diff --git a/java/ql/src/semmle/code/java/dataflow/ExternalFlow.qll b/java/ql/src/semmle/code/java/dataflow/ExternalFlow.qll
index a0b1e4aac9c..7466f373ba0 100644
--- a/java/ql/src/semmle/code/java/dataflow/ExternalFlow.qll
+++ b/java/ql/src/semmle/code/java/dataflow/ExternalFlow.qll
@@ -652,6 +652,48 @@ Element interpretElement(
   )
 }
 
+private predicate parseField(string c, FieldContent f) {
+  specSplit(_, c, _) and
+  exists(string fieldRegex, string package, string className, string fieldName |
+    fieldRegex = "^Field\\[(.*)\\.([^.]+)\\.([^.]+)\\]$" and
+    package = c.regexpCapture(fieldRegex, 1) and
+    className = c.regexpCapture(fieldRegex, 2) and
+    fieldName = c.regexpCapture(fieldRegex, 3) and
+    f.getField().hasQualifiedName(package, className, fieldName)
+  )
+}
+
+/** A string representing a synthetic instance field. */
+class SyntheticField extends string {
+  SyntheticField() { parseSynthField(_, this) }
+
+  /**
+   * Gets the type of this field. The default type is `Object`, but this can be
+   * overridden.
+   */
+  Type getType() { result instanceof TypeObject }
+}
+
+private predicate parseSynthField(string c, string f) {
+  specSplit(_, c, _) and
+  c.regexpCapture("SyntheticField\\[([.a-zA-Z0-9]+)\\]", 1) = f
+}
+
+/** Holds if the specification component parses as a `Content`. */
+predicate parseContent(string component, Content content) {
+  parseField(component, content)
+  or
+  parseSynthField(component, content.(SyntheticFieldContent).getField())
+  or
+  component = "ArrayElement" and content instanceof ArrayContent
+  or
+  component = "Element" and content instanceof CollectionContent
+  or
+  component = "MapKey" and content instanceof MapKeyContent
+  or
+  component = "MapValue" and content instanceof MapValueContent
+}
+
 cached
 private module Cached {
   /**
diff --git a/java/ql/src/semmle/code/java/dataflow/internal/DataFlowUtil.qll b/java/ql/src/semmle/code/java/dataflow/internal/DataFlowUtil.qll
index 1e405fbd070..230cd6e0da6 100644
--- a/java/ql/src/semmle/code/java/dataflow/internal/DataFlowUtil.qll
+++ b/java/ql/src/semmle/code/java/dataflow/internal/DataFlowUtil.qll
@@ -162,7 +162,8 @@ private newtype TContent =
   TArrayContent() or
   TCollectionContent() or
   TMapKeyContent() or
-  TMapValueContent()
+  TMapValueContent() or
+  TSyntheticFieldContent(SyntheticField s)
 
 /**
  * A description of the way data may be stored inside an object. Examples
@@ -170,6 +171,9 @@ private newtype TContent =
  * of an array.
  */
 class Content extends TContent {
+  /** Gets the type of the contained data for the purpose of type pruning. */
+  abstract DataFlowType getType();
+
   /** Gets a textual representation of this element. */
   abstract string toString();
 
@@ -193,6 +197,8 @@ class FieldContent extends Content, TFieldContent {
 
   InstanceField getField() { result = f }
 
+  override DataFlowType getType() { result = getErasedRepr(f.getType()) }
+
   override string toString() { result = f.toString() }
 
   override predicate hasLocationInfo(string path, int sl, int sc, int el, int ec) {
@@ -202,24 +208,45 @@ class FieldContent extends Content, TFieldContent {
 
 /** A reference through an array. */
 class ArrayContent extends Content, TArrayContent {
+  override DataFlowType getType() { result instanceof TypeObject }
+
   override string toString() { result = "[]" }
 }
 
 /** A reference through the contents of some collection-like container. */
 class CollectionContent extends Content, TCollectionContent {
+  override DataFlowType getType() { result instanceof TypeObject }
+
   override string toString() { result = "<element>" }
 }
 
 /** A reference through a map key. */
 class MapKeyContent extends Content, TMapKeyContent {
+  override DataFlowType getType() { result instanceof TypeObject }
+
   override string toString() { result = "<map.key>" }
 }
 
 /** A reference through a map value. */
 class MapValueContent extends Content, TMapValueContent {
+  override DataFlowType getType() { result instanceof TypeObject }
+
   override string toString() { result = "<map.value>" }
 }
 
+/** A reference through a synthetic instance field. */
+class SyntheticFieldContent extends Content, TSyntheticFieldContent {
+  SyntheticField s;
+
+  SyntheticFieldContent() { this = TSyntheticFieldContent(s) }
+
+  SyntheticField getField() { result = s }
+
+  override DataFlowType getType() { result = getErasedRepr(s.getType()) }
+
+  override string toString() { result = s.toString() }
+}
+
 /**
  * A guard that validates some expression.
  *
diff --git a/java/ql/src/semmle/code/java/dataflow/internal/FlowSummaryImplSpecific.qll b/java/ql/src/semmle/code/java/dataflow/internal/FlowSummaryImplSpecific.qll
index 974982a9c29..39b6dcd983c 100644
--- a/java/ql/src/semmle/code/java/dataflow/internal/FlowSummaryImplSpecific.qll
+++ b/java/ql/src/semmle/code/java/dataflow/internal/FlowSummaryImplSpecific.qll
@@ -23,21 +23,7 @@ Node summaryNode(SummarizedCallable c, SummaryNodeState state) { result = getSum
 DataFlowCall summaryDataFlowCall(Node receiver) { none() }
 
 /** Gets the type of content `c`. */
-DataFlowType getContentType(Content c) {
-  result = getErasedRepr(c.(FieldContent).getField().getType())
-  or
-  c instanceof CollectionContent and
-  result instanceof TypeObject
-  or
-  c instanceof ArrayContent and
-  result instanceof TypeObject
-  or
-  c instanceof MapKeyContent and
-  result instanceof TypeObject
-  or
-  c instanceof MapValueContent and
-  result instanceof TypeObject
-}
+DataFlowType getContentType(Content c) { result = c.getType() }
 
 /** Gets the return type of kind `rk` for callable `c`. */
 DataFlowType getReturnType(SummarizedCallable c, ReturnKind rk) {
@@ -70,29 +56,10 @@ predicate summaryElement(DataFlowCallable c, string input, string output, string
   )
 }
 
-private FieldContent parseField(string c) {
-  External::specSplit(_, c, _) and
-  exists(string fieldRegex, string package, string className, string fieldName |
-    fieldRegex = "^Field\\[(.*)\\.([^.]+)\\.([^.]+)\\]$" and
-    package = c.regexpCapture(fieldRegex, 1) and
-    className = c.regexpCapture(fieldRegex, 2) and
-    fieldName = c.regexpCapture(fieldRegex, 3) and
-    result.getField().hasQualifiedName(package, className, fieldName)
-  )
-}
-
 /** Gets the summary component for specification component `c`, if any. */
 bindingset[c]
 SummaryComponent interpretComponentSpecific(string c) {
-  result = SummaryComponent::content(parseField(c))
-  or
-  c = "ArrayElement" and result = SummaryComponent::content(any(ArrayContent c0))
-  or
-  c = "Element" and result = SummaryComponent::content(any(CollectionContent c0))
-  or
-  c = "MapKey" and result = SummaryComponent::content(any(MapKeyContent c0))
-  or
-  c = "MapValue" and result = SummaryComponent::content(any(MapValueContent c0))
+  exists(Content content | parseContent(c, content) and result = SummaryComponent::content(content))
 }
 
 class SourceOrSinkElement = Top;