function decrypt throws javax.crypto.BadPaddingException: pad block corrupted in class SimpleCrypto in android

Question

I am writing an android app that decrypts some text stored in a file. I used the following code -

public class SimpleCrypto {
    public static String encrypt(String seed, String cleartext)
            throws Exception {
        byte[] rawKey = getRawKey(seed.getBytes());
        byte[] result = encrypt(rawKey, cleartext.getBytes());
        return toHex(result);
    }

    public static String decrypt(String seed, String encrypted)
            throws Exception {
        byte[] rawKey = getRawKey(seed.getBytes());
        byte[] enc = toByte(encrypted);
        byte[] result = decrypt(rawKey, enc);
        return new String(result);
    }

    private static byte[] getRawKey(byte[] seed) throws Exception {
        KeyGenerator kgen = KeyGenerator.getInstance("AES");
        SecureRandom sr = SecureRandom.getInstance("SHA1PRNG", "Crypto");
        sr.setSeed(seed);
        kgen.init(128, sr); // 192 and 256 bits may not be available
        SecretKey skey = kgen.generateKey();
        byte[] raw = skey.getEncoded();
        return raw;
    }

    private static byte[] encrypt(byte[] raw, byte[] clear) throws Exception {
        SecretKeySpec skeySpec = new SecretKeySpec(raw, "AES");
        Cipher cipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES");
        cipher.init(Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, skeySpec);
        byte[] encrypted = cipher.doFinal(clear);
        return encrypted;
    }

    private static byte[] decrypt(byte[] raw, byte[] encrypted)
            throws Exception {
        SecretKeySpec skeySpec = new SecretKeySpec(raw, "AES");
        Cipher cipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES");
        cipher.init(Cipher.DECRYPT_MODE, skeySpec);
        byte[] decrypted = cipher.doFinal(encrypted);//this is the line that throws error
        return decrypted;
    }

    public static String toHex(String txt) {
        return toHex(txt.getBytes());
    }

    public static String fromHex(String hex) {
        return new String(toByte(hex));
    }

    public static byte[] toByte(String hexString) {
        int len = hexString.length() / 2;
        byte[] result = new byte[len];
        for (int i = 0; i < len; i++)
            result[i] = Integer.valueOf(hexString.substring(2 * i, 2 * i + 2),
                    16).byteValue();
        return result;
    }

    public static String toHex(byte[] buf) {
        if (buf == null)
            return "";
        StringBuffer result = new StringBuffer(2 * buf.length);
        for (int i = 0; i < buf.length; i++) {
            appendHex(result, buf[i]);
        }
        return result.toString();
    }

    private final static String HEX = "0123456789ABCDEF";

    private static void appendHex(StringBuffer sb, byte b) {
        sb.append(HEX.charAt((b >> 4) & 0x0f)).append(HEX.charAt(b & 0x0f));
    }

}

EDIT: This is the text that I am trying to decrypt -

39D4CA73AAF2D42C32659FDC5D1848EA

with this key -

thebestsecret153

if that helps. it should show in153.

EDIT: The line that throws the error in android. -

byte[] decrypted = cipher.doFinal(encrypted);

I also created a project in swing to read from a file and got the following error -

javax.crypto.BadPaddingException: Given final block not properly padded
    at com.sun.crypto.provider.CipherCore.doFinal(CipherCore.java:811)
    at com.sun.crypto.provider.CipherCore.doFinal(CipherCore.java:811)
    at com.sun.crypto.provider.CipherCore.doFinal(CipherCore.java:676)
    at com.sun.crypto.provider.AESCipher.engineDoFinal(AESCipher.java:313)
    at javax.crypto.Cipher.doFinal(Cipher.java:2087)
    at decrypt.Decrypt.decrypt(Decrypt.java:43)
    at decrypt.MainForm.jButton1MouseClicked(MainForm.java:91)
    at decrypt.MainForm.access$000(MainForm.java:20)
    at decrypt.MainForm$1.mouseClicked(MainForm.java:46)
    at java.awt.AWTEventMulticaster.mouseClicked(AWTEventMulticaster.java:270)
    at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Component.java:6508)
    at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(JComponent.java:3320)
    at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Component.java:6270)
    at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Container.java:2229)
    at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Component.java:4861)
    at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2287)
    at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4687)
    at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent(Container.java:4832)
    at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(Container.java:4501)
    at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Container.java:4422)
    at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2273)
    at java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Window.java:2719)
    at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4687)
    at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:735)
    at java.awt.EventQueue.access$200(EventQueue.java:103)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:694)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:692)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:76)
    at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:87)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:708)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:706)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:76)
    at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:705)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:242)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:161)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:150)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:146)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:138)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:91)
Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.NullPointerException
    at java.lang.String.<init>(String.java:556)
    at decrypt.MainForm.jButton1MouseClicked(MainForm.java:91)
    at decrypt.MainForm.access$000(MainForm.java:20)
    at decrypt.MainForm$1.mouseClicked(MainForm.java:46)
    at java.awt.AWTEventMulticaster.mouseClicked(AWTEventMulticaster.java:270)
    at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Component.java:6508)
    at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(JComponent.java:3320)
    at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Component.java:6270)
    at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Container.java:2229)
    at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Component.java:4861)
    at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2287)
    at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4687)
    at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent(Container.java:4832)
    at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(Container.java:4501)
    at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Container.java:4422)
    at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:2273)
    at java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Window.java:2719)
    at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:4687)
    at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(EventQueue.java:735)
    at java.awt.EventQueue.access$200(EventQueue.java:103)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:694)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(EventQueue.java:692)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:76)
    at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:87)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:708)
    at java.awt.EventQueue$4.run(EventQueue.java:706)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:76)
    at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:705)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:242)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:161)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:150)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:146)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:138)
    at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:91)

It works perfectly if encryption and decryption is done in same program.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

TL;DR: SecureRandom.getInstance("SHA1PRNG") may not always return the same results even when seeded with the same seed.

You have walked in the trap set up by some person that thought a Pseudo Random Number Generator (PRNG) is the same thing as a Key Derivation Function (KDF). And in general, they are pretty close in operation. The only problem is that with (some implementations of) Android's crypto provider implementation, the setSeed method adds the seed to the random, even when it is the first call. So you will generate a different key each time. Different keys mean random ciphertext that may never be decrypted.

Random ciphertext means that the padding is very likely to be incorrect as ECB or CBC decryption with the wrong key still returns plaintext - it's just random just like the ciphertext. The unpadding routine is likely to fail on randomized plaintext, so the decryption will fail with a padding exception. Note that authenticated ciphers such as GCM mode encryption will on the other hand always fail if the wrong key is used.

The solution: use a true random AES key, or use the build-in PBKDF2 functionality to derive a key from a password (and salt). You can view an examples of how to do this here.

Issues with using SecureRandom for key derivation functions:

the SecureRandom algorithm may (and does) differ per provider/runtime;
the SecureRandom implementation may differ per provider/runtime;
the SecureRandom implementation may either add or replace the seed during the first call of SecureRandom;

Finally some providers return a completely different random number generator when "SHA1PRNG" is used as many people seem to do this by default. When creating a random number generator simply use new SecureRandom instead and remember that "SHA1PRNG" does not denote a specific algorithm.

With provider I mean a cryptographic service provider as explained in the Java Cryptography Architecture, JCA; i.e. a java.security.Provider.

Can you point me to a good place to start? As it happens the more I read more confused I get. — Opax Web, Nov 22 '13 at 03:46
Well, regarding string encryption you could start with my code [here](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4551263/how-can-i-convert-string-to-secretkey/8828196#8828196) — Maarten Bodewes, Nov 22 '13 at 22:55

function decrypt throws javax.crypto.BadPaddingException: pad block corrupted in class SimpleCrypto in android

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