TypeError:Password must be a buffer of string about bip39

[dcousens]

@ezailWang go complain to Facebook that they are doing a terrible job at supporting Buffer.

[dcousens]

@fanatid we didn't default it to enforce that developers know that a password can be provided. Many BIP39 compliant wallets don't support user-provided passwords, which is frustrating.

[junderw]

> var pbkdf2 = require('pbkdf2').pbkdf2Sync
> pbkdf2(undefined, undefined, 2048, 64, 'sha512')
TypeError: Password must be a buffer or string
    at checkBuffer (/home/ddd/node_modules/pbkdf2/lib/precondition.js:5:11)
    at module.exports (/home/ddd/node_modules/pbkdf2/lib/precondition.js:10:3)
    at nativePBKDF2Sync (/home/ddd/node_modules/pbkdf2/index.js:17:3)

looks like the reason is because Buffer.from is returning undefined.

This is a react-native problem. Please ask them how to fix safe-buffer package for react-native.

[fanatid]

Because second argument (password) should be passed: https://github.com/bitcoinjs/bip39/blob/v2.5.0/index.js#L50-L59

@dcousens @junderw should we set password as zero buffer by default?

[ezailWang]

pbkdf2(mnemonicBuffer, saltBuffer, 2048, 64, 'sha512')

function pbkdf2 (password, salt, iterations, keylen, digest) {
checkParameters(password, salt, iterations, keylen)
...
}
function checkBuffer (buf, name) {
if (typeof buf !== 'string' && !Buffer.isBuffer(buf)) {
throw new TypeError(name + ' must be a buffer or string')
}
}
module.exports = function (password, salt, iterations, keylen) {
checkBuffer(password, 'Password')
checkBuffer(salt, 'Salt')
...
}

But the"Password" of error doesn't mean the second argument here.
The first argument here is the wrong one. If I change the check order, the second argument will also go wrong.

[dcousens]

That, is odd.

bip39/index.js

Line 51 in bafbcd3

var mnemonicBuffer = Buffer.from(unorm.nfkd(mnemonic), 'utf8')

should enforce that the password argument to PBKDF2 is a Buffer...

Can you show us what is in that variable?

[ezailWang]

I'm going to output the information for this variable like this.

var mnemonicBuffer = Buffer.from(unorm.nfkd(mnemonic), 'utf8')
var saltBuffer = Buffer.from(salt(unorm.nfkd(password)), 'utf8')
console.log(mnemonicBuffer);
if (typeof mnemonicBuffer !== 'string' && !Buffer.isBuffer(mnemonicBuffer)) {
    console.log('mnemonicBuffer is not a buffer or string')
  }

And I added the judgment statement here, which can be passed at this time, but cannot be passed in PDKDF2.

[junderw]

works for me...

unless you give us the actual inputs that caused your problem OR the actual code that caused your problem, we can't really help much.

[junderw]

Also, @dcousens unorm when called with undefined returns empty string ''

> unorm.nfkd(undefined)
''

[ezailWang]

My running environment is react-native, and I found that buffer was imported into the bip39.
var Buffer = require('safe-buffer').Buffer
Unlike the buffer used in precondition.js, buffer is not referenced in precondition.js.

[ezailWang]

Find a solution and add this code before referring to bip39.
global.Buffer = require('safe-buffer').Buffer;

[ezailWang]

I feel like I've been complaining enough to them that I'm not friendly to the new guy.