When multiple editors are adding content at the same time, a "Recursive locks not allowed" error is thrown

[iehowe]

Which Umbraco version are you using?

13.8.1

Bug summary

Recently, we discovered that when multiple editors are creating and publishing content in the backoffice at the same time, a "One or more errors occurred. (Recursive locks not allowed)" is thrown from the /umbraco/backoffice/umbracoapi/content/PostSave API.

Initially we thought that it could be an issue with our instance, but when we tried to setup a blank instance, we got the same issue as well.

Specifics

Hosting: in an Azure VM running on IIS (Standard B12ms)
Database (we tested on 2 databases):

1. Azure SQL (Elastic Standard)
2. MS SQL Server On prem and local

We also noticed that this does not happen in our 13.2.2 instance for another project. Based on this #17246, it seems to indicate that after an update in 13.5, the issue started to happen.

Steps to reproduce

1. Get multiple persons to open up the backoffice and create a content but don't save or save and publish yet.
2. Then, everybody should click on save and publish at the same time.
3. A stacktrace will appear as per below in the publishing dialog with the following error

One or more errors occurred. (Recursive locks not allowed)
System.AggregateException, System.Private.CoreLib, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=7cec85d7bea7798e
   at Umbraco.Cms.Infrastructure.Scoping.Scope.TryFinally(Action[] actions)
   at Umbraco.Cms.Infrastructure.Scoping.Scope.Dispose()
   at Umbraco.Cms.Core.Services.ContentService.SaveAndPublish(IContent content, String culture, Int32 userId)
   at Umbraco.Cms.Web.BackOffice.Controllers.ContentController.PublishInternal(ContentItemSave contentItem, String defaultCulture, String cultureForInvariantErrors, Boolean& wasCancelled, String[]& successfulCultures)
   at Umbraco.Cms.Web.BackOffice.Controllers.ContentController.PostSaveInternal[TVariant](ContentItemSave contentItem, Func`3 saveMethod, Func`2 mapToDisplay)
   at Umbraco.Cms.Web.BackOffice.Controllers.ContentController.PostSave(ContentItemSave contentItem)
   at lambda_method2129(Closure, Object)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Infrastructure.ActionMethodExecutor.AwaitableObjectResultExecutor.Execute(ActionContext actionContext, IActionResultTypeMapper mapper, ObjectMethodExecutor executor, Object controller, Object[] arguments)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Infrastructure.ControllerActionInvoker.<InvokeActionMethodAsync>g__Awaited|12_0(ControllerActionInvoker invoker, ValueTask`1 actionResultValueTask)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Infrastructure.ControllerActionInvoker.<InvokeNextActionFilterAsync>g__Awaited|10_0(ControllerActionInvoker invoker, Task lastTask, State next, Scope scope, Object state, Boolean isCompleted)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Infrastructure.ControllerActionInvoker.Rethrow(ActionExecutedContextSealed context)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Infrastructure.ControllerActionInvoker.Next(State& next, Scope& scope, Object& state, Boolean& isCompleted)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Infrastructure.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeInnerFilterAsync()
--- End of stack trace from previous location ---
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Infrastructure.ResourceInvoker.<InvokeNextExceptionFilterAsync>g__Awaited|26_0(ResourceInvoker invoker, Task lastTask, State next, Scope scope, Object state, Boolean isCompleted)

In our earlier testing, we used some JavaScript to also help to simulate the error. If the team would like to follow along, please feel free to follow along.

1. Create 2 document types called "Site" and "Web Page".
2. With the backoffice open, create a Site as the root node and publish it.
3. Note down the ID of the site node. In the example below, it is 1058.
4. Paste the following code into the console and update the parentId in the payload to the ID of the site node.

var endpoint = '/umbraco/backoffice/umbracoapi/content/PostSave';

var $http = angular.element('body').injector().get('$http');
var umbRequestHelper = angular.element('body').injector().get('umbRequestHelper');

var send = async () => {
    for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {

        const formData = new FormData();

        const payload = {
            "id": 0,
            "contentTypeAlias": "webPage",
            "parentId": 1058,
            "action": "publishNew",
            "variants": [
                {
                    "name": `Item ${i + 1}`,
                    "properties": [],
                    "culture": null,
                    "segment": null,
                    "publish": true,
                    "save": true
                }
            ],
            "expireDate": null,
            "releaseDate": null,
            "templateAlias": null
        }

        formData.append('contentItem', JSON.stringify(payload));

        umbRequestHelper.postMultiPartRequest(endpoint, { key: 'contentItem', value: payload })
    }
}

send()

Expected result / actual result

The error should not occur and the content should be allowed to be published.

---

This item has been added to our backlog AB#53067

[github-actions]

Hi there @iehowe!

Firstly, a big thank you for raising this issue. Every piece of feedback we receive helps us to make Umbraco better.

We really appreciate your patience while we wait for our team to have a look at this but we wanted to let you know that we see this and share with you the plan for what comes next.

• We'll assess whether this issue relates to something that has already been fixed in a later version of the release that it has been raised for.
• If it's a bug, is it related to a release that we are actively supporting or is it related to a release that's in the end-of-life or security-only phase?
• We'll replicate the issue to ensure that the problem is as described.
• We'll decide whether the behavior is an issue or if the behavior is intended.

We wish we could work with everyone directly and assess your issue immediately but we're in the fortunate position of having lots of contributions to work with and only a few humans who are able to do it. We are making progress though and in the meantime, we will keep you in the loop and let you know when we have any questions.

Thanks, from your friendly Umbraco GitHub bot 🤖 🙂

[rbottema]

See also this forum thread.

[AndyButland]

Thanks for reporting @iehowe and the additional context @rbottema. This has been resolved in #19434 and scheduled for 13.10.

[umbracocommunity]

This issue has been mentioned on Umbraco community forum. There might be relevant details there:

https://forum.umbraco.com/t/recursive-locks-in-editor-background-tasks-since-upgrade-to-umbraco-13/1461/9

[umbracocommunity]

This issue has been mentioned on Umbraco community forum. There might be relevant details there:

https://forum.umbraco.com/t/recursive-write-lock-while-sorting/4066/6

[iehowe]

Hey @AndyButland , I am not sure if you are the right person in charge to ask about this.

But I was wondering if the fix for this would be included in the 13.10 as planned? Because I was just checking out the upcoming release page for 13.10.0 and I didn't find this issue in it.

Thanks!

https://our.umbraco.com/download/releases/13100