SecureRandom instance initialization gets failed with NullPointerException After changing the security provider as BouncyCastle

Issue: SecureRandom instance initialization gets failed with NullPointerException

Environment:
Configured the java security provider as BouncyCastle [org.bouncycastle.jce.provider.BouncyCastleProvider] after that i tried to run my below java code (OpenJDK Java 7) and got the following exception
Note: Removed all other security provides from '/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk-1.7.0.161.x86_64/jre/lib/security/java.security'

Java Code:

import javax.crypto.SecretKeyFactory;
import sun.security.jca.GetInstance;
import sun.security.jca.GetInstance.Instance;
import sun.security.jca.ProviderList;
import sun.security.jca.Providers;
import java.security.Provider;
import java.util.List;
import java.security.Provider.Service;
import java.security.*;
public class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
       try {
                SecureRandom random = new SecureRandom();
        } catch(Exception e){
                e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Thread Trace :

      (Suspended (entry into method <init> in DRBG$Default))	
   DRBG$Default.<init>() line: 185	
   NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Constructor, Object[]) line: not available [native method]	
   NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Object[]) line: 57	
   DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Object[]) line: 45	
   Constructor.newInstance(Object...) line: 526	
   Provider$Service.newInstance(Object) line: 1237	
   GetInstance.getInstance(Service, Class<?>) line: 236	
   GetInstance.getInstance(String, Class<?>, String) line: 164	
   SecureRandom.getInstance(String) line: 287	
   SecureRandom.getDefaultPRNG(boolean, byte[]) line: 204	
   SecureRandom.<init>() line: 161	
   DRBG.createCoreSecureRandom() line: 125	
   DRBG.createInitialEntropySource() line: 113	
   DRBG.access$400() line: 25	
   DRBG$HybridSecureRandom.<init>() line: 260	
   DRBG.createBaseRandom(boolean) line: 168	
   DRBG.access$200(boolean) line: 25	
   DRBG$Default.<clinit>() line: 182	
   NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Constructor, Object[]) line: not available [native method]	
   NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Object[]) line: 57	
   DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Object[]) line: 45	
   Constructor.newInstance(Object...) line: 526	
   Provider$Service.newInstance(Object) line: 1237	
   GetInstance.getInstance(Service, Class<?>) line: 236	
   GetInstance.getInstance(String, Class<?>, String) line: 164	
   SecureRandom.getInstance(String) line: 287	
   SecureRandom.getDefaultPRNG(boolean, byte[]) line: 204	
   SecureRandom.<init>() line: 161	
   Test.main(Test.java:13)

Stack Trace:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:57)
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
	at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:526)
	at java.security.Provider$Service.newInstance(Provider.java:1237)
	at sun.security.jca.GetInstance.getInstance(GetInstance.java:236)
	at sun.security.jca.GetInstance.getInstance(GetInstance.java:164)
	at java.security.SecureRandom.getInstance(SecureRandom.java:287)
	at java.security.SecureRandom.getDefaultPRNG(SecureRandom.java:204)
	at java.security.SecureRandom.<init>(SecureRandom.java:161)
	at Test.main(Test.java:13)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
	at org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG$Default.engineGenerateSeed(DRBG.java:200)
	at java.security.SecureRandom.generateSeed(SecureRandom.java:528)
	at org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG$HybridSecureRandom.<init>(DRBG.java:267)
	at org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG.createBaseRandom(DRBG.java:168)
	at org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG.access$200(DRBG.java:25)
	at org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG$Default.<clinit>(DRBG.java:182)
	... 11 more

After Configuring the entropy system property as 'org.bouncycastle.crypto.prng.BasicEntropySourceProvider' :
export org.bouncycastle.drbg.entropysource=org.bouncycastle.crypto.prng.BasicEntropySourceProvider
Got the below error,

	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method) [rt.jar:1.7.0_161]
	at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:57) [rt.jar:1.7.0_161]
	at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45) [rt.jar:1.7.0_161]
	at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:526) [rt.jar:1.7.0_161]
	at java.security.Provider$Service.newInstance(Provider.java:1237) [rt.jar:1.7.0_161]
	at sun.security.jca.GetInstance.getInstance(GetInstance.java:236) [rt.jar:1.7.0_161]
	at sun.security.jca.GetInstance.getInstance(GetInstance.java:164) [rt.jar:1.7.0_161]
	at java.security.SecureRandom.getInstance(SecureRandom.java:287) [rt.jar:1.7.0_161]
	at java.security.SecureRandom.getDefaultPRNG(SecureRandom.java:204) [rt.jar:1.7.0_161]
	at java.security.SecureRandom.<init>(SecureRandom.java:161) [rt.jar:1.7.0_161]
	at Test.main(Test.java:13)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: entropy source org.bouncycastle.crypto.prng.BasicEntropySourceProvider not created: org.bouncycastle.crypto.prng.BasicEntropySourceProvider
	at org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG$3.run(DRBG.java:145)
	at org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG$3.run(DRBG.java:134)
	at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) [rt.jar:1.7.0_161]
	at org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG.createEntropySource(DRBG.java:133)
	at org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG.createBaseRandom(DRBG.java:155)
	at org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG.access$200(DRBG.java:25)
	at org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG$Default.<clinit>(DRBG.java:182)
	... 16 more
Caused by: java.lang.InstantiationException: org.bouncycastle.crypto.prng.BasicEntropySourceProvider
	at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:368) [rt.jar:1.7.0_161]
	at org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG$3.run(DRBG.java:141)
	... 22 more

Used BouncyCastle Version : 159 [bcprov-jdk15on-159.jar]

The problem is the provider can't find the internal Sun provider SecureRandom... I've managed to improve the situation a bit, but it's still going to be a problem in some cases. The issue is around the way the generateSeed method works... Should appear in 160b08.

[sjimenez12]

This issue is still present in bcprov-jdk14 v 1.64

Creating a SecureRandom instance outputs this:

Caused by: java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException: Error constructing implementation (algorithm: DEFAULT, provider: BC, class: org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG$Default) at java.security.Provider$Service.newInstance(Provider.java:1617) at sun.security.jca.GetInstance.getInstance(GetInstance.java:236) at sun.security.jca.GetInstance.getInstance(GetInstance.java:164) at java.security.SecureRandom.getInstance(SecureRandom.java:288) at java.security.SecureRandom.getDefaultPRNG(SecureRandom.java:205) ... 58 more Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException: Error constructing implementation (algorithm: DEFAULT, provider: BC, class: org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG$Default) at java.security.SecureRandom.getDefaultPRNG(SecureRandom.java:213) at java.security.SecureRandom.<init>(SecureRandom.java:162) at org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG$Default.<init>(Unknown Source) at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:62) at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45) at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:423) at java.security.Provider$Service.newInstance(Provider.java:1595) ... 62 more Caused by: java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException: Error constructing implementation (algorithm: DEFAULT, provider: BC, class: org.bouncycastle.jcajce.provider.drbg.DRBG$Default) at java.security.Provider$Service.newInstance(Provider.java:1617) at sun.security.jca.GetInstance.getInstance(GetInstance.java:236) at sun.security.jca.GetInstance.getInstance(GetInstance.java:164) at java.security.SecureRandom.getInstance(SecureRandom.java:288) at java.security.SecureRandom.getDefaultPRNG(SecureRandom.java:205) ... 69 more

[sjimenez12]

I don't even need to remove other providers, as long as the bc provider is the first one, it'll fail to create the SecureRandom instance.

happens from bcprov-jdk14v1.56 to bcprov-jdk14v1.64

Try the provider for 1.4 available at https://www.bouncycastle.org/betas and let us know if the problem still occurs.

[sjimenez12]

Thanks for the fast reply, I really appreciate it.

The problem is no longer reproducible using the beta version (bcprov-jdk14-165b13.jar)
Do you think this will make it into a release version anytime soon?
I'll probably just use the beta version until then.

Thanks again!

[valeriepeng]

I got almost the same exception stack trace on Windows using bcprov-jdk15on-166.jar with the same provider setting, i.e. BC being the 1st provider w/ other providers removed. Is such setting valid, i.e. expected to work on Windows? For Linux, the initial entropy is supplied from the "securerandom.source=file:/dev/random" property setting. However, for Windows, this setting doesn't work. Then it tries to use SUN provider and sun.security.provider.SecureRandom class and failed. Note that starting from jdk 16, due to JEP 396: Strongly Encapsulate JDK Internals by Default, accessing to JDK internal packages, such as sun.security.* will fail. Will file a separate bug on this.