Check if file is a valid SQLite database with SQLCipher encryption

Question

Is there any way to verify that a file is a valid SQLite database with SQLCipher, without knowing the encryption key? In other words, are there any checksums or magic words that do not get encrypted?

From this post I understand normal SQLite 3 databases just start with the string "sqlite 3", and if I know the password I could check validity of the actual high-level database structure using this.

The error message “file is encrypted or is not a database” found here suggests that the answer is no - but can anybody confirm?

CL. · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-14 06:31:25Z

4

No. An encrypted database file is indistinguishable from a file containing random data.

answered Jul 14, 2016 at 6:31

CL.

182k18 gold badges241 silver badges282 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Andrew S. · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-14 12:13:20Z

1

I solve by this code in constructor of DBHelper (it is not pure clean, but it works...)

private DBHelper() {
    SQLiteDatabase.loadLibs(context);

    File dbFile = context.getDatabasePath(DB_NAME);

    try {
        if (dbFile.exists()) { // is db file exists?
            // check if db file can be opened
            SQLiteDatabase.openDatabase(dbFile.getAbsolutePath(), DB_PASSWORD, null, SQLiteDatabase.OPEN_READWRITE).close();
        }
    } catch (SQLiteException ex) { // it's impossible open db file - we must encrypt it
        encryptDatabase(context, dbFile);
    }
}

answered Mar 14, 2019 at 12:13

Andrew S.

98213 silver badges24 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Check if file is a valid SQLite database with SQLCipher encryption

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related