AES key (string) input, unable to be converted to corresponding byte sequences correctly

Question

My python program takes a AES key as input.
For example,

xee~xb0x94Lhx9fnr?x18xdfxa4_7Ixf7xd8T?x13xd0xbd4x8eQx9bx89xa4cxf9xf1

This string input must now be converted back to a byte sequences, so that the key can be used in decryption.

aes_key = str.encode(user_input) # user_input being the key is string format

When I print "aes_key" this is the output

\xee~\xb0\x94Lh\x9fn\r?\x18\xdf\xa4_7I\xf7\xd8T?\x13\xd0\xbd4\x8eQ\x9b\x89\xa4c\xf9\xf1

Due to the addition "" the key is incorrect and I can not use it for decryption.

I have tried

aes_key = aes_key.replace(b'\\', b'\')

but this does not fix it.
Please help.

Asked By: Christopher Rondeau

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Source

Answer 1

After some guesswork of what your input might be, I got the following:

input_string = "\xee~\xb0\x94Lh\x9fn\r?\x18\xdf\xa4_7I\xf7\xd8T?\x13\xd0\xbd4\x8eQ\x9b\x89\xa4c\xf9\xf1"

print(input_string) 
# xee~xb0x94Lhx9fnr?x18xdfxa4_7Ixf7xd8T?x13xd0xbd4x8eQx9bx89xa4cxf9xf1

print(repr(input_string))
# '\xee~\xb0\x94Lh\x9fn\r?\x18\xdf\xa4_7I\xf7\xd8T?\x13\xd0\xbd4\x8eQ\x9b\x89\xa4c\xf9\xf1'

output_bytes = bytes(input_string, "utf-8").decode("unicode_escape").encode("latin_1") 

print(output_bytes)
# b'xee~xb0x94Lhx9fnr?x18xdfxa4_7Ixf7xd8T?x13xd0xbd4x8eQx9bx89xa4cxf9xf1'

Answered By: qrsngky

AES key (string) input, unable to be converted to corresponding byte sequences correctly

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