PBEWITHSHA256AND128BITAES-CBC-BC creating java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException on RedHat 6.4

Question

We have an application that uses Bouncy Castle to encrypt data using PBEWITHSHA256AND128BITAES-CBC-BC algorithm. It works fine on Ubuntu running OpenJDK 1.7. But when when we move it to RedHat 6.4 also running OpenJDK 1.7, we get the following exception:

java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException

Any thoughts on what could be causing this. How can we add PBEWITHSHA256AND128BITAES-CBC-BC algorithm to RedHat 6.4?

p.s. the application is running in JBoss.

private String cryptoAlgorithm = "PBEWITHSHA256AND128BITAES-CBC-BC";

Security.addProvider(new BouncyCastleProvider());

// load passPhrase from configured external file to char array.
char[] passPhrase = null;
try {
    passPhrase = loadPassPhrase(passPhraseFile);
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
    throw BeanHelper.logException(LOG, methodName, new EJBException("The file not found: " + passPhraseFile, e));
} catch (IOException e) {
    throw BeanHelper.logException(LOG, methodName, new EJBException("Error in reading file: " + passPhraseFile, e));
}

PBEKeySpec pbeKeySpec = new PBEKeySpec(passPhrase);

try {
    SecretKeyFactory secretKeyFactory = SecretKeyFactory.getInstance(cryptoAlgorithm);
    SecretKey newSecretKey = secretKeyFactory.generateSecret(pbeKeySpec);
    return newSecretKey;
} catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
    throw BeanHelper.logException(LOG, methodName, new EJBException("The algorithm is not found: " + cryptoAlgorithm, e));
} catch (InvalidKeySpecException e) {
    throw BeanHelper.logException(LOG, methodName, new EJBException("The key spec is invalid", e));
}

(On RH 6.4)

#java -version
java version "1.7.0_19"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (rhel-2.3.9.1.el6_4-x86_64)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.7-b01, mixed mode)

(On Ubuntu 12.04)

#java version "1.7.0_15"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea7 2.3.7) (7u15-2.3.7-0ubuntu1~12.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.7-b01, mixed mode)

Solution 1

Do you have the BouncyCastle provider JAR (e.g. bcprov-jdk15on-149.jar) in your classpath?

I tested your scenario with a minimal CentOS 6.4 (64-bit) installation, OpenJDK 1.7 and BouncyCastle 1.49, and found no issues with it.

I placed the JAR in the JRE lib/ext directory:

/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk.x86_64/jre/lib/ext

Solution 2

I try to confirm your issue and looks like problem in your environment. Here is sample of code i successfully run on clean OpenJDK 1.7, 1.6, Oracle JDK 1.7 and 1.6

$ java -version
java version "1.7.0_19"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (rhel-2.3.9.1.el6_4-x86_64)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 23.7-b01, mixed mode):

Command line: java -cp bcprov-jdk15on-149.jar:. Test

Output: OK

import org.bouncycastle.jce.provider.BouncyCastleProvider;

import javax.crypto.SecretKey;
import javax.crypto.SecretKeyFactory;
import javax.crypto.spec.PBEKeySpec;
import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
import java.security.Security;
import java.security.spec.InvalidKeySpecException;

public class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
        String cryptoAlgorithm = "PBEWITHSHA256AND128BITAES-CBC-BC";
        Security.addProvider(new BouncyCastleProvider());

        char[] passPhrase = null;
        passPhrase = "12321".toCharArray();
        PBEKeySpec pbeKeySpec = new PBEKeySpec(passPhrase);
        try {
            SecretKeyFactory secretKeyFactory = SecretKeyFactory.getInstance(cryptoAlgorithm, "BC");
            SecretKey newSecretKey = secretKeyFactory.generateSecret(pbeKeySpec);
            assert newSecretKey != null;
            System.out.println("OK");
        } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
            System.out.println("The algorithm is not found: " + cryptoAlgorithm);
        } catch (InvalidKeySpecException e) {
            System.out.println("The key spec is invalid");
        }
    }
}

Try to run that program on your environment. BouncyCastle jar you can download from here http://downloads.bouncycastle.org/java/bcprov-jdk15on-149.jar

Comments

[Maarten Bodewes]

That cannot be it, as the providers will be questioned for the implemented algorithm strings. The whole bunch of providers will be tested unless a specific provider is given.

[SubOptimal]

For sure it should not be. But it doesn't work. And as I said "I guess". So at least it would be worth to first check the order of registered providers and then check if a manual insert of BC at first position would fix it. If not follow-up the investigation. But to find the issue you need to start at some point. ;-) And those above checks are done quick and if they are not the solution at least you can remove them from the list of possibilities.

[Saqib Ali]

it is on the machine where ear file was compiled. does have to exist on the jboss server as well?

[Jukka]

If the BouncyCastle JAR is not within the EAR, then you need to copy the JAR to the JBoss machine. In fact I would recommend to not put the JAR in the EAR but to place it in the appropriate jre/lib/ext folder (see example path above).

[Jukka]

Try and remove the JAR from the EAR and put it in the appropriate JBoss profile's lib directory (e.g. server/default/lib) or in the said JRE lib/ext directory . Also make sure JBoss isn't already packing (a possibly differing version of) BouncyCastle.