Question about Exception Error

Question

I'm writing a small PBE program for a class project and I keep getting an InvalidKeySpecException that claims my char[ ] is not ASCII. Now I am under the impression that when a char value is entered it's in ASCII values... I've only put up a piece of my code, if needed I can put up the rest, it's fairly simple and easy to follow.
here is my terminal output (with a number of debug outputs):
Encryption Program Started
Getting Password
Input password (32 character max):
hello
Holdspot is: 6
Pass: hello
Holder: (shows string of char (0) values, verifies that the array was cleared)
Done getting password, pass is:
hello
Creating PBEKeySpec
My keySpec value is: hello
Creating Salt
createSalt entered
Done getting salt
Creating PBEParameterSpec
setParams entered
My iteration field is: 1500
Done getting param
My param iterations are: 1500
Creating SecretKey
createKey Entered
My keySpec value is: hello
InvalidKeySpecException: Password is not ASCII
java.security.spec.InvalidKeySpecException: Password is not ASCII
     at com.sun.crypto.provider.PBEKey.<init>(DashoA6275)
     at com.sun.crypto.provider.PBEKeyFactory.engineGenerateSecret(DashoA6275)
     at javax.crypto.SecretKeyFactory.generateSecret(DashoA6275)
     at Cryptography.createKey(Cryptography.java:141)
     at Cryptography.main(Cryptography.java:265)
     at __SHELL3.run(__SHELL3.java:7)
     at bluej.runtime.ExecServer.vmSuspend(ExecServer.java:178)
     at bluej.runtime.ExecServer.main(ExecServer.java:143)
java.security.spec.InvalidKeySpecException: Password is not ASCII
     at com.sun.crypto.provider.PBEKey.<init>(DashoA6275)
     at com.sun.crypto.provider.PBEKeyFactory.engineGenerateSecret(DashoA6275)
     at javax.crypto.SecretKeyFactory.generateSecret(DashoA6275)
     at Cryptography.createKey(Cryptography.java:141)
     at Cryptography.main(Cryptography.java:265)
     at __SHELL4.run(__SHELL4.java:7)
     at bluej.runtime.ExecServer.vmSuspend(ExecServer.java:178)
     at bluej.runtime.ExecServer.main(ExecServer.java:143)
here is my code to get the char array input:
    private char[] getPass () throws IOException{
        System.out.println("Input password (32 character max):");
        char[] holder = new char[maxChar];
        int holdspot=0;
        while ((holder[holdspot++] = (char) System.in.read()) != '\n') {};
        //Debug
        System.out.println("Holdspot is: "+holdspot);
        //End Debug
        char[] pass = new char[holdspot];
        System.arraycopy (holder, 0, pass, 0, holdspot);
        //clear our holder array
        for (int i=0; i<holder.length;i++){
            holder=0;
//Debug
System.out.print("Pass: ");
for (int i=0; i<holdspot;i++){
System.out.print(pass[i]);
System.out.print("\n");
System.out.print("Holder: ");
for (int i=0; i<holder.length;i++){
System.out.print(holder[i]);
System.out.print("\n");
//End Debug
//Comment back in for final version, screen clear
//System.out.flush();
return (pass);
here is my code at the point where the exception is thrown:
    private SecretKey createKey(PBEKeySpec keySpec)
    throws NoSuchAlgorithmException, InvalidKeyException, InvalidKeySpecException{
        //Debug
        System.out.println("createKey Entered");
        char[] L = keySpec.getPassword();
        System.out.print("My keySpec value is: ");
         for (int i=0; i<L.length;i++){
            System.out.print(L);
//End Debug
SecretKeyFactory keyFac = SecretKeyFactory.getInstance("PBEWithMD5AndDES");
SecretKey secKey = keyFac.generateSecret(keySpec);
return (secKey);

Answer 1

OK, got to Eclipse and reproduced the problem using your code.
Something about the way you were reading your password bugged me. I changed your code a bit to the following:import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.security.InvalidKeyException;
import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
import java.security.spec.InvalidKeySpecException;
import javax.crypto.SecretKey;
import javax.crypto.SecretKeyFactory;
import javax.crypto.spec.PBEKeySpec;
public class PBETest {
  static final int MAX_CHAR = 32;
  private char[] getPass() throws IOException {
    System.out.print("Input password ("+MAX_CHAR+" character max):");
    String s = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in)).readLine();
    char[] holder = s.toCharArray();
    int holdspot = (s.length()>MAX_CHAR?MAX_CHAR:s.length());
    //End Debug
    char[] pass = new char[holdspot];
    System.arraycopy(holder, 0, pass, 0, holdspot);
    //clear our holder array
    for (int i = 0; i < holder.length; i++) {
      holder[i] = 0;
    //Debug
    System.out.print("Pass: ");
    for (int i = 0; i < holdspot; i++) {
      System.out.print(pass);
System.out.print("\n");
System.out.print("Holder: ");
for (int i = 0; i < holder.length; i++) {
System.out.print(holder[i]);
System.out.print("\n");
//End Debug
//Comment back in for final version, screen clear
//System.out.flush();
return (pass);
private SecretKey createKey(PBEKeySpec keySpec)
throws NoSuchAlgorithmException, InvalidKeyException,
InvalidKeySpecException {
//Debug
System.out.println("createKey Entered");
char[] L = keySpec.getPassword();
System.out.print("My keySpec value is: ");
for (int i = 0; i < L.length; i++) {
System.out.print(L[i]);
//End Debug
SecretKeyFactory keyFac = SecretKeyFactory.getInstance("PBEWithMD5AndDES");
SecretKey secKey = keyFac.generateSecret(keySpec);
return (secKey);
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
PBETest ptest = new PBETest();
char[] pwd = ptest.getPass();
PBEKeySpec spec = new PBEKeySpec(pwd);
SecretKey sk = ptest.createKey(spec);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}And now it works.
I don't know exactly why your "one char at a time from System.in" bugged me, and I don't know exactly why it didn't work - but that was the problem.
Grant