Unable to decrypt string with openssl_decrypt() error

Heya,

Just came across this answer and decided to write some general guidelines for anyone who comes across this in the future despite the old question.

The error you’re encountering is not specifically related to the version of OpenSSL installed on your server. It’s typically related to the encryption/decryption keys or method used in your application.

Make sure to check the following:

• Encryption method: Ensure that the encryption method used in the openssl_encrypt() function in your application is the same as the one used in openssl_decrypt().
• Secret keys: The secret key used to encrypt the data needs to be the same when decrypting.
• Options: Check that the options provided to both encrypt and decrypt functions are the same.

If you are using any third-party software like Sendy, consult their documentation or contact their support for specific help.

For generic programming issues, StackOverflow can be a rich resource.

Lastly, here’s a link to DigitalOcean’s LAMP guide: How To Install Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) stack on Ubuntu 22.04.

Hope that this helps!