peass-ng/PEASS-ng · error · ArgumentNullException

str

Error message

str

What it means

The DerGeneralString(string) constructor requires a non-null string; a null argument cannot be encoded as a GeneralString, so ArgumentNullException is raised immediately. This is standard fail-fast argument validation.

Source

Thrown at winPEAS/winPEASexe/winPEAS/3rdParty/BouncyCastle/asn1/DerGeneralString.cs:48

            if (isExplicit || o is DerGeneralString)
            {
                return GetInstance(o);
            }

            return new DerGeneralString(((Asn1OctetString)o).GetOctets());
        }

        public DerGeneralString(
            byte[] str)
            : this(Strings.FromAsciiByteArray(str))
        {
        }

        public DerGeneralString(
            string str)
        {
            if (str == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("str");

            this.str = str;
        }

        public override string GetString()
        {
            return str;
        }

        public byte[] GetOctets()
        {
            return Strings.ToAsciiByteArray(str);
        }

        internal override void Encode(
            DerOutputStream derOut)
        {
            derOut.WriteEncoded(Asn1Tags.GeneralString, GetOctets());

View on GitHub (pinned to 53fb989abc)

Solutions

1. Pass a non-null string, substituting string.Empty or a default when the value may be absent
2. Null-check or coalesce before constructing: new DerGeneralString(str ?? "")
3. If absence must be represented, omit the ASN.1 element entirely rather than encoding null

Example fix

// before
var gs = new DerGeneralString(maybeNull);
// after
var gs = new DerGeneralString(maybeNull ?? string.Empty);

var gs = str != null ? new DerGeneralString(str) : null;

try { var gs = new DerGeneralString(str); }
catch (ArgumentNullException) { /* use default or omit element */ }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling new DerGeneralString(null) directly, or passing a null string obtained from configuration, database, or parsed input into the constructor.

Common situations: Null config values or missing data fields fed into ASN.1 building code; API responses with absent string fields; refactoring that introduced a nullable string where a value was assumed.

Related errors

• data
• str
• ENUMERATED has zero length
• input vector too large
• No tagged object found in vector. Structure doesn't seem to

AI-assisted analysis of peass-ng/PEASS-ng@53fb989abc (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/84c0e5303f0c2c9b. Report an issue: GitHub.