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Published Sep. 10, 2025

Upgrade from 6.2 to DXP fails with IBM-specific AESSecretKey error

Written By

Alexandra Rujzam

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Issue

  • Upgrade from 6.2 to DXP fails with IBM-specific AESSecretKey error, when a user was using IBM JDK for the 6.2 environment. 
    2020-01-08 13:00:49.267 ERROR [main][Base64:343] java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.ibm.crypto.provider.AESSecretKey
    java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.ibm.crypto.provider.AESSecretKey
        at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)
        at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
        at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
        at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
        at java.lang.Class.forName(Unknown Source)
        at com.liferay.petra.lang.ClassResolverUtil.resolve(ClassResolverUtil.java:29)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.io.ProtectedObjectInputStream.doResolveClass(ProtectedObjectInputStream.java:52)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.io.ProtectedObjectInputStream.resolveClass(ProtectedObjectInputStream.java:65)
        at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readNonProxyDesc(Unknown Source)
        at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readClassDesc(Unknown Source)
        at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readOrdinaryObject(Unknown Source)
        at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject0(Unknown Source)
        at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readObject(Unknown Source)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.util.Base64._stringToObject(Base64.java:339)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.util.Base64.stringToObject(Base64.java:87)
        at com.liferay.portal.upgrade.v7_0_1.UpgradeCompany.updateCompanyKey(UpgradeCompany.java:49)
        at com.liferay.portal.upgrade.v7_0_1.UpgradeCompany.doUpgrade(UpgradeCompany.java:35)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.UpgradeProcess.upgrade(UpgradeProcess.java:96)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.UpgradeProcess.upgrade(UpgradeProcess.java:141)
        at com.liferay.portal.upgrade.UpgradeProcess_7_0_1.doUpgrade(UpgradeProcess_7_0_1.java:41)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.UpgradeProcess.upgrade(UpgradeProcess.java:96)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.util.UpgradeProcessUtil._upgradeProcess(UpgradeProcessUtil.java:173)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.util.UpgradeProcessUtil.upgradeProcess(UpgradeProcessUtil.java:140)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.util.UpgradeProcessUtil.upgradeProcess(UpgradeProcessUtil.java:122)
        at com.liferay.portal.events.StartupHelper.upgradeProcess(StartupHelper.java:154)
        at com.liferay.portal.events.StartupHelperUtil.upgradeProcess(StartupHelperUtil.java:85)
        at com.liferay.portal.tools.DBUpgrader.upgrade(DBUpgrader.java:174)
        at com.liferay.portal.tools.DBUpgrader.main(DBUpgrader.java:105)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
        at com.liferay.portal.tools.db.upgrade.client.DBUpgraderLauncher.main(DBUpgraderLauncher.java:55)
    2020-01-08 13:00:49.271 INFO  [main][LoggingTimer:43] Completed com.liferay.portal.upgrade.v7_0_1.UpgradeCompany#updateCompanyKey in 18 ms
    2020-01-08 13:00:49.271 INFO  [main][UpgradeProcess:107] Failed upgrade process com.liferay.portal.upgrade.v7_0_1.UpgradeCompany in 19 ms
    2020-01-08 13:00:49.272 INFO  [main][UpgradeProcess:107] Failed upgrade process com.liferay.portal.upgrade.UpgradeProcess_7_0_1 in 726 ms
    com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.UpgradeException: com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.UpgradeException: java.lang.NullPointerException
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.UpgradeProcess.upgrade(UpgradeProcess.java:101)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.util.UpgradeProcessUtil._upgradeProcess(UpgradeProcessUtil.java:173)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.util.UpgradeProcessUtil.upgradeProcess(UpgradeProcessUtil.java:140)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.util.UpgradeProcessUtil.upgradeProcess(UpgradeProcessUtil.java:122)
        at com.liferay.portal.events.StartupHelper.upgradeProcess(StartupHelper.java:154)
        at com.liferay.portal.events.StartupHelperUtil.upgradeProcess(StartupHelperUtil.java:85)
        at com.liferay.portal.tools.DBUpgrader.upgrade(DBUpgrader.java:174)
        at com.liferay.portal.tools.DBUpgrader.main(DBUpgrader.java:105)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
        at com.liferay.portal.tools.db.upgrade.client.DBUpgraderLauncher.main(DBUpgraderLauncher.java:55)
    Caused by: com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.UpgradeException: java.lang.NullPointerException
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.UpgradeProcess.upgrade(UpgradeProcess.java:101)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.UpgradeProcess.upgrade(UpgradeProcess.java:141)
        at com.liferay.portal.upgrade.UpgradeProcess_7_0_1.doUpgrade(UpgradeProcess_7_0_1.java:41)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.UpgradeProcess.upgrade(UpgradeProcess.java:96)
        ... 12 more
    Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
        at com.liferay.petra.encryptor.Encryptor.serializeKey(Encryptor.java:231)
        at com.liferay.portal.upgrade.v7_0_1.UpgradeCompany.updateCompanyKey(UpgradeCompany.java:51)
        at com.liferay.portal.upgrade.v7_0_1.UpgradeCompany.doUpgrade(UpgradeCompany.java:35)
        at com.liferay.portal.kernel.upgrade.UpgradeProcess.upgrade(UpgradeProcess.java:96)
        ... 15 more

Environment

  • Portal 6.2 with IBM JDK
  • DXP 7.0
  • DXP 7.1
  • DXP 7.2

Resolution

Please go through all of the points below:

  • The environment variable called %JAVA_HOME% needs to point to the JDK directory
  • The JDK\bin directory is included in the system PATH and user PATH variables
  • In case of using IBM JDK on DXP ibmjceprovider.jar file exists in the JDK/jre/lib/ext directory
  • In case of using OpenJDK on DXP sunjce_provider.jar file exists in the JDK/jre/lib/ext directory
  • Also check if the permissions on the jars of the JDK/jre/lib/ext folder are correct
  • Verify whether after failing the upgrade the database was restored and the temporary folders were deleted prior to running the upgrade again
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