How to pass serialized binary data

[ElgisRamon]

Hello,<br><br>I want to pass serialized data between forms like that<br><FONT FACE=monospace><br>&lt;?php<br>$bindata = serialize( $something );<br>?&gt;<br>&lt;input type=&quot;hidden&quot; name=&quot;bindata&quot;<br>&lt;?php<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;echo &quot;value=\&quot;.$bindata.&quot;\&quot; &gt;\n&quot;;<br>?&gt;<br></font><br>But I want to do it safely... remembering $bindata contains null and other dangerous bytes. Then I want to decode that in the receiving form:<br><FONT FACE=monospace><br>&lt;?php<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;$data = unserialize( $bindata );<br>?&gt;<br></font><br>What pair of functions can I use to code/decode the serialized data to safe Latin-1 text that can be written in the &lt;input&gt; tag?<br><br>SMTIA

 

[inlandpac]

It sounds like you are trying to encrypt and unencrypt your data to prevent passing potentially dangerous information (why pass it via a form instead of a database?)<br><br>Anyway, you can do something like:<br><br>//encrypt the data ($data is the unencrypted data)<br>$encdata = mcrypt_cbc(MCRYPT_TripleDES, &quot;your key&quot;,<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;serialize($data), MCRYPT_ENCRYPT);<br>$encdata =&nbsp;&nbsp;bin2hex($encdata);<br><br>//unencrypt the data<br>$encdata = hex2bin($encdata);<br>$data = unserialize(mcrypt_cbc(MCRYPT_TripleDES, &quot;your key&quot;,<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$encdata, MCRYPT_DECRYPT));<br><br>remember $data is the array that hold the decrypted data.

 

[ElgisRamon]

<b>Note:</b><br><br>I want to pass session data form to form. My session data includes a timestamp, username, and a MD5 hash from both. Then I serialize all the data in an array. I then do Bin2Hex to pass that data in a hidden input, but there is no Hex2Bin function to reconvert that data. I need some function I could replace Bin2Hex/Hex2Bin.<br><br>All you're saying is usefull, but I'm blocked needing that pair of functions.<br><br>Any idea?

 

[inlandpac]

Okay, since the source of all of the problem looks like you need a function to convert Hexidecimal to binary, here you go:<br><br>&lt;?php<br>//////////////////////////////////<br>//&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;one function&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;//<br>//////////////////////////////////<br>function hex2bin($data)<br>{<br>return (DecBin(HexDec($data));<br>}<br><br>//////////////////////////////////<br>//&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;another function&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;//<br>//////////////////////////////////<br>function hex2bin($data)<br>{<br>$len = strlen($data);<br>return pack(&quot;H&quot; . $len, $data);<br>}<br>?&gt;<br><br>You can of course expand upon these ideas to fit your own schema.<br><br>If this does not help, I am afraid I am as stuck as you are.<br><br>Sincerely,<br>Chad.