DES, Java version dependency?

Question

Hi,
this is my first posting so please be patient :)
i've written a module that writes DES-Encrypted email-addresses into my MySQL-database. Everything works fine, decription is working too.
The problem is, after I've changed the Java - Version (from 1.4.2_05 to _06) and
recompiled all classes, the addresses can't be decripted.
Where exactly is the problem?
Is it the recompilation itself, or java version dependency ?
Please help me
Thx

Answer 1

The only thing that is suspect is that you don't explicitly define the block mode and the padding. Though I don't like your exception handling and I don't like the way you keep generating new byte arrays and then never using them I don't think these features cause the problem.
Also, you should look at the SUN coding standards for method names.
I have taken the liberty of simplifying your code. Please feel free to ignore my changes if you want.
import javax.crypto.*;
import javax.crypto.spec.*;
import java.security.*;
import java.io.*;
public class DEScoder
    static public class EncryptionException extends Exception
        private EncryptionException(String text, Exception chain)
            super(text, chain);
    private static final String algoName = "DESede";          // triple-DES
    private SecretKey secretKey;
    private final byte[] tripleDesKeyData;
    private Cipher cipher;
    private Cipher getCipher()
        return this.cipher;
    private SecretKey getSecretKey()
        return this.secretKey;
    private Cipher CreateCipher(String password) throws EncryptionException
        try
            secretKey = new SecretKeySpec(tripleDesKeyData, algoName);
            // /ECB/PKCS5Padding should be the default block mode and padding but just in case
            return Cipher.getInstance(algoName + "/ECB/PKCS5Padding");
        catch (Exception e)
            throw new EncryptionException("Cannot create Cipher", e);
    public synchronized String EncodeString( String originalText ) throws EncryptionException
        try
            getCipher().init( Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, secretKey );
            byte[] utf8 = originalText.getBytes("UTF8");
            byte[] enc = getCipher().doFinal(utf8);
            return new sun.misc.BASE64Encoder().encode(enc);
        catch (Exception e)
            throw new EncryptionException("Problem encrypting", e);
    public synchronized String DecodeString(String encryptedText) throws EncryptionException
        try
            getCipher().init(Cipher.DECRYPT_MODE, secretKey);
            byte[] dec = new sun.misc.BASE64Decoder().decodeBuffer(encryptedText);
            byte[] utf8 = getCipher().doFinal(dec);
            return new String(utf8, "UTF8");
        catch (Exception e)
            throw new EncryptionException("Problem decrypting", e);
    public DEScoder() throws EncryptionException
        try
            tripleDesKeyData = "A_key_24_characters_long".getBytes("ASCII");
            this.cipher=this.CreateCipher("allemalache");
        catch (EncryptionException e)
            throw e;
        catch (Exception e)
            throw new EncryptionException("Problem creating DESencoder", e);
    }//coder
    public static void main(String[] args)
        try
            // Make sure SUN are a valid provider
            Security.addProvider(new com.sun.crypto.provider.SunJCE());
            DEScoder dataStringEncryptAgent = new DEScoder();
            // Get the data string to encrypt from the command line
            String dataString = (args.length == 0)? "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." : args[0];
            System.out.println("Data string ....................[" + dataString + "]");
            String encodedEncryptedDataString = dataStringEncryptAgent.EncodeString(dataString);
            System.out.println("Encoded encrypted data string ..[" + encodedEncryptedDataString + "]");
            String recoveredDataString = dataStringEncryptAgent.DecodeString(encodedEncryptedDataString);
            System.out.println("Recovered data string ..........[" + recoveredDataString + "]");
        catch (Exception e)
            e.printStackTrace(System.out);
}//classMore simplifications are possible.