Throw when JSON Patch remove's target path resolves through a primitive or null parent

RFC 6902 (section 4.2) requires the target location of a "remove" operation to exist. operation_remove handled parent.is_object() and parent.is_array(), but had no final else branch: when the resolved parent was a primitive value or null, neither branch matched and the operation silently did nothing instead of failing. Add the missing else branch, throwing out_of_range.413 with wording that matches the existing out_of_range.411 thrown by the analogous "add" case (operation_add) for the same kind of invalid parent. Fixes #5396. Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
2026-09-06 08:17:59 +00:00 · 2026-09-05 22:12:27 +02:00
7 changed files with 90 additions and 56 deletions
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ Strong guarantee: if an exception is thrown, there are no changes in the JSON va
  ("add", "remove", "move")
 - Throws [`out_of_range.411`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range411) if an "add" operation's target
  location has a parent that is neither an object nor an array.
+- Throws [`out_of_range.413`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range413) if a "remove" operation's target
+  location has a parent that is neither an object nor an array.
 - Throws [`other_error.501`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionother_error501) if "test" operation was
  unsuccessful.

@@ -75,3 +77,5 @@ is thrown. In any case, the original value is not changed: the patch is applied
 - Added in version 2.0.0.
 - Added [`out_of_range.411`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range411) and stopped relying on an internal assertion when an "add" operation's
  target location has a non-object/non-array parent in version 3.13.0.
+- Added [`out_of_range.413`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range413) and stopped silently ignoring a "remove" operation whose target
+  location has a non-object/non-array parent in version 3.13.0.
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ No guarantees, value may be corrupted by an unsuccessful patch operation.
  ("add", "remove", "move")
 - Throws [`out_of_range.411`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range411) if an "add" operation's target
  location has a parent that is neither an object nor an array.
+- Throws [`out_of_range.413`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range413) if a "remove" operation's target
+  location has a parent that is neither an object nor an array.
 - Throws [`other_error.501`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionother_error501) if "test" operation was
  unsuccessful.

@@ -72,3 +74,5 @@ function throws an exception.
 - Added in version 3.11.0.
 - Added [`out_of_range.411`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range411) and stopped relying on an internal assertion when an "add" operation's
  target location has a non-object/non-array parent in version 3.13.0.
+- Added [`out_of_range.413`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range413) and stopped silently ignoring a "remove" operation whose target
+  location has a non-object/non-array parent in version 3.13.0.
@@ -933,6 +933,20 @@ BSON stores the length of documents, arrays, strings, and binary values in a sig
    [`to_bson`](../api/basic_json/to_bson.md) produced documents with negative length prefixes that
    [`from_bson`](../api/basic_json/from_bson.md) rejected.

+### json.exception.out_of_range.413
+
+A JSON Patch `remove` operation cannot be applied because the target location's parent is neither an object nor an array. Per [RFC 6902](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6902), a `remove` target must reference a member of an existing object or an element of an existing array; a primitive value (string, number, boolean, etc.) or `null` has no members or elements to remove.
+
+!!! failure "Example message"
+
+    ```
+    cannot remove value: the JSON Patch 'remove' target's parent is of type number, but must be an object or array
+    ```
+
+!!! note
+
+    This exception was added in version 3.13.0. Before that, this situation was silently ignored (the `remove` operation had no effect).
+
 ## Further exceptions

 This exception is thrown in case of errors that cannot be classified with the
@@ -1335,7 +1335,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief serialization
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/dump/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    string_t dump(const int indent = -1,
                  const char indent_char = ' ',
                  const bool ensure_ascii = false,
@@ -1358,7 +1357,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return the type of the JSON value (explicit)
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/type/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr value_t type() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type;
@@ -1366,7 +1364,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether type is primitive
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_primitive/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_primitive() const noexcept
    {
        return is_null() || is_string() || is_boolean() || is_number() || is_binary();
@@ -1374,7 +1371,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether type is structured
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_structured/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_structured() const noexcept
    {
        return is_array() || is_object();
@@ -1382,7 +1378,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is null
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_null/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_null() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::null;
@@ -1390,7 +1385,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is a boolean
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_boolean/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_boolean() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::boolean;
@@ -1398,7 +1392,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is a number
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_number/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_number() const noexcept
    {
        return is_number_integer() || is_number_float();
@@ -1406,7 +1399,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is an integer number
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_number_integer/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_number_integer() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::number_integer || m_data.m_type == value_t::number_unsigned;
@@ -1414,7 +1406,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is an unsigned integer number
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_number_unsigned/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_number_unsigned() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::number_unsigned;
@@ -1422,7 +1413,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is a floating-point number
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_number_float/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_number_float() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::number_float;
@@ -1430,7 +1420,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is an object
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_object/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_object() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::object;
@@ -1438,7 +1427,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is an array
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_array/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_array() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::array;
@@ -1446,7 +1434,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is a string
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_string/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_string() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::string;
@@ -1454,7 +1441,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is a binary array
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_binary/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_binary() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::binary;
@@ -1462,7 +1448,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is discarded
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_discarded/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_discarded() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::discarded;
@@ -2794,7 +2779,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief returns the number of occurrences of a key in a JSON object
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/count/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    size_type count(const typename object_t::key_type& key) const
    {
        // return 0 for all nonobject types
@@ -2805,7 +2789,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/count/
    template<class KeyType, detail::enable_if_t<
                 detail::is_usable_as_basic_json_key_type<basic_json_t, KeyType>::value, int> = 0>
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    size_type count(KeyType && key) const
    {
        // return 0 for all nonobject types
@@ -2814,7 +2797,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief check the existence of an element in a JSON object
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/contains/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    bool contains(const typename object_t::key_type& key) const
    {
        return is_object() && m_data.m_value.object->find(key) != m_data.m_value.object->end();
@@ -2824,7 +2806,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/contains/
    template<class KeyType, detail::enable_if_t<
                 detail::is_usable_as_basic_json_key_type<basic_json_t, KeyType>::value, int> = 0>
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    bool contains(KeyType && key) const
    {
        return is_object() && m_data.m_value.object->find(std::forward<KeyType>(key)) != m_data.m_value.object->end();
@@ -2832,14 +2813,12 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief check the existence of an element in a JSON object given a JSON pointer
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/contains/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    bool contains(const json_pointer& ptr) const
    {
        return ptr.contains(this);
    }

    template<typename BasicJsonType, detail::enable_if_t<detail::is_basic_json<BasicJsonType>::value, int> = 0>
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    JSON_HEDLEY_DEPRECATED_FOR(3.11.0, basic_json::json_pointer or nlohmann::json_pointer<basic_json::string_t>) // NOLINT(readability/alt_tokens)
    bool contains(const typename ::nlohmann::json_pointer<BasicJsonType>& ptr) const
    {
@@ -2995,7 +2974,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief checks whether the container is empty.
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/empty/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    bool empty() const noexcept
    {
        switch (m_data.m_type)
@@ -3035,7 +3013,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief returns the number of elements
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/size/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    size_type size() const noexcept
    {
        switch (m_data.m_type)
@@ -3075,7 +3052,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief returns the maximum possible number of elements
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/max_size/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    size_type max_size() const noexcept
    {
        switch (m_data.m_type)
@@ -4153,7 +4129,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
    /// @brief check if the input is valid JSON
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/accept/
    template<typename InputType>
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    static bool accept(InputType&& i,
                       const bool ignore_comments = false,
                       const bool ignore_trailing_commas = false)
@@ -4165,7 +4140,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/accept/
    template<typename IteratorType, typename SentinelType = IteratorType,
             detail::enable_if_t<detail::can_compare_ne<IteratorType, SentinelType>::value, int> = 0>
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    static bool accept(IteratorType first, SentinelType last,
                       const bool ignore_comments = false,
                       const bool ignore_trailing_commas = false)
@@ -4265,7 +4239,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return the type as string
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/type_name/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    JSON_HEDLEY_RETURNS_NON_NULL
    const char* type_name() const noexcept
    {
@@ -4966,6 +4939,12 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
                // note erase performs range check
                parent.erase(json_pointer::template array_index<basic_json_t>(last_path));
            }
+            else
+            {
+                // the parent of a "remove" target must be an object or array
+                // (see #5396)
+                JSON_THROW(out_of_range::create(413, detail::concat("cannot remove value: the JSON Patch 'remove' target's parent is of type ", parent.type_name(), ", but must be an object or array"), &parent));
+            }
        };

        // type check: top level value must be an array
@@ -22763,7 +22763,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief serialization
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/dump/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    string_t dump(const int indent = -1,
                  const char indent_char = ' ',
                  const bool ensure_ascii = false,
@@ -22786,7 +22785,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return the type of the JSON value (explicit)
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/type/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr value_t type() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type;
@@ -22794,7 +22792,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether type is primitive
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_primitive/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_primitive() const noexcept
    {
        return is_null() || is_string() || is_boolean() || is_number() || is_binary();
@@ -22802,7 +22799,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether type is structured
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_structured/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_structured() const noexcept
    {
        return is_array() || is_object();
@@ -22810,7 +22806,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is null
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_null/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_null() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::null;
@@ -22818,7 +22813,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is a boolean
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_boolean/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_boolean() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::boolean;
@@ -22826,7 +22820,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is a number
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_number/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_number() const noexcept
    {
        return is_number_integer() || is_number_float();
@@ -22834,7 +22827,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is an integer number
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_number_integer/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_number_integer() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::number_integer || m_data.m_type == value_t::number_unsigned;
@@ -22842,7 +22834,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is an unsigned integer number
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_number_unsigned/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_number_unsigned() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::number_unsigned;
@@ -22850,7 +22841,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is a floating-point number
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_number_float/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_number_float() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::number_float;
@@ -22858,7 +22848,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is an object
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_object/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_object() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::object;
@@ -22866,7 +22855,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is an array
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_array/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_array() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::array;
@@ -22874,7 +22862,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is a string
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_string/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_string() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::string;
@@ -22882,7 +22869,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is a binary array
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_binary/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_binary() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::binary;
@@ -22890,7 +22876,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return whether value is discarded
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/is_discarded/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    constexpr bool is_discarded() const noexcept
    {
        return m_data.m_type == value_t::discarded;
@@ -24222,7 +24207,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief returns the number of occurrences of a key in a JSON object
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/count/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    size_type count(const typename object_t::key_type& key) const
    {
        // return 0 for all nonobject types
@@ -24233,7 +24217,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/count/
    template<class KeyType, detail::enable_if_t<
                 detail::is_usable_as_basic_json_key_type<basic_json_t, KeyType>::value, int> = 0>
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    size_type count(KeyType && key) const
    {
        // return 0 for all nonobject types
@@ -24242,7 +24225,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief check the existence of an element in a JSON object
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/contains/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    bool contains(const typename object_t::key_type& key) const
    {
        return is_object() && m_data.m_value.object->find(key) != m_data.m_value.object->end();
@@ -24252,7 +24234,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/contains/
    template<class KeyType, detail::enable_if_t<
                 detail::is_usable_as_basic_json_key_type<basic_json_t, KeyType>::value, int> = 0>
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    bool contains(KeyType && key) const
    {
        return is_object() && m_data.m_value.object->find(std::forward<KeyType>(key)) != m_data.m_value.object->end();
@@ -24260,14 +24241,12 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief check the existence of an element in a JSON object given a JSON pointer
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/contains/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    bool contains(const json_pointer& ptr) const
    {
        return ptr.contains(this);
    }

    template<typename BasicJsonType, detail::enable_if_t<detail::is_basic_json<BasicJsonType>::value, int> = 0>
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    JSON_HEDLEY_DEPRECATED_FOR(3.11.0, basic_json::json_pointer or nlohmann::json_pointer<basic_json::string_t>) // NOLINT(readability/alt_tokens)
    bool contains(const typename ::nlohmann::json_pointer<BasicJsonType>& ptr) const
    {
@@ -24423,7 +24402,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief checks whether the container is empty.
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/empty/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    bool empty() const noexcept
    {
        switch (m_data.m_type)
@@ -24463,7 +24441,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief returns the number of elements
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/size/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    size_type size() const noexcept
    {
        switch (m_data.m_type)
@@ -24503,7 +24480,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief returns the maximum possible number of elements
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/max_size/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    size_type max_size() const noexcept
    {
        switch (m_data.m_type)
@@ -25581,7 +25557,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
    /// @brief check if the input is valid JSON
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/accept/
    template<typename InputType>
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    static bool accept(InputType&& i,
                       const bool ignore_comments = false,
                       const bool ignore_trailing_commas = false)
@@ -25593,7 +25568,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/accept/
    template<typename IteratorType, typename SentinelType = IteratorType,
             detail::enable_if_t<detail::can_compare_ne<IteratorType, SentinelType>::value, int> = 0>
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    static bool accept(IteratorType first, SentinelType last,
                       const bool ignore_comments = false,
                       const bool ignore_trailing_commas = false)
@@ -25693,7 +25667,6 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec

    /// @brief return the type as string
    /// @sa https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/type_name/
-    JSON_HEDLEY_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT
    JSON_HEDLEY_RETURNS_NON_NULL
    const char* type_name() const noexcept
    {
@@ -26394,6 +26367,12 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
                // note erase performs range check
                parent.erase(json_pointer::template array_index<basic_json_t>(last_path));
            }
+            else
+            {
+                // the parent of a "remove" target must be an object or array
+                // (see #5396)
+                JSON_THROW(out_of_range::create(413, detail::concat("cannot remove value: the JSON Patch 'remove' target's parent is of type ", parent.type_name(), ", but must be an object or array"), &parent));
+            }
        };

        // type check: top level value must be an array
@@ -1389,6 +1389,61 @@ TEST_CASE("JSON patch - add to a primitive parent (regression #4292)")
    }
 }

+TEST_CASE("JSON patch - remove with primitive or null parent (regression #5396)")
+{
+    // Regression test for https://github.com/nlohmann/json/issues/5396
+    //
+    // RFC 6902 (§4.2) requires the target location of a "remove" operation
+    // to exist. When the target's parent resolves to a primitive value or
+    // null, the operation must fail. Previously operation_remove silently
+    // did nothing in this case (neither the "is_object" nor the "is_array"
+    // branch matched, and there was no final "else"), so the patch appeared
+    // to succeed without changing the document. It now throws
+    // out_of_range.413.
+
+    SECTION("parent is a primitive (number)")
+    {
+        json const doc = {{"a", 1}};
+        json const patch = {{{"op", "remove"}, {"path", "/a/b"}}};
+#if JSON_DIAGNOSTICS
+        CHECK_THROWS_WITH_AS(doc.patch(patch), "[json.exception.out_of_range.413] (/a) cannot remove value: the JSON Patch 'remove' target's parent is of type number, but must be an object or array", json::out_of_range&);
+#else
+        CHECK_THROWS_WITH_AS(doc.patch(patch), "[json.exception.out_of_range.413] cannot remove value: the JSON Patch 'remove' target's parent is of type number, but must be an object or array", json::out_of_range&);
+#endif
+    }
+
+    SECTION("parent is a primitive (string)")
+    {
+        json const doc = {{"foo", {{"bar", "a string"}}}};
+        json const patch = {{{"op", "remove"}, {"path", "/foo/bar/baz"}}};
+#if JSON_DIAGNOSTICS
+        CHECK_THROWS_WITH_AS(doc.patch(patch), "[json.exception.out_of_range.413] (/foo/bar) cannot remove value: the JSON Patch 'remove' target's parent is of type string, but must be an object or array", json::out_of_range&);
+#else
+        CHECK_THROWS_WITH_AS(doc.patch(patch), "[json.exception.out_of_range.413] cannot remove value: the JSON Patch 'remove' target's parent is of type string, but must be an object or array", json::out_of_range&);
+#endif
+    }
+
+    SECTION("top-level document is null")
+    {
+        json const doc = nullptr;
+        json const patch = {{{"op", "remove"}, {"path", "/a"}}};
+        CHECK_THROWS_WITH_AS(doc.patch(patch), "[json.exception.out_of_range.413] cannot remove value: the JSON Patch 'remove' target's parent is of type null, but must be an object or array", json::out_of_range&);
+    }
+
+    SECTION("legitimate removes still work")
+    {
+        // object member
+        json const doc1 = {{"a", 1}, {"b", 2}};
+        json const patch1 = {{{"op", "remove"}, {"path", "/a"}}};
+        CHECK(doc1.patch(patch1) == json({{"b", 2}}));
+
+        // array element
+        json const doc2 = R"([1, 2, 3])"_json;
+        json const patch2 = {{{"op", "remove"}, {"path", "/1"}}};
+        CHECK(doc2.patch(patch2) == R"([1, 3])"_json);
+    }
+}
+
 TEST_CASE("JSON patch - diff emits array removals in descending index order")
 {
    SECTION("array shrunk to empty")
@@ -639,8 +639,7 @@ TEST_CASE("regression tests 2")
                s += static_cast<char>(i);
            }
            dump_test["1"] = s;
-            // dump() is nodiscard; this only checks that dumping does not throw/crash
-            (void)dump_test.dump(-1, ' ', true, nlohmann::json::error_handler_t::replace);
+            dump_test.dump(-1, ' ', true, nlohmann::json::error_handler_t::replace);
        }
    }