Fix null pointers by checking the IGNORE_MALFORMED_SETTING;

Update the CHANGELOG.md;

Signed-off-by: Hauck <[email protected]>

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ Inspired from [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/)
 - [Bug]: gradle check failing with java heap OutOfMemoryError (([#4328](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/
 - `opensearch.bat` fails to execute when install path includes spaces ([#4362](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/4362))
 - Fixed flaky test `ResourceAwareTasksTests.testTaskIdPersistsInThreadContext` ([#4484](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/4484))
+- Fixed the ignore_malformed setting to also ignore objects ([#4494](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/4494))
 
 ### Security
 - CVE-2022-25857 org.yaml:snakeyaml DOS vulnerability ([#4341](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/4341))

server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/FieldMapper.java

@@ -266,10 +266,11 @@ public boolean parsesArrayValue() {
      * Parse the field value using the provided {@link ParseContext}.
      */
     public void parse(ParseContext context) throws IOException {
-        boolean ignore_malformed = IGNORE_MALFORMED_SETTING.get(context.indexSettings().getSettings());
         try {
             parseCreateField(context);
         } catch (Exception e) {
+            boolean ignore_malformed = false;
+            if (context.indexSettings() != null) ignore_malformed = IGNORE_MALFORMED_SETTING.get(context.indexSettings().getSettings());
             String valuePreview = "";
             try {
                 XContentParser parser = context.parser();