Java AES: No installed provider supports this key: javax.crypto.spec.SecretKeySpec

Question

I'm trying to set up 128 bit AES encryption, and I'm getting an exception thrown on my Cipher.init:

No installed provider supports this key: javax.crypto.spec.SecretKeySpec

I'm generating the Key on the client side using the following code:

private KeyGenerator kgen;
try {
        kgen = KeyGenerator.getInstance("AES");
    } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    kgen.init(128);
}
SecretKey skey = kgen.generateKey();

This key is then passed to the server as a header. it is Base64 encoded using this function:

public String secretKeyToString(SecretKey s) {
        Base64 b64 = new Base64();
        byte[] bytes = b64.encodeBase64(s.getEncoded());
        return new String(bytes);
}

The server pulls the header, and does

protected static byte[] encrypt(byte[] data, String base64encodedKey) throws InvalidKeyException, IllegalBlockSizeException, BadPaddingException {
    Cipher cipher;
    try {
        cipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES");
    } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException ex) {
        //log error
    } catch (NoSuchPaddingException ex) {
        //log error
    }
    SecretKey key = b64EncodedStringToSecretKey(base64encodedKey);
    cipher.init(Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, key); //THIS IS WHERE IT FAILS
    data = cipher.doFinal(data);
    return data;
}
private static SecretKey b64EncodedStringToSecretKey(String base64encodedKey) {
    SecretKey key = null;

    try {
        byte[] temp = Base64.decodeBase64(base64encodedKey.getBytes());
        key = new SecretKeySpec(temp, SYMMETRIC_ALGORITHM);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        // Do nothing
    }

    return key;
}

To debug this, I put breakpoints after both the key generation on the client side, and just before the cipher.init on the server side. According to Netbeans, the bytes that make up the SecretKeys are identical and are 16 bytes in length (In fact, as far as I can tell, the objects are identical).

I am aware of the unlimited strength JCE stuff, but I'm not under the impression I needed it for 128 bit AES.

Client Side: java version "1.6.0_26"

Server Side: java version "1.6.0_20"

Any Ideas?

Answer 1

This error could indicate that you need to install JCE (Java Cryptography Extension).

Download this file (or newer version) and copy jars to JDK_FOLDER/jre/lib/security http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/pt/java/javase/downloads/jce-6-download-429243.html