Receiving NullPointerException while using Jasypt and Spring Security 3.1

Question

I am trying to configure Jasypt with Spring Security. My configuration file looks like this:

    jdbc.driver=com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
    jdbc.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost:8090/sample
    jdbc.username=ENC(*****) where the *****=the salted username
    jdbc.password=ENC(*****) where the *****=the salted password

My servlet xml contains the proper bean setup in this format:

 <bean id="propertyPlaceholderConfigurer"
      class="org.jasypt.spring31.properties.EncryptablePropertyPlaceholderConfigurer">
  <constructor-arg ref="configurationEncryptor" />
  <property name="location" value="/WEB-INF/jdbc.properties" />
</bean>

<bean id="configurationEncryptor" class="org.jasypt.encryption.pbe.StandardPBEStringEncryptor">
  <property name="config" ref="environmentVariablesConfiguration" />
</bean>

<bean id="environmentVariablesConfiguration"
      class="org.jasypt.encryption.pbe.config.EnvironmentStringPBEConfig">
  <property name="algorithm" value="PBEWithMD5AndDES" />
    <property name="passwordEnvName" value="APP_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD" />
  <!--<property name="password" value="**********" />-->
</bean>
       <bean id="dataSource"
    class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DriverManagerDataSource">
    <property name="driverClassName" value="${jdbc.driver}" />
    <property name="url" value="${jdbc.url}" />
    <property name="username" value="${jdbc.username}" />
    <property name="password" value="${jdbc.password}" />
   </bean>

My environment variable is set in windows properly for APP_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD. It is visible when I echo it from command line. When I use this setup, I get the null pointer stack trace below. When I use the hard coded salt password "-->", my application runs smoothly. Can someone show me why Jasypt or Spring might not be picking up on my environment variable properly? Any information would be welcomed. Thanks.

 org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader initWebApplicationContext
SEVERE: Context initialization failed
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.jasypt.encryption.pbe.config.SimplePBEConfig.getPasswordCharArray(SimplePBEConfig.java:434)
    at org.jasypt.encryption.pbe.StandardPBEByteEncryptor.resolveConfigurationPassword(StandardPBEByteEncryptor.java:740)
    at org.jasypt.encryption.pbe.StandardPBEByteEncryptor.initialize(StandardPBEByteEncryptor.java:590)
    at org.jasypt.encryption.pbe.StandardPBEStringEncryptor.initialize(StandardPBEStringEncryptor.java:553)
    at org.jasypt.encryption.pbe.StandardPBEStringEncryptor.decrypt(StandardPBEStringEncryptor.java:705)
    at org.jasypt.properties.PropertyValueEncryptionUtils.decrypt(PropertyValueEncryptionUtils.java:72)
    at org.jasypt.spring31.properties.EncryptablePropertyPlaceholderConfigurer.convertPropertyValue(EncryptablePropertyPlaceholderConfigurer.java:109)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyResourceConfigurer.convertProperty(PropertyResourceConfigurer.java:121)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyResourceConfigurer.convertProperties(PropertyResourceConfigurer.java:104)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyResourceConfigurer.postProcessBeanFactory(PropertyResourceConfigurer.java:81)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:687)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:662)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:454)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:388)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:293)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:111)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4701)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext$1.call(StandardContext.java:5204)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext$1.call(StandardContext.java:5199)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:303)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:138)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:886)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:908)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
Aug 7, 2013 8:46:15 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext listenerStart
SEVERE: Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.jasypt.encryption.pbe.config.SimplePBEConfig.getPasswordCharArray(SimplePBEConfig.java:434)
    at org.jasypt.encryption.pbe.StandardPBEByteEncryptor.resolveConfigurationPassword(StandardPBEByteEncryptor.java:740)
    at org.jasypt.encryption.pbe.StandardPBEByteEncryptor.initialize(StandardPBEByteEncryptor.java:590)
    at org.jasypt.encryption.pbe.StandardPBEStringEncryptor.initialize(StandardPBEStringEncryptor.java:553)
    at org.jasypt.encryption.pbe.StandardPBEStringEncryptor.decrypt(StandardPBEStringEncryptor.java:705)
    at org.jasypt.properties.PropertyValueEncryptionUtils.decrypt(PropertyValueEncryptionUtils.java:72)
    at org.jasypt.spring31.properties.EncryptablePropertyPlaceholderConfigurer.convertPropertyValue(EncryptablePropertyPlaceholderConfigurer.java:109)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyResourceConfigurer.convertProperty(PropertyResourceConfigurer.java:121)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyResourceConfigurer.convertProperties(PropertyResourceConfigurer.java:104)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyResourceConfigurer.postProcessBeanFactory(PropertyResourceConfigurer.java:81)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:687)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:662)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:454)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.configureAndRefreshWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:388)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:293)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:111)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:4701)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext$1.call(StandardContext.java:5204)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext$1.call(StandardContext.java:5199)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:303)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:138)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:886)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:908)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)

Answer 1

May be you can try restarting windows command prompt and try again.

I got similar error and after setting up env variable, I forgot to restart windows command prompt and was getting same error.

Restarting windows command prompt resolved this issue for me.

Answer 2

For anyone else facing this issue and stumbling upon this question, restarting Eclipse fixed the issue.
Note: you must close Eclipse fully then re-open. Clicking "Restart" won't work as it doesn't kill the Java process completely.