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CodeSonar® 9.2p0 CONFIDENTIAL CodeSecure Inc
Java

JAVA.CRYPTO.KEY : Insecure Key Derivation (Java)

Summary

An insecure key derivation function is used.

The iterations of an algorithm during an encryption are very relevant for the safety of encrypted data (for more information see the OWASP documentation on Testing for Weak Encryption).

Some cryptography algorithms are nowadays considered as outdated and unsafe or actually broken, since they are too easy to decode. This checker identifies uses of unsafe algorithms for cryptography.

The OWASP documentation provides more information on Using the Java Cryptographic Extensions.

Properties

Class Name Insecure Key Derivation (Java)
Significance security
Mnemonic JAVA.CRYPTO.KEY
Categories
CWE CWE:326 Inadequate Encryption Strength
CERT-Java CERT-Java:DRD18 Do not use the default behavior in a cryptographic library if it does not use recommended practices
OWASP-2017 OWASP-2017:A2 Broken authentication
OWASP-2021 OWASP-2021:A2 Cryptographic failures
  OWASP-2021:A4 Insecure design
  OWASP-2021:A7 Identification and authorization failures
OWASP-2025 OWASP-2025:A04 Cryptographic Failures
  OWASP-2025:A06 Insecure Design
Availability Available for Java and Kotlin.
Enabling Checks for this warning class are enabled by default. To disable them, add the following WARNING_FILTER rule to the project configuration file. 
WARNING_FILTER += discard class="Insecure Key Derivation (Java)"

Example 

import javax.crypto.spec.PBEKeySpec;

public class OtherCryptographyExamples {

  public void encryptionTest(String password,String algorithm) {
    
    try {
      byte[] salt = new byte[6];
      setRandomBytes(salt);
      PBEKeySpec pbeKey = new PBEKeySpec(password.toCharArray(), salt, 50, 128); /* Warnings of two classes issued here:
                             * - Inadequate Salt (Java)
                             *   because 'salt' is only 6 bytes.
                             * - Insecure Key Derivation (Java)
                             *   because there are only 50 iterations (instead of 10,000 or more).
                            */  
      // ...
    } catch (Exception e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }

  private void setRandomBytes(byte[] salt) {
        // ...
  }
}

Resolution

Use a safer key derivation function.

Relevant Configuration File Parameters

The following configuration file parameters affect checks for this warning class.

 

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