Having trouble with using crypto in JC 2.2.2

Question

Hi,
I am using the sourceforge Eclipse plugin for my project. Eclipse version is 3.5.
My JC version is 2.2.2. When i debug my code (Using the debug mode) the program terminates at
keypair = new KeyPair(KeyPair.ALG_RSA_CRT, (short)1024);
In the debug window (Variables) I get the cause and theSW as (0, 3) which i think implies CryptoException - NoSuchAlgorithm.
I don't understand why this shows.
It does not generate any stacktrace and shows stacktrace as null.
My code:
package test;
import javacard.framework.APDU;
import javacard.framework.Applet;
import javacard.framework.ISO7816;
import javacard.framework.ISOException;
import javacard.security.*;
//import javacardx.crypto.*;
public class Test extends Applet {
// Private Objects
private static Key privateKey;
public static Key publicKey;
private static KeyPair keyPair;
// Private Debug objects
private byte flag = 0;
//standard APDU input offset values
public final static byte THIS_CLA = (byte)0x90;
// This is the INS for starting to generate 1024 bit RSA keys
public final static byte  GENERATE_RSA_KEYS = (byte)0x20;
// INS to sign provided hash
public final static byte  COMPLETE_TRANSACTION= (byte)0x22;
// INS to return Status of Applet.
public final static byte  INITIALIZE_UPDATE= (byte)0x24;
// INS to reset keys
public final static byte  COMPLETE_UPDATE= (byte)0x26;
// dummy byte sequences returned by this applet
private final static byte[] INIT_SEQUENCE = { (byte)0xff, (byte)0x2 };
private final static byte[] COMPLETE_SEQUENCE = { (byte)0x1, (byte)0x3 };
private final static byte[] INIT_UPDATE_SEQUENCE = { (byte)0x1, (byte)0x2, (byte)0x3 };
private final static byte[] COMPLETE_UPDATE_SEQUENCE = { (byte)0x1, (byte)0x1 };
* Constructor.
* Only this class's install method can create the applet object.
private Test() {
//perform some initialization here
register();//register this instance
* Installs this applet.
* @param byteArray the array containing installation parameters
* @param offset the starting offset in byteArray
* @param length the length in bytes of the parameter data in byteArray
public static void install(byte[] byteArray, short offset, byte length) {
new Test();
* Implementation  of the standard method for processing an incoming APDU.
* @param apdu the incoming APDU
* @exception ISOException with ISO 7816-4 response bytes
public void process(APDU apdu) {
byte buffer[] = apdu.getBuffer();
//@SuppressWarnings("unused")
flag = 0;
if (buffer[ISO7816.OFFSET_CLA] == THIS_CLA) {
switch (buffer[ISO7816.OFFSET_INS])    {
case GENERATE_RSA_KEYS:
//writeBack(apdu, INIT_SEQUENCE);
generateRSAKeys(apdu, INIT_SEQUENCE);
flag = 1;
break;
case COMPLETE_TRANSACTION:
writeBack(apdu, COMPLETE_SEQUENCE);
break;
case INITIALIZE_UPDATE:
writeBack(apdu, INIT_UPDATE_SEQUENCE);
break;
case COMPLETE_UPDATE:
writeBack(apdu, COMPLETE_UPDATE_SEQUENCE);
break;
default:
ISOException.throwIt(ISO7816.SW_INS_NOT_SUPPORTED);
* An example method that writes back a given byte array through the apdu.
protected void generateRSAKeys(APDU apdu, byte[] bytes)  {
//byte buffer[] = apdu.getBuffer();
try {
byte[] apduBuffer = apdu.getBuffer();
// Debug flag
flag = 9;
//privateKey = KeyBuilder.buildKey(KeyBuilder.TYPE_RSA_PRIVATE,KeyBuilder.LENGTH_RSA_2048, false);
//privateKey = KeyBuilder.buildKey(KeyBuilder.TYPE_DSA_PRIVATE,KeyBuilder.LENGTH_DES, false);
//publicKey = KeyBuilder.buildKey(KeyBuilder.TYPE_RSA_PUBLIC,KeyBuilder.LENGTH_RSA_2048, false);
// Debug flag
flag = 10;   
keyPair = new KeyPair(KeyPair.ALG_RSA_CRT, (short)1024);
//keyPair = new KeyPair(KeyPair.ALG_RSA, (short)publicKey.getSize());
keyPair.genKeyPair();
publicKey = keyPair.getPublic();
// Debug flag
flag++;   
((RSAPublicKey)publicKey).getModulus(apduBuffer, (short)0);
//    apdu.setOutgoing(); // set transmission to outgoing data
//    apdu.setOutgoingLength((short) apduBuffer.length);
apdu.setOutgoingAndSend((short) 0,  (short) (publicKey.getSize()/8));
// Debug flag
flag++;       
} catch(Exception e) {
flag = 0;
* An example method that writes back a given byte array through the apdu.
protected void writeBack(APDU apdu, byte[] bytes) {
byte buffer[] = apdu.getBuffer();
// copy bytes into buffer
buffer[0] = bytes[0];
buffer[1] = bytes[1];
// set apdu for data output
apdu.setOutgoing();
apdu.setOutgoingLength( (short) (2) );
// output header
apdu.sendBytes( (short)0, (short) 2);
// writes data
//apdu.sendBytesLong( bytes, (short) 0, (short) 0 );
} NOTE: Part of the code is from an online tutorial that i found.
Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

Hi,
That exception generally means that the platform you are running on does not support that crypto operation. This can be an indecator that the cipher you would use this key with is not available or the key size you are using is not supported.
I am not familiar with the Eclipse plugin you mentioned, but if you are using the Java implementation of the Java Card simulator (jcwde) provided with the JCDK, ti will not support crypto operations. There have been several posts on this topic recently that you may be able to search for that will give you more details about this.
On a coding note, you should not be using the new keyword outside of the applet constructor. In fact you should not be allocating new memory outside of this constructor. This is because you should not rely on garbage collection in Java Card as it is not be implemented on all cards. If it is available on a card it may be rather slow.
Cheers,
Shane
Edited by: safarmer on 27/10/2009 17:19