GNU bug report logs - #37992
Base64 decode should ignore CRLF

Previous Next

To reply to this bug, email your comments to 37992 AT debbugs.gnu.org.

Toggle the display of automated, internal messages from the tracker.

Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Steven Hilton <malvidin <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Base64 decode should ignore CRLF
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2019 15:25:16 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

I believe that the base64 implementation in coreutils should ignore
carriage return and line feed line endings (CR, LF, CRLF). Currently, it
only ignores LF line endings.
The -i/--ignore-garbage flag is effective, but should not fail on common
line endings.

$ echo -ne
"R05VIEJhc2U2NCBkZWNvZGUgc2hvdWxkIGlnbm9yZSBib3RoIENSIGFuZC9vciBMRg0K\r\nR05VIEJhc2U2NCBkZWNvZGUgc2hvdWxkIGlnbm9yZSBib3RoIENSIGFuZC9vciBMRg0K"
| base64 -d
Current Output:
GNU Base64 decode should ignore both CR and/or LF
base64: invalid input

Expected Output:
GNU Base64 decode should ignore both CR and/or LF
GNU Base64 decode should ignore both CR and/or LF

Per the Base64 RFC, section 3.3,

Note that this means that any adjacent carriage return/line feed
(CRLF) characters constitute "non-alphabet characters" and are
ignored.

https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4648#section-3.3
<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4648%23section-3.3&sa=D&source=hangouts&ust=1572513581650000&usg=AFQjCNGmIlJSlyucb75tnWNUbAovfdasIg>

My interpretation of this section is that the base64 decoding should either
fail on any non-Alphabet character, or should ignore any line ending
combination.

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.