When an MBean is loaded from jboss-service.xml within an EAR, the TCCL should point to the EAR deployment so that config files and other resources can be classloaded from the EAR. Under JBoss 7.1.1.Final, the TCCL in a module loaded MBean's start() method is the module's ClassLoader. No reference to the EAR deployment's classloader is available, thus EAR resources are not available within the MBean.
It appears that org.jboss.as.service.AbstractService::invokeLifecycleMethod() incorrectly sets the TCCL to the module's defining classloader rather than the EAR's:
{{{
protected void invokeLifecycleMethod(final Method method) throws InvocationTargetException, IllegalAccessException {
if (method != null) {
final ClassLoader old = SecurityActions.setThreadContextClassLoader(mBeanInstance.getClass().getClassLoader());
try
finally
{ SecurityActions.resetThreadContextClassLoader(old); } }
}
}}}