Base64 Encoded String to byte array C# Failing

Question

We are receiving a base64 encoded string from a external application in the form body and below is the code that we are using to decode the string into byte array, however we are getting an exception

Input String

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_Jmd0Ow0KJmx0O1RoaXN0bGVDdXN0b21EYXRhIHhtbG5zOnhzZD0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMS9YTUxTY2hlbWEiIHhtbG5zOnhzaT0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMS9YTUxTY2hlbWEtaW5zdGFuY2UiJmd0Ow0KICAmbHQ7T3JkZXJJZCZndDtCVFBQMzYzOSZsdDsvT3JkZXJJZCZndDsNCiAgJmx0O0Ftb3VudCZndDsxMjAmbHQ7L0Ftb3VudCZndDsNCiZsdDsvVGhpc3RsZUN1c3RvbURhdGEmZ3Q7XV0mZ3Q7PC9jdXN0b21EYXRhPjwvcGF5bWVudFJlc3BvbnNlPg

Exception

The input is not a valid Base-64 string as it contains a non-base 64 character, more than two padding characters, or an illegal character among the padding characters.

Code

var inputText = // use the data as shown above
byte[] decodedBytes = Convert.FromBase64String(inputText);

I want to know what is wrong in this and why it is throwing the exception, where are if i try online converters they are able to return the proper result.

Answer 1

Thank you all for the response.

I got this working, after studying how the base64 encoding works.

below is the code that i used to fix it.

var input = new StreamReader(Request.InputStream).ReadToEnd();
        var inputText = "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_Jmd0Ow0KJmx0O1RoaXN0bGVDdXN0b21EYXRhIHhtbG5zOnhzZD0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMS9YTUxTY2hlbWEiIHhtbG5zOnhzaT0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMS9YTUxTY2hlbWEtaW5zdGFuY2UiJmd0Ow0KICAmbHQ7T3JkZXJJZCZndDtCVFBQMzYzOSZsdDsvT3JkZXJJZCZndDsNCiAgJmx0O0Ftb3VudCZndDsxMjAmbHQ7L0Ftb3VudCZndDsNCiZsdDsvVGhpc3RsZUN1c3RvbURhdGEmZ3Q7XV0mZ3Q7PC9jdXN0b21EYXRhPjwvcGF5bWVudFJlc3BvbnNlPg";
        inputText = ValidateBase64EncodedString(inputText);

        byte[] decodedBytes = Convert.FromBase64String(inputText);

        string xml = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(decodedBytes);

       private static string ValidateBase64EncodedString(string inputText)
        {
            string stringToValidate = inputText;
            stringToValidate = stringToValidate.Replace('-', '+'); // 62nd char of encoding
            stringToValidate = stringToValidate.Replace('_', '/'); // 63rd char of encoding
            switch (stringToValidate.Length % 4) // Pad with trailing '='s
            {
                case 0: break; // No pad chars in this case
                case 2: stringToValidate += "=="; break; // Two pad chars
                case 3: stringToValidate += "="; break; // One pad char
                default:
                    throw new System.Exception(
             "Illegal base64url string!");
            }

            return stringToValidate;
        }

Answer 2

It's because your custom data is invalid. In that Base64 encoded string you have a raw [CDATA] which is most likely not encoded correctly.

notice that if i take the first 684 characters of your string, it converts properly to:

<paymentResponse><responseCode>0000</responseCode><responseCodeText>0-Successful</responseCodeText><responseSummary>GREEN</responseSummary><paymentEventIdentifier>TXN 3639</paymentEventIdentifier><List><componentID>TXN 3639</componentID><clientID>GOTDISE06</clientID><bankAuthCode>T:1234</bankAuthCode><buynetTxnID>375</buynetTxnID></List><paymentInstrumentRef></paymentInstrumentRef><maskedCardNumber>************9686</maskedCardNumber><cardType>MASTERCARD</cardType><expiryDate>03/2017</expiryDate><customData>&

but all hell breaks loose when we get to the customData tag, this I suppose, contains the CDATA xml content, which is probably not base64 encoded.

So either leave the CDATA content out, or encode it properly before adding it to the final string, to fix the issue