DEV Community: Imran Hossain (Rubab)

Securing Sensitive Data with Encryption Algorithms

Imran Hossain (Rubab) — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 04:21:17 +0000

Encryption is the process of converting plain text into an unreadable form(ciphertext) to protect from unauthorized access.

There are 2 types of Encryptions:

Symmetric-Key encryption
Asymmetric encryption (public-key encryption)

How encryption algorithms work:

Encryption:
Plain text is input into the algorithm.
The algorithm uses a key to perform a series of complex mathematical operations on the plain text. The output is ciphertext, which is unreadable without the key.

Decryption:
Ciphertext is input into the algorithm.
The algorithm uses the correct key to reverse the mathematical operations.The output is the original plain text.

Symmetric-Key encryption:
It uses the same key for both encryption and decryption. It is fast and efficient for large amounts of data. Secure keys are exchanged between parties.

There are two main types: block ciphers and stream ciphers.

Block Ciphers:

Block ciphers encrypt data in fixed-size blocks (e.g., 64 or 128 bits) using a key.
A widely used block cipher is the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), which supports key lengths of 128, 192, or 256 bits.
The data is divided into blocks, and each block is encrypted independently.

Stream Ciphers:
Stream ciphers encrypt data bit by bit or byte by byte, typically in a continuous stream.
One common stream cipher is the Rivest Cipher (RC4).

Example: AES (Advanced Encryption Standard)

function encrypt($data="", $key="") {
    $iv = openssl_random_pseudo_bytes(openssl_cipher_iv_length("aes-256-cbc")); // dynamic iv (we can also set static iv)
    $encrypted = openssl_encrypt($data, "aes-256-cbc", $key, 0, $iv);
    return base64_encode($iv . '!!' . $encrypted);
}
function decrypt( $data="", $key="") {
    list($iv, $encryptedData) = explode('!!', base64_decode($data), 2);
    return openssl_decrypt($encryptedData, "aes-256-cbc", $key, 0, $iv);
}

$plainData = [
    'email' => 'codewithrubab@gmail.com',
    'password' => 'codeOn@Vscode2024';
];
$saltKey = "asdckd44dbc228e16c2888436d17a";

$encryptedData = encrypt(json_encode($plainData), $saltKey);
echo $encryptedData;
$decryptedData = decrypt($encryptedData, $saltKey);
print_r($decryptedData);

Note: If we need to re-generate same encrypted data on same plain text then we need to always use same Salt Key and IV. Otherwise, the output will be different.

Asymmetric encryption (public-key encryption):
It uses two different keys: a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption.

we don’t need secure key exchange for encryption. It’s slower than symmetric encryption and useful for digital signatures and authentication,

Common public-key encryption techniques: RSA, ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography), Diffie-Hellman.

Let’s see an Example with RSA Algorithm.

If we don’t have the public and private keys then we can generate from the command line interface.

For private key file generation in a directory:

openssl genrsa -out privateKey.pem 2048
For public key:
openssl rsa -in privateKey.pem -pubout

Here, privateKey.pem and privateKey.pem are the generated file names.

The generated public key is a RSA result.

The private Key is not a RSA result. To make it a RSA result we need to write some code.

First, install this package in your Laravel Project.

Composer require "phpseclib/phpseclib": "~2.0"

use phpseclib\Crypt\RSA;


// private key: pem to rsa code
$privateKey = 'set pem file data';
$rsa = new RSA();
$rsa->loadKey($privateKey);
$rsaPrivateKey = $rsa->getPrivateKey();
dd($rsaPrivateKey);

Additionally, if we need to convert a public key from pem to RSA then we can convert using this code.

// for public key: pem to rsa.
$publicKey = 'set pem file data';
$rsa = new RSA();
$rsa->loadKey($publicKey);
$rsa->setPublicKey($publicKey);
$rsaPublicKey = $rsa->getPublicKey();
dd($rsaPublicKey);

Let’s see a real life implementation of Asymmetric Encryption:

Let’s assume we are making a transaction with a bank as a merchant. Bank provided us a public key and we have shared our public key to the bank. From our end, we will encrypt our transaction request data using our private key and send it to the bank. Bank will decrypt the data using our provided public key. Bank then process the data and send us an encrypted response using their private key. After receiving the bank’s response we will decrypt using their public key to get the plain response.

In addition to that, Bank has asked us to send a signature with every transaction request. They also told us that we need to decrypt the decoded Sensitive Data using Merchant Private Key with PKCS1Padding Algorithm. The signature will be generated using SHA256withRSA signature algorithm.

Now, We will make an api call to initiate a transaction to the bank’s end.

public  function signatureGenerate($data){
   $private_key = "-----YOUR RSA PRIVATE KEY-----";
   openssl_sign(json_encode($data), $signature, $private_key, OPENSSL_ALGO_SHA256);
   return base64_encode($signature);
}   


public function encryptDataWithPublicKey($data){
   $public_key = "-----YOUR PUBLIC KEY-----";
   openssl_public_encrypt(json_encode($data), $encryptedData, $public_key, OPENSSL_PKCS1_PADDING);
   return base64_encode($encryptedData);
}


public function decryptDataWithPrivateKey($cryptText){
   $private_key = "-----YOUR RSA PRIVATE KEY-----";
   openssl_private_decrypt(base64_decode($cryptText), $plainText, $private_key, OPENSSL_PKCS1_PADDING);
   return json_decode($plainText, true);
}


public function HttpPostMethod($postURL, $postData, $authToken = null)
{
   try {
       $curl = curl_init($postURL);
       $postData = json_encode($postData);
       $header = array(
           'Content-Type:application/json'
       );

       if($authToken){
           $header[] = 'token:' . $authToken;
       }


       curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $header);
       curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, "POST");
       curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
       curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $postData);
       curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1);
       curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0);
       curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0);


       $resultdata = curl_exec($curl);


       $err = curl_error($curl);
       $code = curl_getinfo($curl, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
       $curlErrorNo = curl_errno($curl);


       $ResultArray = json_decode($resultdata, true);
       curl_close($curl);
       return $ResultArray;
   } catch (\Exception $exception) {
       echo 'Failed to Connect with Bank. Please try again later';
       exit;
   }


}


initTransaction($merchantId, $merchantAccountNumber, $orderId){
   $postUrl = 'api.your-bank.com/api/payment/initialize';
   $plainData = array(
       'merchant_id' => $merchantId,
       'order_id' => $orderId
   );
   $postData = array(
       'account_number' => $merchantAccountNumber,
       'sensitiveData' => $this->encryptDataWithPublicKey($sensitiveData),
       'signature' => $this->signatureGenerate($sensitiveData)
   );


   return $this->HttpPostMethod($postUrl, $postData);
}
$encryptedResponse = $this->initTransaction('MER1234', 'ACC12345', 'ORD123456');
$plainResponse = $this->decryptDataWithPrivateKey($encryptedResponse['sensitiveData']);
dd($plainResponse);

Bonus:
Here is a useful link to RSA Signature/Generation & Validation

Things to consider when choosing an Encryption Algorithm:

Level of security required.
Speed of encryption/decryption.
Key management complexity.
Resource constraints.

Where encryption algorithms are used

Secure communication (e.g., emails, VPNs)
Data storage (e.g., databases, file systems)
Financial transactions (e.g., online banking)
Password protection
Digital signatures

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Efficiently Managing Data with SELECT During INSERT Queries

Imran Hossain (Rubab) — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 15:54:44 +0000

We may sometimes need data which is already present in table but we need that data during insert. If we query data first and then insert the data, it will require running 2 SQL commands. But it will be best to run just one single SQL command that will query the data first and set the data during INSERT Query.

This technique elegantly merges data retrieval and insertion, streamlining the process and reducing the number of queries required.

Let's see an Example:

Consider a website's menu structure stored within a table named menus. Each menu item holds properties such as:

id: A unique identifier
menu_name: The name of the menu item
parent_id: The identifier of the parent menu item (if applicable)

To establish a parent-child relationship between menus, we can effectively leverage a SELECT during INSERT query.

INSERT INTO `menus` (`id`, `menu_name`, `parent_id`)
(SELECT
   NULL,
   'childMenu',
   menu.id <--- setting the parent menu id
FROM `menus` AS menu
WHERE menu.menu_name = 'parentMenu'
LIMIT 1);

Breaking Down the Query:

INSERT INTO menus (id, menu_name, parent_id): This segment initiates an INSERT operation into the menus table, targeting the specified columns.
SELECT NULL, 'childMenu', menu.id: This represents a nested SELECT query that retrieves the desired data for insertion.
FROM menus AS menu: The source table for the SELECT.
WHERE menu.menu_name = 'parentMenu': This condition filters the results to locate the specific parent menu item. 5.LIMIT 1: This constraint ensures that only a single row is selected, preventing potential duplication issues.

Advantages:

Optimized Performance: Combining operations into a single query often enhances execution speed.
Enhanced Readability: Nesting queries can improve code organization and clarity.
Data Integrity: This approach safeguards data consistency by ensuring parent-child relationships are accurately established during insertion.

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Virtual Host Setup with SSL Certificate in Your Localhost

Imran Hossain (Rubab) — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 04:34:21 +0000

In this article we will learn how we can run our project from a custom url example.com instead of localhost in our local LAMP Server on Ubuntu.

First open your terminal and create a New file called example.com.conf with root privileges.

touch /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.com.conf

Open the new file with root privileges.
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.com.conf

Add below lines in the example.com.conf file.

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName example.com
        DocumentRoot /var/www/html/example-project
  Redirect permanent / https://example.com
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:443>
  ServerAdmin example@example.com
        DocumentRoot /var/www/html/example-project
  ServerName example.com

  SSLEngine on
  SSLCertificateFile /var/www/html/ssl/server.crt
  SSLCertificateKeyFile /var/www/html/ssl/server.key
  SSLCertificateChainFile /var/www/html/ssl/rootCA.pem

  <Directory "/var/www/html/example-project">
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
  </Directory>

  ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
  CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

As you can see we have added http with port 80 and https with port 443. We have also added redirection to example.com to https://example.com

For SSL certificate, Please create a ssl certificate and then add the crt, key and pem type files in a ssl folder under /var/www/html folder. Please note that we have mentioned path for the crt, key and pem files for VirtualHost port 443 above. Finally, we enabled htaccess by “AllowOverride All”.

Now save the file and it’s time to add our custom host to the host file.

Open the host file in terminal by the command
sudo nano /etc/hosts

Add our example.com to the end of file.

127.0.0.1   localhost
.....
.....
127.0.1.1   example.com // add this line

To enable SSL and new vhost config file use these commands
sudo a2enmod ssl // to enable ssl sudo a2ensite example.com.conf // to enable vhost config

Now restart the server to apply the changes
sudo systemctl restart apache2

Test it now by visiting example.com

If we face any problem then we will be able to see in /var/log/apache2/error.log file.

Thank you for reading my article. You can join code with rubab for web development-related queries & discussions.

Also, you can find me on:

Create a Multi Language Based Website With Laravel

Imran Hossain (Rubab) — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 03:46:37 +0000

This article goes in detailed on how to make a website multilingual in Laravel. Users will be able to set the language English or Bangla and the whole site will be translated accordingly.

First, create a Middleware called SetLocale. To create the middleware, open your terminal and run below command:

php artisan make:middleware SetLocale

It will create SetLocale.php file inside Middleware Folder. We will use session to store user’s selected language. Now in the handle funtion add below code so that the middleware can check the session data to set the website language when a web route uses the middleware.

app/Http/Middleware/SetLocale.php

class SetLocale
{
    public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next)
    {
        if(is_null(session('locale')))
            session(['locale'=> 'en']); // set language english if language is not set in session

        app()->setLocale(session('locale')); // set the session's language to our application

        return $next($request); // this will already be available in the handle request. It just passes the request to next handle.
    }
}

Now, we need to register our middleware in the Kernel.

app/Http/Kernel.php

protected $middlewareGroups = [
    'web' => [
        \App\Http\Middleware\SetLocale::class
    ]
];

protected $routeMiddleware = [
    'setLocale' => \App\Http\Middleware\SetLocale::class
];

We will apply our middlware inside our web routes. Also we will create a change language route where selected route will be set to the session.

routes/web.php
--------------
// middlware applied on base route
Route::group(['middleware' => ['setLocale']], function () {
    Route::get('/', function () {
        return view('welcome');
    });
});

// language change option route
Route::get('/change-language/{lang}', function($lang){
    if(in_array($lang,['en','bn'])){
        session(['locale'=> $lang]);
    }
    return back(); // return to the previous page from where language changed by user
})->name('change-language');

Now it’s time to creat language files where we will keep our translations. There are two ways to translate language.One is using translated language in php file or using json file.

We can use php file for specific purpose. let’s say we need translation only for blog related string for blog feature. This also allow us multi level nested keys for translation mapping.

// for english translation
resources/lang/en/blog.php
return [
    'title' => 'Title',
    'category' => 'Category'
];

// for bangla translation
resources/lang/bn/blog.php
return [
    'title' => 'Title',
    'category' => 'Category'
];

On the other hand, we can use a json file to list all our language strings for direct string mapping.

//for bangla translation of strings.
resources/lang/bn.json
{
    "Welcome to Code With Rubab": "কোড উইথ রুবাব এ আপনাকে স্বাগতম"
}

Finally, we will will add language change select option in our welcome blade file. Also translated language will be seen a user changes a language.

resources/views/welcome.blade.php

<button class="btn dropdown-toggle" type="button" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" aria-expanded="false">
    {{ session('locale') === 'bn' ? 'বাংলা' : 'English' }}
</button>
<ul class="dropdown-menu">
    <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="{{ route('change-language','en') }}">
            English
        </a>
    </li>
    <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="{{ route('change-language','bn') }}">
            বাংলা
        </a>
    </li>
</ul>

// translate string based on the selected language
<div>
    {{ __('Welcome to Code With Rubab') }}

    // translate from blog language file
    @lang('blog.title') 
    trans('blog.category')
</div>

Bonus:

Add auto language set based on Country.

Install the package geoip

composer require torann/geoip

Change the CACHE_DRIVER=array in env file.

modify the SetLocale middleware for automatically setting language in the handle function.

if(is_null(session('locale'))){
    $lang = geoip()->getLocation()->country === 'Bangladesh' ? "bn"  : "en";
    session(['locale'=> $lang]);
}
app()->setLocale(session('locale'));

return $next($request);

This is the part one for static based translation. In the next part, we will use dynmaic based translation where a blog post will be uploaded in multi language and users will be able to read blog post in different languages.

Thank you for reading my article. You can join code with rubab for web development-related queries & discussions.

Also, you can find me on:

Importance Of Using Log in Your Project

Imran Hossain (Rubab) — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 16:02:04 +0000

As a developer you should write Log in your project. It plays a very important role in your project. Some developers don't know the importance so they don't write it or ignore writing proper logs in their projects.

I have seen the absence of writing logs in small/mid level projects from junior/mid level developers. Even some senior developers don't write it properly. This scenario is very common in single developer based projects or in a freelance based project or in startups. In this article I'm going to show you how to use it properly in your project.

But first, What is Log?
Log helps developers to track what is happening within your application. When a product goes to production server then we don't know what happened in between a user's request and response. So in order to investigate a failed scenario we need check the Log.

Some real life scenarios:

Case One:
When Log is not given: Payment is given for an order from an eCommerce website via payment gateway. Customer got a payment receipt generated from the gateway. Customer sees the transaction is not present after the successful payment. The eCommerce site does not have a log of the payment request so the request data can be found. Just assume how difficult it is to solve this issue. It will require investigating whether the actual customer paid or not, checking customer related data, customer’s concern of his/her payment, several cross check meetings from both companies involving developers, managers, operation team members and other stakeholders. If nothing can be found and the customer’s claim is valid then manually adding the data to a database where tables may have relations for the new payment data. Just think how much time will be wasted for solving the problem where a request and response log would just take a minute to write it.

Case 2:
When Detailed logs are not provided: Let’s say you have a shipping request. In this case you are a logistics Aggregator. An API request comes from a merchant website for shipping, you process the requested data which goes through some complex logic in your application through several scripts, and at one point it creates a new request data based on the provided request which is then sent over a third party logistic partner that actually takes the order. Based on the third party api's response the aggregator application returns a response to the merchant website. See how complex it is if you don’t log the merchant request, different logic states, log of formatted request and response data of the third party services. If something happens during a shipping order, it will be very hard to identify what went wrong to the request.

Commonly used Logs:

Info
Debug
Warning
Error
Alert

If you are using Laravel then you can use these Log function as below,

// Import the Log Class
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Log;

Log::emergency($message);
Log::alert($message);
Log::critical($message);
Log::error($message);
Log::warning($message);
Log::notice($message);
Log::info($message);
Log::debug($message);

// Or Without importing the class
\Log::error($message);

//Example
Log::info('place order to partner.');
Log::debug("Processing Payment Payload- " . print_r($input, true));

We can structure our Log data and reuse in any file of our project.
First create a class and then add add it under autoload as below,

"autoload": {
        .....
        "files": [
            "app/Helpers/CommonHelper.php"
        ]
        .....
}

Here I have created a CommonHelper file and placed inside the app/Helpers directory.

Inside CommonHelper.php file.

/**
 * Generalize the debug log format.
 */
if (!function_exists('__formatDebugLog')) {
    /**
     * @param string $label
     * @param mixed $data
     * @param string $tag
     * @return string
     */
    function __formatDebugLog($label, $data = null, $tag = '')
    {
        $tag = empty($tag) ? '' : "{$tag} ";

        $data = is_string($data) ? $data : json_encode($data);

        return $tag . $label . ': ' . $data;
    }
}

/**
 * Generalize the log format for exception.
 */
if (!function_exists('__formatExceptionLog')) {
    /**
     * @param Throwable $e
     * @param $class
     * @param $fn
     * @param $tag
     * @return string
     */
    function __formatExceptionLog(Throwable $e, $class, $fn, $tag = '')
    {
        $tag = empty($tag) ? '' : "{$tag} ";
        return $tag . 'Found Exception: ' . $e->getMessage() . ' [Script: ' . $class . '@' . $fn . '] [Origin: ' . $e->getFile() . '-' . $e->getLine() . ']';
    }
}

// Generalize data log format 

if (!function_exists('__formatLogData')) {
    function __formatLogData($data)
    {
        if(is_object($data)){
            $data = (array) $data;
        }

        return $data;
    }
}

Example of usage:

try{
    Log::error(__formatDebugLog("order placement failed to partner", $order));
} catch (\Throwable $e) {
    Log::error(__formatExceptionLog($e, __CLASS__, __FUNCTION__));
}

Use tag for tacking log data.

$tag = isset($request->merchant_order_id) ? "MER_ORD_ID[{$request->merchant_order_id}]" : '';

try{
    Log::info("{$tag} Order => request data: " . json_encode(__formatLogData($this->all())));
    Log::debug("[{$tag}]: city list load failed");
} catch (\Throwable $e) {
    Log::error(__formatExceptionLog($e, __CLASS__, __FUNCTION__, $tag));
}

Sample Log output:

Be careful when adding a log data. We should not write sensitive data in the scenario when an attacker can steal our log data.

So, avoid logging sensitive data such as,

Credit card no (use masking if required), CVV of a card.
Any kind of user login credentials, Token, API Key, API secret etc.
Plain data of encrypted data.
Any sensitive information from config data.

Happy Coding!

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Beware of double dollar sign "$$" in a variable in PHP.

Imran Hossain (Rubab) — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 11:20:09 +0000

We all know Dollar sign($) is used to declare a variable in PHP. What if we accidentally type dollar sign two times for a variable. This can potentially affect your expected output.

For example, let's say we want to encrypt data. The output of the encrypted data will not be the same for variables with single dollar variable ($x) and double dollar variable ($$x) because the $$x (double dollar) is a reference variable. This reference variable is called variable variables in PHP. Variable variables are simply variables whose names are dynamically created by another variable’s value.

So, we also need to check this kind of mistake while debugging our code if the logic of the code seems alright.

Happy bug finding!

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Build a product with defensive mechanism.

Imran Hossain (Rubab) — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 11:04:43 +0000

Over 5 crore Bangladeshi citizens' personal data 'exposed' online which is actually a big concern for country. Citizens' personal information, including their full names, phone numbers, email addresses and National Identification (NID) numbers, has been exposed from a Bangladesh government website according to local news paper
The Business Standard.

It's sad to see that our personal data has been exposed online. That's why we should not only focus on development rather focus on everything that is a part of a software. We should follow best practices during software development, Code review, proper testing of software, network level security, protection from any malware attack, vulnerability check, Database protection, user roles, user activity track, API Security and so on. There are some companies prove vulnerability check and security related services in this regard.

We need to understand that the cost of a data breach is fatal than not giving extra time to perform these actions during software development. A great product requires periodically maintaining and upgrading the system after a software release. Let's build a product with a defensive mechanism.

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We don’t just write computer code, we write business scripts

Imran Hossain (Rubab) — Wed, 31 May 2023 05:44:11 +0000

A professional software is built for business purposes. We develop software that can serve millions of users and aim to solve a particular problem to make people’s lives easier. Software features come from many areas such as client’s requirements, business team’s requirements of a organisation, startup project ideas and so on.

A software can have lots of complex features, dependencies on third party software and so on. It’s so important to understand a business logic properly. Failing to understand business logic leads to rewriting it again thus wasting development time & delaying project deadline. Here are some few tips to follow,

Read the project requirements properly. Understand each business logic carefully.
Discuss with your client or project manager if you don’t understand a requirement. Ask question, ask a lot of questions if needed.
Understand the relationship among features that can help to architect your project in much better way.
Get to know about software design patters. Carefully Understand which design pattern is suitable for your project by analyzing the pros and cons of each pattern. Pick the one that suits best for your project.
Communicate with your peers, project manager & clients frequently. Give update of your work after each chunk of development. Show them the progress and get feedback.
Fail early, fail first. It will help us to avoid making a lot of changes in the end. Talk to them about different topics like arts, sports etc, understand how they think, how they describable a problem. This will help you to quickly understand the requirements and business logic from them.

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5 Tips to Save Your Software Development Time.

Imran Hossain (Rubab) — Mon, 15 May 2023 05:39:32 +0000

Many Times early stage developers waste their time on solving a problem when they are stuck. Some small strategies can help our things done without wasting our time. Here are some tips to save your time.

Limit your time - Try solving problem for 15-20 minutes. If you can't solve the problem after 15-20 minutes, then it's time to ask someone for help.
Take a break - If you are working alone then after 15 minutes take a break, drink water or coffee or stretch your body and walk around the room. Now start working on your problem again. This little break may help you to identify solution for your problem.
Talk to someone - If you are working in a team then discuss the problem with one of your team members. This is the fastest way to solve the problem. If you don’t find someone then use Rubber duck debugging technique where you explain your logic to a duck and you may get what went wrong just by explaining you may find the issue.
Seek help from developers community - Getting response from community and forums take time. If above procedures don't work then wait for communities Help and keep work on other problems. It's better post your issue in multiple platforms to get quick response.
Try it later - If you have already spent a huge amount time and nothing seems to be working and deadline is knocking on the door then leave it for now. Better discuss with the Project Manager / client if they can slightly change the requirement or work on it later as this has become a blocker to complete your project.

5 Tips to Become a Better Software Developer.

Imran Hossain (Rubab) — Mon, 15 May 2023 05:25:16 +0000

Write clean codes.
Write maintainable and scalable code.
Don't use magic numbers in your code.
Write test codes for testing functionalities of you project.
See other's code on regular basis. Talk to your peers about techniques/ technologies they use to solve a particular problem.

Date Parse Issue Due to Hidden Character

Imran Hossain (Rubab) — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 05:14:25 +0000

I have recently encountered a bug where Carbon failed to parse any given date input from datepicker. This issue is generated after some package update in the project. This affected the code line given below.

Carbon::parse($request->fromDate)->format('Y-m-d H:i:s')

After debugging I found out that a special hidden character (u+202f) is being placed in date time data which should actually be a space.

A very quick solution for this kind of issue can be checking and replacing this type of hidden character.

You can also use regular expression to allow only alphanumeric, space and some special characters to solve this issue.

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