Java 256-bit AES Password-Based Encryption

Question

I need to implement 256 bit AES encryption, but all the examples I have found online use a \"KeyGenerator\" to generate a 256 bit key, but I would like to use my own passkey

Answer 1

Adding to @Wufoo's edits, the following version uses InputStreams rather than files to make working with a variety of files easier. It also stores the IV and Salt in the beginning of the file, making it so only the password needs to be tracked. Since the IV and Salt do not need to be secret, this makes life a little easier.

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;

import java.security.AlgorithmParameters;
import java.security.InvalidKeyException;
import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
import java.security.SecureRandom;
import java.security.spec.InvalidKeySpecException;
import java.security.spec.InvalidParameterSpecException;
import java.security.spec.KeySpec;

import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;

import javax.crypto.BadPaddingException;
import javax.crypto.Cipher;
import javax.crypto.CipherInputStream;
import javax.crypto.IllegalBlockSizeException;
import javax.crypto.NoSuchPaddingException;
import javax.crypto.SecretKey;
import javax.crypto.SecretKeyFactory;
import javax.crypto.spec.IvParameterSpec;
import javax.crypto.spec.PBEKeySpec;
import javax.crypto.spec.SecretKeySpec;

public class AES {
    public final static int SALT_LEN     = 8;
    static final String     HEXES        = "0123456789ABCDEF";
    String                  mPassword    = null;
    byte[]                  mInitVec     = null;
    byte[]                  mSalt        = new byte[SALT_LEN];
    Cipher                  mEcipher     = null;
    Cipher                  mDecipher    = null;
    private final int       KEYLEN_BITS  = 128;    // see notes below where this is used.
    private final int       ITERATIONS   = 65536;
    private final int       MAX_FILE_BUF = 1024;

    /**
     * create an object with just the passphrase from the user. Don't do anything else yet
     * @param password
     */
    public AES(String password) {
        mPassword = password;
    }

    public static String byteToHex(byte[] raw) {
        if (raw == null) {
            return null;
        }

        final StringBuilder hex = new StringBuilder(2 * raw.length);

        for (final byte b : raw) {
            hex.append(HEXES.charAt((b & 0xF0) >> 4)).append(HEXES.charAt((b & 0x0F)));
        }

        return hex.toString();
    }

    public static byte[] hexToByte(String hexString) {
        int    len = hexString.length();
        byte[] ba  = new byte[len / 2];

        for (int i = 0; i < len; i += 2) {
            ba[i / 2] = (byte) ((Character.digit(hexString.charAt(i), 16) << 4)
                                + Character.digit(hexString.charAt(i + 1), 16));
        }

        return ba;
    }

    /**
     * debug/print messages
     * @param msg
     */
    private void Db(String msg) {
        System.out.println("** Crypt ** " + msg);
    }

    /**
     * This is where we write out the actual encrypted data to disk using the Cipher created in setupEncrypt().
     * Pass two file objects representing the actual input (cleartext) and output file to be encrypted.
     *
     * there may be a way to write a cleartext header to the encrypted file containing the salt, but I ran
     * into uncertain problems with that.
     *
     * @param input - the cleartext file to be encrypted
     * @param output - the encrypted data file
     * @throws IOException
     * @throws IllegalBlockSizeException
     * @throws BadPaddingException
     */
    public void WriteEncryptedFile(InputStream inputStream, OutputStream outputStream)
            throws IOException, IllegalBlockSizeException, BadPaddingException {
        try {
            long             totalread = 0;
            int              nread     = 0;
            byte[]           inbuf     = new byte[MAX_FILE_BUF];
            SecretKeyFactory factory   = null;
            SecretKey        tmp       = null;

            // crate secureRandom salt and store  as member var for later use
            mSalt = new byte[SALT_LEN];

            SecureRandom rnd = new SecureRandom();

            rnd.nextBytes(mSalt);
            Db("generated salt :" + byteToHex(mSalt));
            factory = SecretKeyFactory.getInstance("PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1");

            /*
             *  Derive the key, given password and salt.
             *
             * in order to do 256 bit crypto, you have to muck with the files for Java's "unlimted security"
             * The end user must also install them (not compiled in) so beware.
             * see here:  http://www.javamex.com/tutorials/cryptography/unrestricted_policy_files.shtml
             */
            KeySpec spec = new PBEKeySpec(mPassword.toCharArray(), mSalt, ITERATIONS, KEYLEN_BITS);

            tmp = factory.generateSecret(spec);

            SecretKey secret = new SecretKeySpec(tmp.getEncoded(), "AES");

            /*
             *  Create the Encryption cipher object and store as a member variable
             */
            mEcipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding");
            mEcipher.init(Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, secret);

            AlgorithmParameters params = mEcipher.getParameters();

            // get the initialization vectory and store as member var
            mInitVec = params.getParameterSpec(IvParameterSpec.class).getIV();
            Db("mInitVec is :" + byteToHex(mInitVec));
            outputStream.write(mSalt);
            outputStream.write(mInitVec);

            while ((nread = inputStream.read(inbuf)) > 0) {
                Db("read " + nread + " bytes");
                totalread += nread;

                // create a buffer to write with the exact number of bytes read. Otherwise a short read fills inbuf with 0x0
                // and results in full blocks of MAX_FILE_BUF being written.
                byte[] trimbuf = new byte[nread];

                for (int i = 0; i < nread; i++) {
                    trimbuf[i] = inbuf[i];
                }

                // encrypt the buffer using the cipher obtained previosly
                byte[] tmpBuf = mEcipher.update(trimbuf);

                // I don't think this should happen, but just in case..
                if (tmpBuf != null) {
                    outputStream.write(tmpBuf);
                }
            }

            // finalize the encryption since we've done it in blocks of MAX_FILE_BUF
            byte[] finalbuf = mEcipher.doFinal();

            if (finalbuf != null) {
                outputStream.write(finalbuf);
            }

            outputStream.flush();
            inputStream.close();
            outputStream.close();
            outputStream.close();
            Db("wrote " + totalread + " encrypted bytes");
        } catch (InvalidKeyException ex) {
            Logger.getLogger(AES.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        } catch (InvalidParameterSpecException ex) {
            Logger.getLogger(AES.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException ex) {
            Logger.getLogger(AES.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        } catch (NoSuchPaddingException ex) {
            Logger.getLogger(AES.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        } catch (InvalidKeySpecException ex) {
            Logger.getLogger(AES.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Read from the encrypted file (input) and turn the cipher back into cleartext. Write the cleartext buffer back out
     * to disk as (output) File.
     *
     * I left CipherInputStream in here as a test to see if I could mix it with the update() and final() methods of encrypting
     *  and still have a correctly decrypted file in the end. Seems to work so left it in.
     *
     * @param input - File object representing encrypted data on disk
     * @param output - File object of cleartext data to write out after decrypting
     * @throws IllegalBlockSizeException
     * @throws BadPaddingException
     * @throws IOException
     */
    public void ReadEncryptedFile(InputStream inputStream, OutputStream outputStream)
            throws IllegalBlockSizeException, BadPaddingException, IOException {
        try {
            CipherInputStream cin;
            long              totalread = 0;
            int               nread     = 0;
            byte[]            inbuf     = new byte[MAX_FILE_BUF];

            // Read the Salt
            inputStream.read(this.mSalt);
            Db("generated salt :" + byteToHex(mSalt));

            SecretKeyFactory factory = null;
            SecretKey        tmp     = null;
            SecretKey        secret  = null;

            factory = SecretKeyFactory.getInstance("PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1");

            KeySpec spec = new PBEKeySpec(mPassword.toCharArray(), mSalt, ITERATIONS, KEYLEN_BITS);

            tmp    = factory.generateSecret(spec);
            secret = new SecretKeySpec(tmp.getEncoded(), "AES");

            /* Decrypt the message, given derived key and initialization vector. */
            mDecipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding");

            // Set the appropriate size for mInitVec by Generating a New One
            AlgorithmParameters params = mDecipher.getParameters();

            mInitVec = params.getParameterSpec(IvParameterSpec.class).getIV();

            // Read the old IV from the file to mInitVec now that size is set.
            inputStream.read(this.mInitVec);
            Db("mInitVec is :" + byteToHex(mInitVec));
            mDecipher.init(Cipher.DECRYPT_MODE, secret, new IvParameterSpec(mInitVec));

            // creating a decoding stream from the FileInputStream above using the cipher created from setupDecrypt()
            cin = new CipherInputStream(inputStream, mDecipher);

            while ((nread = cin.read(inbuf)) > 0) {
                Db("read " + nread + " bytes");
                totalread += nread;

                // create a buffer to write with the exact number of bytes read. Otherwise a short read fills inbuf with 0x0
                byte[] trimbuf = new byte[nread];

                for (int i = 0; i < nread; i++) {
                    trimbuf[i] = inbuf[i];
                }

                // write out the size-adjusted buffer
                outputStream.write(trimbuf);
            }

            outputStream.flush();
            cin.close();
            inputStream.close();
            outputStream.close();
            Db("wrote " + totalread + " encrypted bytes");
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            Logger.getLogger(AES.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        }
    }

    /**
     * adding main() for usage demonstration. With member vars, some of the locals would not be needed
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {

        // create the input.txt file in the current directory before continuing
        File   input   = new File("input.txt");
        File   eoutput = new File("encrypted.aes");
        File   doutput = new File("decrypted.txt");
        String iv      = null;
        String salt    = null;
        AES    en      = new AES("mypassword");

        /*
         * write out encrypted file
         */
        try {
            en.WriteEncryptedFile(new FileInputStream(input), new FileOutputStream(eoutput));
            System.out.printf("File encrypted to " + eoutput.getName() + "\niv:" + iv + "\nsalt:" + salt + "\n\n");
        } catch (IllegalBlockSizeException | BadPaddingException | IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        /*
         * decrypt file
         */
        AES dc = new AES("mypassword");

        /*
         * write out decrypted file
         */
        try {
            dc.ReadEncryptedFile(new FileInputStream(eoutput), new FileOutputStream(doutput));
            System.out.println("decryption finished to " + doutput.getName());
        } catch (IllegalBlockSizeException | BadPaddingException | IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

Use this class for encryption. It works.

public class ObjectCrypter {


    public static byte[] encrypt(byte[] ivBytes, byte[] keyBytes, byte[] mes) 
            throws NoSuchAlgorithmException,
            NoSuchPaddingException,
            InvalidKeyException,
            InvalidAlgorithmParameterException,
            IllegalBlockSizeException,
            BadPaddingException, IOException {

        AlgorithmParameterSpec ivSpec = new IvParameterSpec(ivBytes);
        SecretKeySpec newKey = new SecretKeySpec(keyBytes, "AES");
        Cipher cipher = null;
        cipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding");
        cipher.init(Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, newKey, ivSpec);
        return  cipher.doFinal(mes);

    }

    public static byte[] decrypt(byte[] ivBytes, byte[] keyBytes, byte[] bytes) 
            throws NoSuchAlgorithmException,
            NoSuchPaddingException,
            InvalidKeyException,
            InvalidAlgorithmParameterException,
            IllegalBlockSizeException,
            BadPaddingException, IOException, ClassNotFoundException {

        AlgorithmParameterSpec ivSpec = new IvParameterSpec(ivBytes);
        SecretKeySpec newKey = new SecretKeySpec(keyBytes, "AES");
        Cipher cipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding");
        cipher.init(Cipher.DECRYPT_MODE, newKey, ivSpec);
        return  cipher.doFinal(bytes);

    }
}

And these are ivBytes and a random key;

String key = "e8ffc7e56311679f12b6fc91aa77a5eb";

byte[] ivBytes = { 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00 };
keyBytes = key.getBytes("UTF-8");

Answer 3

What I've done in the past is hash the key via something like SHA256, then extract the bytes from the hash into the key byte[].

After you have your byte[] you can simply do:

SecretKeySpec key = new SecretKeySpec(keyBytes, "AES");
Cipher cipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES");
cipher.init(Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, key);
byte[] encryptedBytes = cipher.doFinal(clearText.getBytes());