Question

I’m trying to convert this C# code to Python (2.5, GAE). The problem is that the encrypted string from the python script is different each time the encryption (on the same string) is run.

string Encrypt(string textToEncrypt, string passphrase)
 {
    RijndaelManaged rijndaelCipher = new RijndaelManaged();
    rijndaelCipher.Mode = CipherMode.CBC;
    rijndaelCipher.Padding = PaddingMode.PKCS7;

    rijndaelCipher.KeySize = 128;
    rijndaelCipher.BlockSize = 128;
    byte[] pwdBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(passphrase);
    byte[] keyBytes = new byte[16];
    int len = pwdBytes.Length;
    if (len > keyBytes.Length)
    {
        len = keyBytes.Length;
    }
    Array.Copy(pwdBytes, keyBytes, len);
    rijndaelCipher.Key = keyBytes;
    rijndaelCipher.IV = new byte[16];
    ICryptoTransform transform = rijndaelCipher.CreateEncryptor();
    byte[] plainText = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(textToEncrypt);
    return Convert.ToBase64String(transform.TransformFinalBlock(plainText, 0, plainText.Length));
}

Python code: (PKCS7Encoder: http://japrogbits.blogspot.com/2011/02/using-encrypted-data-between-python-and.html)

from Crypto.Cipher import AES
from pkcs7 import PKCS7Encoder
#declared outside of all functions
key = '####'
mode = AES.MODE_CBC
iv = '\x00' * 16
encryptor = AES.new(key, mode, iv)
encoder = PKCS7Encoder()

def function(self):
 text = self.request.get('passwordTextBox')
 pad_text = encoder.encode(text)
 cipher = encryptor.encrypt(pad_text)
 enc_cipher = base64.b64encode(cipher)

The C# code is inherited. Python code must be encrypted and decrypted the same way so that the C# code can decode the value correctly.

Note: I am a noob at python 🙂

Edit: sorry. should have made the distinction that there was a function being called.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Your C# code is invalid.

The Encrypt function takes in the passphrase as string passphrase but then tries to reference it in this line byte[] pwdBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(key);

Change key to passphrase.

The two functions now produce identical results for me:

Python

secret_text = 'The rooster crows at midnight!'
key = 'A16ByteKey......'
mode = AES.MODE_CBC
iv = '\x00' * 16

encoder = PKCS7Encoder()
padded_text = encoder.encode(secret_text)

e = AES.new(key, mode, iv)
cipher_text = e.encrypt(padded_text)

print(base64.b64encode(cipher_text))

# e = AES.new(key, mode, iv)
# cipher_text = e.encrypt(padded_text)
# print(base64.b64encode(cipher_text))

C# (with the typo fix mentioned above)

Console.WriteLine(Encrypt("The rooster crows at midnight!", "A16ByteKey......"));

Python Result

XAW5KXVbItrc3WF0xW175UJoiAfonuf+s54w2iEs+7A=

C# Result

XAW5KXVbItrc3WF0xW175UJoiAfonuf+s54w2iEs+7A=

I suspect you’re re-using ‘e’ in your python code multiple times. If you uncomment the last two lines of my python script, you’ll see the output is now different. But if you uncomment the last three lines, you’ll see the output is the same. As Foon said, this is due to how CBC works.

CBC (Cipher-block chaining) works when encrypting a sequence of bytes in blocks. The first block is encrypted by incorporating the IV with the first bytes of your plaintext (“The rooster…”). The second block uses the result of that first operation instead of the IV.

When you call e.encrypt() a second time (e.g. by uncommmenting the last two lines of the python script) you pick up where you left off. Instead of using the IV when encrypting the first block, it will use the output of the last encrypted block. This is why the results look different. By uncommening the last three lines of the python script you initialize a new encryptor which will use the IV for its first block, causing you to get identical results.