Encryption between ColdFusion and MS Access - ms-access

Question

I'm trying to make it possible for the data stored in a MSSQL database to be encrypted/decrypted in both Access 2013 as well as ColdFusion. The Access database uses vba to sync data to the SQL database and I've found a few possible solutions for encryption but can't seem to get the results to match the same thing encrypted in ColdFusion.
www.ebcrypt.com appears to be the easiest but when I encrypt with either Blowfish, RIJNDAEL or any of the other methods, the results are not the same as what I encrypt in ColdFusion.
I decided to try to use the native CryptoAPI but the same thing happens when I try to match what vba is doing in ColdFusion I keep getting different results.
I wonder if either the vba or ColdFusion methods I'm using are taking the key I'm passing in and transforming it so it no longer matches. I've tried setting keys manually and even generating it with ColdFusion and then setting it in the vba code to match with no luck.
ColdFusion code trying to use RC4:
<cfset test_key = "ZXNlmehY30y3ophXVJ0EJw==">
<cfset encryptedString = Encrypt("CF String",test_key, "RC4")>
<cfoutput>
Encrypted String: #encryptedString#<br />
Encryption Key: #test_key#
</cfoutput>
VBA Code with the same settings: (clsCryptoFilterBox code is here)
NOTE: It appears that this defaults to RC4, which is why I'm using that in ColdFusion above.
Dim encrypted As clsCryptoFilterBox
Set encrypted = New clsCryptoFilterBox
encrypted.Password = "ZXNlmehY30y3ophXVJ0EJw=="
encrypted.InBuffer = "CF String"
encrypted.Encrypt
MsgBox ("Encrypted: " & encrypted.OutBuffer)
EDIT: Ok, more info. I found that ColdFusion needed the key in base64 even though the variable test_key should have worked but apparently the output of a base64 encoded string is not the same as other text encoded into base64.
EDIT 2: I got it working using the Blowfish algorithm found in the file on this website.
Here is my working CF code:
<cfset test_key = toBase64("1234567812345678")>
<cfset encryptedString = Encrypt("CF String", test_key, "RC4", "HEX")>
<cfoutput>
Encrypted String: #encryptedString#<br />
Encryption Key: #test_key#
</cfoutput>
Which outputs:
Encrypted String: F8B519877DC3B7C997
Encryption Key: MTIzNDU2NzgxMjM0NTY3OA==
I had to modify the code in VBA to pad using PKCS7 but once I did that, I was able to verify that it was working correctly. If anyone is interested I could post my changes to the VBA code where I modified the padding as well as added a check on decryption to verify the data via the padding.

Answer 1

I found a decent Blowfish algorithm packaged in the test app found on this download site that actually works with some modifications.
It was using spaces to pad the input text which is not what ColdFusion was doing, so this was making the encrypted string turn out different. The standard encryption that CF does pads with bytes that are all the same and are set to the number of padding bytes being used.
New EncryptString() function:
Public Function EncryptString(ByVal tString As String, Optional ConvertToHEX As Boolean) As String
Dim ReturnString As String, PartialString As String * 8
Dim tPaddingByte As String
Dim tStrLen As Integer
Dim tBlocks As Integer
Dim tBlockPos As Integer
tStrLen = Len(tString)
'Divide the length of the string by the size of each block and round up
tBlocks = (-Int(-tStrLen / 8))
tBlockPos = 1
Do While tString <> ""
'Check that we are not on the last block
If tBlockPos <> tBlocks Then
'Not on the last block so the string should be over 8 bytes, no need to pad
PartialString = Left$(tString, 8)
Else
'Last block, we need to pad
'Check to see if the last block is 8 bytes so we can create a new block
If Len(tString) = 8 Then
'Block is 8 bytes so add an extra block of padding
tString = tString & String(8, Chr(8))
tPaddingByte = " " 'Not really necessary, just keeps the String() function below happy
Else
'Set the value of the padding byte to the number of padding bytes
tPaddingByte = Chr(8 - Len(tString))
End If
PartialString = Left$(tString & String(8, tPaddingByte), 8)
End If
ReturnString = ReturnString & Encrypt(PartialString)
tString = Mid$(tString, 9)
tBlockPos = tBlockPos + 1
Loop
If ConvertToHEX = True Then
EncryptString = ToHEX(ReturnString)
Else
EncryptString = ReturnString
End If
End Function
Since the padding is not just spaces, it needs to be removed on decryption but there is an easy way to do it that also makes this whole process even better. You read the last byte, and then verify the other padding bytes with it.
Public Function DecryptString(ByVal tString As String, Optional ConvertFromHEX As Boolean) As String
Dim ReturnString As String, PartialString As String * 8
Dim tPos As Integer
Dim tPadCount As Integer
If ConvertFromHEX = True Then
tString = HexToString(tString)
End If
Do While tString <> ""
PartialString = Left$(tString, 8)
ReturnString = ReturnString & Decrypt(PartialString)
tString = Mid$(tString, 9)
Loop
'Check the last byte and verify the padding and then remove it
tPadCount = ToHEX(Right(ReturnString, 1))
If tPadCount < 8 Or tPadCount > 1 Then
'Get all the padding bytes and verify them
Dim tPaddingBytes As String
tPaddingBytes = Right(ReturnString, tPadCount)
Dim i As Integer
For i = 1 To tPadCount
If Not tPadCount = Int(ToHEX(Left(tPaddingBytes, 1))) Then
MsgBox "Error while decrypting: Padding byte incorrect (" & tPadCount & ")"
GoTo Done
End If
Next i
ReturnString = Left(ReturnString, Len(ReturnString) - tPadCount)
Else
MsgBox "Error while decrypting: Last byte incorrect (" & tPadCount & ")"
End If
Done:
DecryptString = ReturnString
End Function
I was able to export the class module and can import it into any other possible projects that may need basic encryption. There is a Rijndael class that appears to be working but in a non-standard way as well that I may get around to fixing later, but for now this is what I was looking for.