What causes "No password given" in mozilla/pdf.js?

Pass the password: getDocument({ url, password }).

mozilla/pdf.js · error · PasswordException

No password given

Error message

No password given

What it means

PasswordException with NEED_PASSWORD code, thrown when no encryption key could be derived and no password was supplied—and the deferred-password EFOpen/Identity case does not apply. PDF.js needs a password to derive the encryption key and none was passed to getDocument({password}).

Source

Thrown at src/core/crypto.js:1216

    }
    if (!encryptionKey) {
      if (!password) {
        if (
          this.algorithm >= 4 &&
          isName(this.stmf, "Identity") &&
          isName(this.strf, "Identity")
        ) {
          const effCF = this.cf?.get(this.eff.name);
          const authEvent = effCF?.get("AuthEvent");

          if (isName(authEvent, "EFOpen")) {
            // For EFOpen with Identity as default stream/string filters, defer
            // password prompting until an EmbeddedFile stream is actually read.
            this.encryptionKey = null;
            return;
          }
        }
        throw new PasswordException(
          "No password given",
          PasswordResponses.NEED_PASSWORD
        );
      }
      // Attempting use the password as an owner password
      const decodedPassword = this.#decodeUserPassword(
        passwordBytes,
        ownerPassword,
        revision,
        keyLength
      );
      encryptionKey = this.#prepareKeyData(
        fileIdBytes,
        decodedPassword,
        ownerPassword,
        userPassword,
        flags,
        revision,

View on GitHub (pinned to 5903d58d58)

Solutions

Pass the password: getDocument({ url, password }).
Inspect the loadingTask promise rejection, check err.code === PasswordResponses.NEED_PASSWORD (value 1), then prompt the user and call pdfDocument.updatePassword(pwd).
For UIs, listen to the 'passwordrequest' event and surface a dialog.

Example fix

// before
const doc = await getDocument({ url }).promise;

// after — prompt on NEED_PASSWORD and retry
let task = getDocument({ url });
try {
  const doc = await task.promise;
} catch (e) {
  if (e.name === 'PasswordException' && e.code === 1) {
    const pwd = await promptUserForPassword();
    doc = await task.promise.catch(async () => {
      await task.destroy();
      return (task = getDocument({ url, password: pwd })).promise;
    });
  }
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

let task = getDocument({ url });
try {
  return await task.promise;
} catch (e) {
  if (e.name === 'PasswordException' && e.code === PasswordResponses.NEED_PASSWORD) {
    const pwd = await promptUserForPassword();
    await task.destroy();
    return await getDocument({ url, password: pwd }).promise;
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

Always handle the NEED_PASSWORD code in your getDocument rejection handler.
Use loadingTask.onPassword callback for interactive viewers rather than throwing.
Avoid hard-coded empty passwords; treat undefined password as 'prompt'.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getDocument on a user/owner-password-protected PDF without passing the password option; the document requires a password but the UI has not yet prompted the user.

Common situations: Forgetting to pass the password; a user-facing viewer that has not yet shown the password dialog; chained loads where the password lives elsewhere.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of mozilla/pdf.js@5903d58d58 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/25c63a4ce89c08b5. Report an issue: GitHub.