Encrypting files with Node.js and storing in IPFS

Moralis General
#1

I’m extremely new to encryption and I’ve been following tutorials online. I’m trying to encrypt a file using crypto module of Node.js before uploading it to IPFS. Here’s my code:

const encrypt = (data) => {
    const crypto = require('crypto');
    
    //compute hash and iv
    const algorithm = 'aes-256-ctr';
    const iv = crypto.randomBytes(16);
    key = crypto.createHash('sha256').update(data).digest('base64').substring(0,32);

    const cipher = crypto.createCipheriv(algorithm, key, iv);
    const result = iv + cipher.update(data) + cipher.final('hex');

    return result;
}

uploadFile = async() => {    
    //encrypt file
    const data = credential.files[0];
    const encryptedFile = encrypt(data);

    //upload encrypted file in IPFS
    const file = new Moralis.File(data.name, encryptedFile);
    await file.saveIPFS();
    console.log(file.ipfs(), file.hash());
    return file.ipfs();
}

I got this error

TypeError: Cannot create a Parse.File with that data.

I know I’m not getting the right type of data in EncryptedFile but I have no idea have to fix it. I tried displaying EncryptedFile in console and it only shows the IV, but cipher.update(data) and cipher.final() is not returning anything.

#2

const file = new Moralis.File(data.name, result);

result should be encryptedFile, no?

#4

yes, I actually did edit that already. But i got the same result.

#5

So data is valid and it works if you put in new Moralis.File directly?

1 Like
#6

Yes, but it won’t work after encrypting it.

#7

What is the tutorial you followed? Try this one or this one.

#8

Hi! Following the this tutorial, I edited the code:

const encrypt = (data) => {
    const crypto = require('crypto');
    
    //compute hash and iv
    const algorithm = 'aes-256-ctr';
    const iv = crypto.randomBytes(16);
    key = crypto.createHash('sha256').update(data).digest('base64').substring(0,32);

    const cipher = crypto.createCipheriv(algorithm, key, iv);
    const result = Buffer.concat([iv, cipher.update(data), cipher.final()]);

    return result;
}

uploadFile = async() => {    
    //encrypt file
    const data = credential.files[0];
    const encryptedFile = encrypt(data);

    //upload encrypted file in IPFS
    const file = new Moralis.File(data.name, encryptedFile);
    await file.saveIPFS();
    console.log(file.ipfs(), file.hash());
    return file.ipfs();
}

However, I am still getting the same TypeError: Cannot create a Parse.File with that data. error

#9

What’s the type of encryptedFile here ?
Also you can push to ipfs directly without storing the file on moralis

#10

encryptedFile is an object

#11

Can you drop an example of the object and also the type before encryption

1 Like
#12

The type before encryption is also an object.
I tried to console.log(encryptedFile) and I got this:

Uint8Array(16) [188, 113, 72, 47, 45, 135, 235, 96, 210, 48, 168, 201, 175, 54, 22, 251, buffer: ArrayBuffer(16), byteLength: 16, byteOffset: 0, length: 16, Symbol(Symbol.toStringTag): 'Uint8Array']
0: 188
1: 113
2: 72
3: 47
4: 45
5: 135
6: 235
7: 96
8: 210
9: 48
10: 168
11: 201
12: 175
13: 54
14: 22
15: 251
offset: (...)
parent: (...)
buffer: 
ArrayBuffer(16)
byteLength: 16
byteOffset: 0
length: 16
Symbol(Symbol.toStringTag): "Uint8Array"
[[Prototype]]: Uint8Array
#13

Where did you get your initial file from ?
Submitted through client or read from a directory ?

#14

This looks like binary data, 16 bytes in particular. What you expect as encrypted data?

#15

The initial file is submitted through client. I followed this tutorial.

#16

this worked for me in the past, not sure if it helps:

#17

I actually tried this before posting. I got the same error so I assumed that method is used for encrypting strings.

#18

you could encode the data to base64, then encrypt it (not optimal), maybe it is easier

1 Like
#19

thank you, i will try this.