Java Crypto Exception

Question

Hello All -
When I run the following program, i get the below exception. Any help would be appreciated..
import java.security.*;
import javax.crypto.*;
import javax.crypto.spec.IvParameterSpec;
import javax.crypto.spec.SecretKeySpec;
import sun.misc.*;
public class AESDecryption {
     /*Algorithm*/
     private static final String ALGO = "AES";
     /*Padding scheme - CBC with PKCS5Padding - Initialization Vector is used with AES*/
     private static final String ALGOParams = "/CBC/PKCS5Padding";
     /*Key byte stream*/
     private static byte[] keyValue;
     /*Initialization Vector*/
     private static byte[] iv;
     * decrypt method will take a encrypted string, key and IV in string format and
     * return the decrypted string.
     public static String decrypt(String encryptedData, String keyString, String ivString) throws Exception {
          /*convert key and IV in String format to byte array*/
          stringKeystoByteArray(keyString, ivString);
          /*Generate the key using the keyvalue specified*/
          Key key = generateKey();
          /*Get Cipher with AES/CBC/PKCS5Padding*/
          Cipher c = Cipher.getInstance(ALGO+ALGOParams);
          /*Initialize the Cipher*/
          c.init(Cipher.DECRYPT_MODE, key, new IvParameterSpec(iv));
          /*Decode the encrypted string using the BASE64 Decoder*/
          byte[] decordedValue = new BASE64Decoder().decodeBuffer(encryptedData);
          /*Decrypt the decoded encrypted string*/
          byte[] decValue = c.doFinal(decordedValue);
          return new String (decValue);
     * The stringKeystoByteArray method will take the comma separated, hexadecimal, String representation
     * of the key and the IV and convert each of them to byte arrays.
     private static void stringKeystoByteArray(String keyString, String ivString){
          /*Split the comma separated key and iv*/
          String keyArray [] = keyString.split(",");
          String ivArray [] = ivString.split(",");
          /*instantiate key and iv*/
          keyValue = new byte[keyArray.length];
          iv = new byte[ivArray.length];
          /*convert each hexadecimal string value to a byte and assign to key and iv*/
          for (int i=0; i< keyArray.length; i++)
               keyValue[i] = (byte)Integer.parseInt(keyArray, 16);
          for (int i=0; i< ivArray.length; i++)
               iv[i] = (byte)Integer.parseInt(ivArray[i], 16);           
     * Generates the Key for the Cipher
     private static Key generateKey() throws Exception {
          Key key = new SecretKeySpec(keyValue, ALGO);
          return key;
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl. java:45)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAcces sorImpl.java:37)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:599)
at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.jarinjarloader.JarRsrcLoader.main(JarRsrcLoa der.java:58)
Caused by: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initialize(J9VMInternals.java:222)
at javax.crypto.Cipher.getInstance(Unknown Source)
at AESDecryption.decrypt(AESDecryption.java:44)
at AESDecryption.main(AESDecryption.java:96)
... 5 more
Caused by: java.lang.SecurityException: Cannot set up certs for trusted CAs
at javax.crypto.b.<clinit>(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initializeImpl(Native Method)
at java.lang.J9VMInternals.initialize(J9VMInternals.java:200)
... 8 more
Caused by: java.lang.SecurityException: Jurisdiction policy files are not signed by trusted signers!
at javax.crypto.b.a(Unknown Source)
at javax.crypto.b.a(Unknown Source)
at javax.crypto.b.access$600(Unknown Source)
at javax.crypto.b$0.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:251 )
... 11 more

Answer 1

You are comitting the #1 beginner's mistake in encryption. The result of encryption is a byte[] array fr good reason. It is binary data. Stringis not a container for binary data. It is a container for character data. Don't use it to hold cipher text. Use the byte[] array that the APIs already giving you.
Also you are bamboozling yourself with all that extra exception handling. Just declare all those methods to throw GeneralSecurityException and remove the inner trys and catches completely. You also have a lot of things initialized to null and then tested for null that can never be null.
Your code works when you fix all this.