Skip to content

[Bug] Encrypted/password-protected files report "File contains corrupted data" instead of being detected as encrypted #150

Description

@hribcek

Summary

Opening a password-protected (encrypted) Office file fails with Error: ... File contains corrupted data. The file is not corrupted — it is a valid OOXML encryption container (CDFV2 / "Encrypted"). The message misdirects the user/agent, and there is no option to supply a password.

Environment

  • OfficeCLI v1.0.110, officecli-mac-x64
  • macOS (Intel x86_64)

Repro

# create a small xlsx, then encrypt it with a password (msoffcrypto-tool -e)
pip install msoffcrypto-tool
msoffcrypto-tool -e -p secret123 plain.xlsx encrypted.xlsx
file encrypted.xlsx          # -> "CDFV2 Encrypted"

officecli get encrypted.xlsx /
officecli validate encrypted.xlsx

Observed

Error: Cannot open encrypted.xlsx: File contains corrupted data.

(Fails gracefully and quickly — no crash/hang — but the cause is wrong.)

Expected

  • Detect the encryption container and report it clearly, e.g.
    Error: <file> is password-protected/encrypted. Supply a password with --password.
  • Ideally support a --password / OFFICECLI_PASSWORD option to open encrypted files (decrypt in-memory).

Why it matters

For AI-agent use especially, a "corrupted data" message leads the agent down the wrong path (retry/repair) instead of prompting for a password. Even without full decryption support, distinguishing encrypted from corrupted would be a meaningful UX improvement.

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    No labels
    No labels

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions