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javaspring-bootjwtbase64base64url

Illegal base64url character: ' ' when getting claims/decode from token Java JWT Spring Boot


When I get some claims from a JWT Token to validate user authentication I get the following error:

Illegal base64url character: ' '

Creating a JWT goes completely fine but "decoding" seems to have some issues... I also tried a base64url decoder to decode the token before getting the claims but then the token is unvalid.

My JWToken class where I encode and "decode" the token:

@Component
public class JWToken {

    private static final String JWT_USERNAME_CLAIM = "sub";
    private static final String JWT_ADMIN_CLAIM = "admin";

    @Value("${jwt.issuer}")
    private String issuer;

    @Value("${jwt.passPhrase}")
    private String passPhrase;

    @Value("${jwt.duration-of-validity}")
    private int expiration;


   public String encode(String name, boolean admin) {
       String token = Jwts.builder()
               .claim(JWT_USERNAME_CLAIM, name)
               .claim(JWT_ADMIN_CLAIM, admin)
               .setSubject(name)
               .setIssuer(issuer)
               .setIssuedAt(new Date(System.currentTimeMillis()))
               .setExpiration(new Date(System.currentTimeMillis() + expiration * 1000))
               .signWith(SignatureAlgorithm.HS512, passPhrase).compact();

       return token;
   }


    //for retrieving any information from token we will need the secret key
    private Claims getAllClaimsFromToken(String token) {
        return Jwts.parser().setSigningKey(passPhrase).parseClaimsJws(token).getBody();
    }

    public <T> T getClaimFromToken(String token, Function<Claims, T> claimsResolver) {
        final Claims claims = getAllClaimsFromToken(token);
        return claimsResolver.apply(claims);
    }

    //retrieve username from jwt token
    public String getUsernameFromToken(String token) {
        return getClaimFromToken(token, Claims::getSubject);
    }

    //retrieve expiration date from jwt token
    public Date getExpirationDateFromToken(String token) {
        return getClaimFromToken(token, Claims::getExpiration);
    }

    //check if the token has expired
    private Boolean isTokenExpired(String token) {
        final Date expiration = getExpirationDateFromToken(token);
        return expiration.before(new Date());
    }

    //validate token
    public Boolean validateToken(String token, String name) {
        final String username = getUsernameFromToken(token);
        return (username.equals(name) && !isTokenExpired(token));
    }
    


}

My request filter:

@Component
public class JWTRequestFilter extends OncePerRequestFilter {
    private static final Set<String> SECURED_PATHS =
            Set.of("/api/offers", "/api/bids");

    private final JWToken jwToken;

    @Autowired
    public JWTRequestFilter(JWToken jwToken) {
        this.jwToken = jwToken;
    }

    @Override
    protected void doFilterInternal(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response, FilterChain filterChain) throws ServletException, IOException {



        final String requestTokenHeader = request.getHeader("Authorization");
        String username = null;
        String jwtToken = null;

        String servletPath = request.getServletPath();

        if (HttpMethod.OPTIONS.matches(request.getMethod()) || SECURED_PATHS.stream().noneMatch(servletPath::startsWith)) {

            filterChain.doFilter(request, response);
            return;
        }

        // JWT Token is in the form "Bearer token". Remove Bearer word and get
        // only the Token
        if (requestTokenHeader != null && requestTokenHeader.startsWith("Bearer ")) {
            jwtToken = requestTokenHeader.substring(7);
            try {
                System.out.println(jwtToken);
                username = jwToken.getUsernameFromToken(jwtToken);
            } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
                System.out.println("Unable to get JWT Token");
                throw new AuthenticationException("authentication problem");
            } catch (ExpiredJwtException e) {
                throw new AuthenticationException("authentication problem");
            }
        } else {
            System.out.println(requestTokenHeader);
            logger.warn("JWT Token does not begin with Bearer String");
            //throw new AuthenticationException("authentication problem");
        }

        if(jwToken.validateToken(jwtToken, username)){
            filterChain.doFilter(request, response);
        }

        // Once we get the token validate it.

        }

}

The error in my console when I do a get request for /api/offers with the generated JWT token in the header:

io.jsonwebtoken.io.DecodingException: Illegal base64url character: ' '
    at io.jsonwebtoken.io.Base64.ctoi(Base64.java:221) ~[jjwt-api-0.11.2.jar:0.11.2]
    at io.jsonwebtoken.io.Base64.decodeFast(Base64.java:270) ~[jjwt-api-0.11.2.jar:0.11.2]
    at io.jsonwebtoken.io.Base64Decoder.decode(Base64Decoder.java:36) ~[jjwt-api-0.11.2.jar:0.11.2]
    at io.jsonwebtoken.io.Base64Decoder.decode(Base64Decoder.java:23) ~[jjwt-api-0.11.2.jar:0.11.2]
    at io.jsonwebtoken.io.ExceptionPropagatingDecoder.decode(ExceptionPropagatingDecoder.java:36) ~[jjwt-api-0.11.2.jar:0.11.2]
    at io.jsonwebtoken.impl.DefaultJwtParser.parse(DefaultJwtParser.java:309) ~[jjwt-impl-0.11.2.jar:0.11.2]
    at io.jsonwebtoken.impl.DefaultJwtParser.parse(DefaultJwtParser.java:550) ~[jjwt-impl-0.11.2.jar:0.11.2]
    at io.jsonwebtoken.impl.DefaultJwtParser.parseClaimsJws(DefaultJwtParser.java:610) ~[jjwt-impl-0.11.2.jar:0.11.2]
    at team10.server.aucserver.security.JWToken.getAllClaimsFromToken(JWToken.java:47) ~[classes/:na]
    at team10.server.aucserver.security.JWToken.getClaimFromToken(JWToken.java:51) ~[classes/:na]
    at team10.server.aucserver.security.JWToken.getUsernameFromToken(JWToken.java:57) ~[classes/:na]
    at team10.server.aucserver.security.JWTRequestFilter.doFilterInternal(JWTRequestFilter.java:52) ~[classes/:na]
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:119) ~[spring-web-5.3.1.jar:5.3.1]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.springframework.web.filter.RequestContextFilter.doFilterInternal(RequestContextFilter.java:100) ~[spring-web-5.3.1.jar:5.3.1]
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:119) ~[spring-web-5.3.1.jar:5.3.1]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.springframework.web.filter.FormContentFilter.doFilterInternal(FormContentFilter.java:93) ~[spring-web-5.3.1.jar:5.3.1]
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:119) ~[spring-web-5.3.1.jar:5.3.1]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.springframework.web.filter.CharacterEncodingFilter.doFilterInternal(CharacterEncodingFilter.java:201) ~[spring-web-5.3.1.jar:5.3.1]
    at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:119) ~[spring-web-5.3.1.jar:5.3.1]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:193) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:202) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:97) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:542) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:143) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:92) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:78) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:343) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.service(Http11Processor.java:374) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProcessorLight.process(AbstractProcessorLight.java:65) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$ConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:868) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(NioEndpoint.java:1590) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SocketProcessorBase.run(SocketProcessorBase.java:49) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1130) ~[na:na]
    at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:630) ~[na:na]
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61) ~[tomcat-embed-core-9.0.39.jar:9.0.39]
    at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:832) ~[na:na]

And line 47 is the getAllClaimsFromToken method in the JWToken class.

For an extra example this is one of the tokens the encode genrated:

Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzUxMiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJyb25ueSIsImFkbWluIjpmYWxzZSwiaXNzIjoicHJpdmF0ZSBjb21wYW55IiwiaWF0IjoxNjExMDA1NTc4LCJleHAiOjE2MTEwMDY3Nzh9.dQwEVfSNa6EIx-U-bgHN50hmrN0wYkj-8jXRoFLTx6JB53ERBWuGUeiXLqtiJ_jTGxEISB-Lv7E9KAyPk8nV3g

Solution

  • For some reason the substring function kept some white space before the token. I changed that line in my JWTRequestFilter.

    Old:

    jwtToken = requestTokenHeader.substring(7);
    

    New:

    jwtToken = requestTokenHeader.split(" ")[1].trim();
    

    The added .trim() will delete any white space before or after the string, so that was the solution for me