Padding is invalid and cannot be removed?

Question

I have looked online for what this exception means in relation to my program but can't seem to find a solution or the reason why it's happening to my specific program. I have been using the example provided my msdn for encrypting and decrypting an XmlDocument using the Rijndael algorithm. The encryption works fine but when I try to decrypt, I get the following exception:

Padding is invalid and cannot be removed

Can anyone tell me what I can do to solve this issue? My code below is where I get the key and other data. If the cryptoMode is false, it will call the decrypt method, which is where the exception occurs:

public void Cryptography(XmlDocument doc, bool cryptographyMode)
{
    RijndaelManaged key = null;
    try
    {
    // Create a new Rijndael key.
    key = new RijndaelManaged();
    const string passwordBytes = "Password1234"; //password here 

    byte[] saltBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("SaltBytes");
    Rfc2898DeriveBytes p = new Rfc2898DeriveBytes(passwordBytes, saltBytes);
    // sizes are devided by 8 because [ 1 byte = 8 bits ] 
    key.IV = p.GetBytes(key.BlockSize/8);
    key.Key = p.GetBytes(key.KeySize/8);

    if (cryptographyMode)
    {
        Ecrypt(doc, "Content", key);
    }
    else
    {
        Decrypt(doc, key);
    }

    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
    MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
    }
    finally
    {
    // Clear the key.
    if (key != null)
    {
        key.Clear();
    }
    }

}

private void Decrypt(XmlDocument doc, SymmetricAlgorithm alg)
{
    // Check the arguments.  
    if (doc == null)
    throw new ArgumentNullException("Doc");
    if (alg == null)
    throw new ArgumentNullException("alg");

    // Find the EncryptedData element in the XmlDocument.
    XmlElement encryptedElement = doc.GetElementsByTagName("EncryptedData")[0] as XmlElement;

    // If the EncryptedData element was not found, throw an exception.
    if (encryptedElement == null)
    {
    throw new XmlException("The EncryptedData element was not found.");
    }


    // Create an EncryptedData object and populate it.
    EncryptedData edElement = new EncryptedData();
    edElement.LoadXml(encryptedElement);

    // Create a new EncryptedXml object.
    EncryptedXml exml = new EncryptedXml();


    // Decrypt the element using the symmetric key.
    byte[] rgbOutput = exml.DecryptData(edElement, alg); <----  I GET THE EXCEPTION HERE
    // Replace the encryptedData element with the plaintext XML element.
    exml.ReplaceData(encryptedElement, rgbOutput);

}

Answer 1

Rijndael/AES is a block cypher. It encrypts data in 128 bit (16 character) blocks. Cryptographic padding is used to make sure that the last block of the message is always the correct size.

Your decryption method is expecting whatever its default padding is, and is not finding it. As @NetSquirrel says, you need to explicitly set the padding for both encryption and decryption. Unless you have a reason to do otherwise, use PKCS#7 padding.