repository/io/springfox/springfox-spring-webmvc/3.0.0/springfox-spring-webmvc-3.0.0.jar!/springfox/documentation/spring/web/plugins/WebMvcRequestHandlerProvider.class]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor parameter 2; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'requestMappingHandlerMapping' defined in class path resource [org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/servlet/WebMvcAutoConfiguration$EnableWebMvcConfiguration.class]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through method 'requestMappingHandlerMapping' parameter 2; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'mvcResourceUrlProvider' defined in class path resource [org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/servlet/WebMvcAutoConfiguration$EnableWebMvcConfiguration.class]: Bean instantiation via factory method failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.BeanInstantiationException: Failed to instantiate [org.springframework.web.servlet.resource.ResourceUrlProvider]: Factory method 'mvcResourceUrlProvider' threw exception; nested exception is java.lang.NoSuchFieldError: defaultInstance
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.createArgumentArray(ConstructorResolver.java:797) ~[spring-beans-5.2.8.RELEASE.jar:5.2.8.RELEASE]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.autowireConstructor(ConstructorResolver.java:227) ~[spring-beans-5.2.8.RELEASE.jar:5.2.8.RELEASE]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.autowireConstructor(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1356) ~[spring-beans-5.2.8.RELEASE.jar:5.2.8.RELEASE]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBeanInstance(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1203) ~[spring-beans-5.2.8.RELEASE.jar:5.2.8.RELEASE]
	at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:556) ~[spring-beans-5.2.8.RELEASE.jar:5.2.8.RELEASE]

did somebody have the same errors?
regards

Ran into the same issue. The issue is that the org.springframework.web.util.UrlPathHelper class of spring-web.jar is missing the defaultInstance field.

In my case, the problem surfaced when upgrading to spring-boot, 2.3.12.RELEASE. The cause was because one of my transitive dependencies had a spring.version property set to an old version of spring-web. The version should be inherited from the spring-boot-starter-parent. I removed the property to fix the issue.

Check to see if you are doing something similar. You can view a tree of all your project's dependencies and versions using the maven dependency plugin:

mvn dependency:tree

i had to add the springframework-bom dependency in order that all spring dependencies got updated correctly!

<dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-framework-bom</artifactId>
            <version>${spring-framework.version}</version>
            <type>pom</type>
            <scope>import</scope>
        </dependency>

without it, spring-beans, spring-aop and a lot more were not updated