Php Fatal Error: Uncaught InvalidArgumentException: Key may not be empty

Software Support
1

Hi,
Today, I noticed this fatal error in my PHP error log. I don’t know exactly what has caused this error. Please guide me on how to resolve this error.
My OJS : 3.2.1.2
PHP: 7.4

[10-Jan-2021 02:00:43 America/New_York] PHP Notice:  Undefined offset: 1 in /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/pages/article/ArticleHandler.inc.php on line 47
[10-Jan-2021 02:00:43 America/New_York] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught InvalidArgumentException: Key may not be empty in /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/lib/pkp/lib/vendor/firebase/php-jwt/src/JWT.php:74
Stack trace:
#0 /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/pages/article/ArticleHandler.inc.php(49): Firebase\JWT\JWT::decode(NULL, '', Array)
#1 /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/lib/pkp/classes/core/PKPRouter.inc.php(383): ArticleHandler->authorize(Object(Request), Array, Array)
#2 /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/lib/pkp/classes/core/PKPPageRouter.inc.php(231): PKPRouter->_authorizeInitializeAndCallRequest(Array, Object(Request), Array, false)
#3 /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/lib/pkp/classes/core/Dispatcher.inc.php(143): PKPPageRouter->route(Object(Request))
#4 /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/lib/pkp/classes/core/PKPApplication.inc.php(281): Dispatcher->dispatch(Object(Request))
#5 /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/index.php(68): PKPApplication->execute()
#6 {main}
  thrown in /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/lib/pkp/lib/vendor/firebase/php-jwt/src/JWT.php on line 74

Thanks

2

Thanks for the report @seisense. It looks like this can occur if an incorrect Authorization header is sent with the request. I’ve filed an issue here: Authorization header with JWT can cause fatal error · Issue #6563 · pkp/pkp-lib · GitHub

3

Hi,
I thought with the update of OJS to 3.3.0.3, this error is gone now. But today, I noticed this error once again in my PHP error log:

[22-Feb-2021 06:19:26 America/New_York] PHP Notice:  Undefined offset: 1 in /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/pages/article/ArticleHandler.inc.php on line 50
[22-Feb-2021 06:19:26 America/New_York] PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught InvalidArgumentException: Key may not be empty in /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/lib/pkp/lib/vendor/firebase/php-jwt/src/JWT.php:79
Stack trace:
#0 /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/pages/article/ArticleHandler.inc.php(52): Firebase\JWT\JWT::decode(NULL, '', Array)
#1 /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/lib/pkp/classes/core/PKPRouter.inc.php(387): ArticleHandler->authorize(Object(Request), Array, Array)
#2 /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/lib/pkp/classes/core/PKPPageRouter.inc.php(246): PKPRouter->_authorizeInitializeAndCallRequest(Array, Object(Request), Array, false)
#3 /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/lib/pkp/classes/core/Dispatcher.inc.php(144): PKPPageRouter->route(Object(Request))
#4 /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/lib/pkp/classes/core/PKPApplication.inc.php(364): Dispatcher->dispatch(Object(Request))
#5 /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/index.php(68): PKPApplication->execute()
#6 {main}
  thrown in /home/seisense/journal.seisense.com/lib/pkp/lib/vendor/firebase/php-jwt/src/JWT.php on line 79

I am witnessing that PHP notice appearing everytime just before this fatal error. So, I include this noitce line as well. This might be useful for you to figure out the issue.
Looking forward to your input.
Thanks

4

You’re right, it looks like this did not get cherry-picked over into the stable branch, so it didn’t make it out with OJS 3.3.0.3. I’ve cherry-picked it over now so it should go out with 3.3.0.4.

This error only happens when a request is made with an invalid Authorization header. You might want to track down what requests are sending this header and why.