Skip to content

PDF hul Messages

Jump to bottom
Georgia Moppett edited this page Jun 25, 2025 · 15 revisions

PDF-HUL-1

Message

Invalid destination object

Details

An unexpected object type was found for a destination object. A destination object is expected to be an array containing a page reference, a dictionary containing such an array, or a name object leading to either of these objects.

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-2

Message

Invalid destination object

Details

An unexpected object type was returned when resolving a destination's page reference to a page. In this case the orignal destination object was an array or dictionary that resolved to an array but didn't. A destination object is expected to be an array containing a page reference, a dictionary containing such an array, or a name object leading to either of these objects.

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-3

Message

An IOException was thrown reading destination array id: <array object id>

Details

An IOException occured when trying to read and parse the destination array object, this indicates either a discrete issue with the destination array or a more serious issue with the PDF structure that makes looking up and retrieving the destination array impossible.It's possible a system issue, particularly low disk space, could cause the exception.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-4

Message

Missing dictionary in document node

Details

A page or page tree node is not a dictionary. All pages and page trees should be a dictionary, which provides access to their resources and other attributes.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

The page or any pages descending from the page tree will be inaccessible and may not appear in a reader.

Remediation

Is it possible to build a page's dictionary after the fact? Maybe iText can fix it. We (at ZBW) have an iText-Tool, which just copies each page into a new PDF. The PDF structure gets repaired by this procedure and I would guess that it would build a brand new PDF Dictionary for the PDF. I do not have any example on hand, though, so I cannot check.

PDF-HUL-5

Message

Invalid Resources Entry in document

Details

One of the objects processed when resolving the Resources dictionary was of a type not allowed by the PDF Specification, or there was an IO error when resolving the Resources dictionary. Page Tree Nodes may have an empty resource dictionary (no resources) or no entry, meaning the resources are inherited from a parent node.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-6

Message

Invalid Font entry in Resources

Details

An IOException occurred when reading the reference for the for Fonts dictionary found in the Resource catalog for the Page Tree Node. Resource catalogs don't need to have a Font's dictionary but this error indicates the catalogue provides a reference to one that can't be read.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-7

Message

Malformed MediaBox in page tree

Details

A page dictionary's "MediaBox" key value is not an array.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-8

Message

Malformed MediaBox in page tree

Details

A page's "MediaBox" entry is not an array of four numbers. "MediaBox" entries must contain an array of four numbers marking the X and Y coordinates for the lower-left and upper-right corners of a rectangle, e.g. [2 2 5 5].

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-9

Message

Invalid file specification

Details

A file specification is processed as a dictionary that can have one of the key values 'F', 'Unix', 'DOS', or 'Mac'. The value of these keys should be a simple object with the file specification as a String value. In this case the object returned wasn't a simple object with a String value.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-10

Message

Unterminated literal in PDF file

Details

No closing parenthesis was found when processing a String literal. All String literals must be enclosed in parenthesis.

  • Type: EOFException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-11

Message

Invalid character in hex string

Details

An invalid character was found in a hexadecimal string.A hexadecimal string is written as a sequence of hexadecimal digits (0 – 9 and either A – F or a – f) enclosed within angle brackets (< and >). The hex string in question contains a character outside this set.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1, 2

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-12

Message

Invalid name tree

Details

An unexpected object type was encountered when processing a name tree node. A name tree node is a dictionary that depending on its type: root, intermediate or leaf; can have up to two entries with keys "Names", "Kids", or "Limits", each of which is should have an array value. In this case either the returned value for an entry was not a PDF array, or the elements of the Limits entry array weren't Strings as per the specification.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-13

Message

Invalid name tree

Details

The name tree node has a "Limits" dictionary entry that returned either a null entry or the entry returned was a PDF array that didn't have element at positions [0] and [1].

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-14

Message

Invalid name tree

Details

There was an I/O error resolving the object for one of the entries, "Names", "Kids", or "Limits" in the name tree node.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-15

Message

Invalid name tree

Details

The name tree node dictionary does not have one of a "Names" or "Kids" entry as per the PDF specification.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-16

Message

Invalid name tree

Details

An unexpected error occured while parsing a name tree node. This might have been a wrong object type, missing object, or null object encountered while processing the entries, or an I/O error resolving them.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-17

Message

Offset out of bounds in object stream

Details

An I/O error occurred when processing an object stream, this might have been when finding the object start or reading the object.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-18

Message

Missing expected element in page number dictionary

Details

The "Nums" entry of a page label leaf node is missing. JHOVE seems to have munged the PDF concepts of a page label and a number tree, this needs review.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-19

Message

Invalid date in page number tree

Details

An unexpected error occurred while retrieving key–value pairs from a page label node's "Nums" entry. Doesn't appear to have anything to do with dates. Needs review. Can confirm that JHOVE 1.12 gave the same message and it's nothing to do with dates.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-20

Message

Invalid page label node

Details

An unexpected error occured when processing the page lable number tree.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-21

Message

Invalid Annotations

Details

A page objects annotations entry ("Annots") is not an Array.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-22

Message

Invalid Annotations

Details

An IOException was encountered while trying to retrieve a page object's annotation array.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-23

Message

Malformed ArtBox in page tree

Details

A page object's dictionary has an "ArtBox" entry but it is not an array describing a rectangle.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-24

Message

Malformed TrimBox in page tree

Details

A page object's dictionary has a TrimBox entry but it is not an array describing a rectangle.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-25

Message

Malformed BleedBox in page tree

Details

A page object's dictionary has a "BleedBox" entry but it is not an array describing a rectangle.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-26

Message

Invalid dictionary data for page

Details

An I/O error occured when resolving a page object dictionary's contents entry, or parsing its contents.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-27

Message

Invalid dictionary data for page

Details

The value retrieved for a page object's "Contents" key is not a content stream or an array.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-28

Message

Invalid dictionary data for page

Details

A page objects's "Contents" key value is an array, but one of the elements is now a stream as per the specification.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-29

Message

Invalid page tree node

Details

A general exception was caught when processing a page tree. Page tree node must include the entries "Type", "Parent", "Kids", and "Count" to be valid.

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-30

Message

Improperly constructed page tree

Details

Thrown if, when trying to get the next Page Object in a tree, we revisit a node we've already been to (circular page tree construction?). It is mandatory to save PDF pages in a page tree, but the specification does not say that this page tree necesarily needs to be balanced. Suggestion during the OPF PDF Hackathon in 2014 was to ignore this error message. Having pages in a un-balanced page tree only has a negative effect on rendering performance, but does not lead to PDF invalidity.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-31

Message

Improperly constructed page tree

Details

Thrown if, when trying to get the next node in a page tree, we revisit a node we've already been to (circular page tree construction?). It is mandatory to save PDF pages in a page tree, but the specification does not say that this page tree necesarily needs to be balanced. Suggestion during the OPF PDF Hackathon in 2014 was to ignore this error message. Having pages in a un-balanced page tree only has a negative effect on rendering performance, but does not lead to PDF invalidity.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-32

Message

Excessive depth or infinite recursion in page tree structure

Details

The page tree structure was too deep, JHOVE sets an arbitary limit of 100 here presumably to guard against infinite recursion.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-33

Message

Improperly nested dictionary delimiters

Details

More dictionary closing elements (">>") were encountered than dictionary opening elements ("<<").

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-34

Message

Improperly nested array delimiters

Details

More array closing elements ("]") were encountered than array opening elements ("[").

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1, 2

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-35

Message

Invalid object definition

Details

A non numeric object ID was returned when parsing the indirect object definition. The first token must be an integer object ID.

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-36

Message

Invalid object definition

Details

PDF Parser's next token (from getToken) is not a Numeric (class) Token, This is the object generation number and must be an integer. Cause in example file is missing byte in comment line after header which means that offset references in XREF are off by 1 affecting position of tokenizer. Parser.readObjectDef first reads ObjNumTok. If this object number is a double digit, the off by 1 error (in this example) only reads the tail portion of the object number (i.e. it still gets a numeric obj number, even though it's wrong). Problem occurs in this case when obj number is single digit, so no object number is read.

References

Impact

Example file is still renderable in Adobe Acrobat Pro

Remediation

Correct XREF offsets.

PDF-HUL-37

Message

Invalid object definition

Details

PDF Parser's next token (from getToken) is not a keyword, the keyword "obj" is expected after the object id.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-38

Message

Invalid object definition

Details

A keyword other than "obj" was found while parsing an indirect object definition. Indirect object definitions should follow the form "<obj. number> <obj. generation> obj".

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-39

Message

Cannot parse object

Details

The token returned when parsing an object was not of the expected type: Array start or end, Dictionary start or end, or a simple token.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

  • PDF 1.6: Needs review
  • PDF 1.7: Needs review

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-40

Message

Unexpected token in array

Details

This appears to be an unreachable error. Needs review. I concur, the type check has already taken place.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

  • PDF 1.6: Needs review
  • PDF 1.7: Needs review

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-41

Message

Malformed dictionary: Vector must contain an even number of objects, but has ...

Details

The dictionary has an odd number of objects, so cannot have a complete set of name–value pairs. Often seen with asian characters in PDF, characters in bookmarks.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-42

Message

Malformed dictionary

Details

Unexpected error while parsing a dictionary. This is most likely caused by a null (missing) object or an object of an unexpected type when processing the dictionary.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-43

Message

Unexpected token in dictionary

Details

This appears to be an unreachable error. Needs review. Similar case to PDF-HUL-40 where the type check that might throw this has already been performed.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

  • PDF 1.6: Needs review
  • PDF 1.7: Needs review

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-44

Message

Malformed indirect object reference

Details

A general exception was thrown while trying to "collapse an object vector" (JHOVE speak), the most likely cause is that a missing (null) object or an object of an unexpected type was encountered while processing an object "vector".

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

  • PDF 1.6: Needs review
  • PDF 1.7: Needs review

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-45

Message

Malformed filter

Details

This indicates an issue with a stream dictionary's "Filter" (or deprecated "FFilter") entry or the associated "DecodeParms" (or deprecated "FDecodeParms") entry. The "Filter" entry can be a single name or an array of names. The "DecodeParms" entry is either a single parameter dictionary accompanying a single "Filter" name, or an array of dictionaries accompanying an array of "Filter" names. Xerox Example error is based on image filters ZIP & JPEG on same image. Note that for JHOVE versions up to including 1.28, this error message was also a false positive for filter arrays such as "/Filter[/FlateDecode/DCTDecode]".

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Change embedded image compression filter

PDF-HUL-46

Message

Malformed ASCII number in stream

Details

An integer object in a stream contained an invalid character. The integer must be a sequence of numberic characters that may be preceded by whitespace characters. In this case a non-whitespace character was encountered before any numeric character was encountered.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-47

Message

Streams may not be embedded in object streams

Details

This is triggered when the a "stream" object is found within another stream object.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-48

Message

Streams may not be embedded in object streams

Details

This is triggered when the a "stream" object is found within another stream object.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-49

Message

Unknown element in structure tree

Details

The "K" (children) entry of a structure element dictionary was another dictionary. This dictionary must be one of: another nested strucuture element, marked content or an object reference, the returned dictionary was none of these.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-50

Message

Invalid structure attribute reference

Details

There was an issue resolving the "A" attributes entry of a structure element dictionary.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-51

Message

Invalid structure attribute

Details

There was an I/O error resolving one of the elements of an attributes array.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-52

Message

Invalid structure attribute

Details

An attribute element that was a PdfSimpleObject wasn't a numeric revision number.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-53

Message

Invalid structure attribute

Details

An element from an attributes array wasn't a dictionary or revision number object.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-54

Message

Structure attribute has illegal type

Details

The value of a structure element dictionary's "A" (attributes) entry wasn't a single attributes dictionary or an array (of attribute dictionaries).

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-55

Message

Block-level attributes in inline structure element

Details

Attributes only applicable to a block-level structure element were found for an inline structure element.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-56

Message

Invalid attribute in document structure

Details

An attribute dictionary's "Placement" value was not a name.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-57

Message

Non-standard structure type name

Details

This checks that the structure element's structure type key ("S") value is one of the Adobe standard types. The check is currently disabled in code, and it should. The Adobe types are provided to aid interoperability between applications, but custom types are allowed. Review and remove permanently. A more sensible check would be that it was a name that confirmed to the naming standard in the PDF spec, Appendix E in the 1.6 version.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-58

Message

Invalid data in document structure tree

Details

An I/O exception was thrown when trying to resolve a structure elements children ("K") value.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-59

Message

Invalid document structure root

Details

A structure tree root's "Type" name value that wasn't "StructTreeRoot". The structure tree root dictionary must have a Type key whose value is the name "StructTreeRoot".

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-60

Message

Invalid document structure root

Details

The structure tree root dictionary had no key "Type" or the value was of the wrong type.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-61

Message

Invalid data in document structure root

Details

An I/O exception was thrown when trying to resolve a reference in a structure trees children.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-62

Message

Invalid data in document structure root

Details

The structre tree's "K" value was not a dictionary or an array. A structure tree root's children ("K") value must be a single child dictionary, or an array of such dictionaries.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-63

Message

Invalid RoleMap

Details

If a structure tree root dictionary has a "RoleMap" value it must be a dictionary.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-64

Message

Unexpected EOF

Details

Unsure if this can be triggered, seems to be a test against reading a character integer value < 0. I suspect that the real EOF handling will be triggered as a real Java EOFException. Needs reveiw

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

  • PDF 1.6: Needs review
  • PDF 1.7: Needs review

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-65

Message

Invalid character in hex string

Details

An invalid character was encountered when parsing the fractional part of a real numeric object.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-66

Message

Lexical error

Details

A dictionary is written as a sequence of key-value pairs enclosed in double angle brackets ( << ... >>). In this case JHOVE is expecting to parse a dictionary end ">>" but only a single ">" was found.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-67

Message

Invalid character in hex string

Details

An invalid character was found in a hexadecimal string.A hexadecimal string is written as a sequence of hexadecimal digits (0 – 9 and either A – F or a – f) enclosed within angle brackets (< and >). The hex string in question contains a character outside this set.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-68

Message

Invalid cross-reference table

Details

An invalid first object id in a cross reference table. The first line of a "xref" cross reference trailer must be two numeric literals, separated by a space. The first is the id of the first object in the table. This must be a numeric type and it's not. This means the parsing of the trailer fails and this leads to a problem when parsing the rest of the document. With this error also PDF-HUL-85 is associated because the document root isn't found.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-69

Message

Invalid cross-reference table

Details

An invalid object count in a cross reference table. The first line of a "xref" cross reference trailer must be two numeric literals, separated by a space. The second is the number of objects in the table. This must be a numeric type and it's not.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-70

Message

Root entry missing in cross-ref stream dictionary

Details

A cross reference streams dictionary doesn't contain the root entry required by a trailer dictionary.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-71

Message

No file trailer

Details

The "trailer" keyword that marks the start of the document trailer wasn't found.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, Malformed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-72

Message

Invalid Prev offset in trailer dictionary

Details

The "Prev" entry of a trailer dictionary does not reference a numeric value. Trailer "Prev" entries should specify the byte offset of the previous cross-reference section in a PDF with multiple cross-reference sections.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

If there is only one cross-reference section in a PDF, the "Prev" entry should be removed.

PDF-HUL-73

Message

Invalid Size entry in trailer dictionary

Details

The "Size" entry of a trailer dictionary does not contain a positive numeric value. Trailer "Size" entries should specify the total number of objects in a PDF's cross-reference table.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-74

Message

Size entry missing in trailer dictionary

Details

Trailer has no "Size" value. Trailer "Size" entries are required to specify the total number of objects in a PDF's cross-reference table.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-75

Message

Root entry missing in trailer dictionary

Details

The "Root" entry in the trailer is missing. The "Root" entry should have as its value the document's catalog dictionary, which is where you will start in order to find all the objects in the PDF. See also PDF-HUL-85.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-76

Message

Trailer dictionary Info key is not an indirect reference

Details

The "Info" entry of a trailer dictionary does not contain an indirect object reference (e.g. "1 0 R"). If an "Info" entry exists in a trailer, it should point to the document's information dictionary via an indirect object reference.

  • Type: PdfinvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-77

Message

Invalid ID in trailer

Details

The "ID" value returned from the trailer dictionary is an array but does not have exactly two elements. The trailer ID is optional but if present it must be an array of two byte strings that constitute a file identifier.

  • Type: PDfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-78

Message

Invalid ID in trailer

Details

Some exception occured processing the trailer "ID" value, most likely an invalid (non byte string) array element. The tailer "ID" is optional but if present it must be an array of two byte strings that constitute a file identifier.

  • Type: PDfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-79

Message

Invalid ID in trailer

Details

The "ID" value returned from the trailer dictionary is not an array. The ID attribute is optional but if present it must be an array of two byte strings that constitute a file identifier.

  • Type: PDfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-80

Message

Invalid object number in cross-reference stream

Details

The object number of a cross-reference stream could not be found ("-1"), or is greater than the total number of entries in the document's cross-reference table at the time that stream was written, meaning either the object number or table size is invalid.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

This may fix the error, but QA may be desirable to make sure that nothing important was changed (mutool is part of MuPDF):

$ mutool clean a.pdf b.pdf

PDF-HUL-81

Message

Malformed cross-reference stream

Details

This error doesn't seem to be reachable, there's nothing to throw an I/O exception in the try block code. needs review

  • Type: ErrorMessage, Malformed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

  • PDF 1.6: Needs review
  • PDF 1.7: Needs review

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-82

Message

Malformed cross-reference table

Details

The offset or object number (for a free entry) for a cross reference table entry wasn't a numeric literal.

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-83

Message

Malformed cross-reference table

Details

The final literal keyword that should be "n" for a table entry or "f" for a free entry is not a keyword at all.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-84

Message

Illegal operator in cross-reference table

Details

An unexpected keyword was found in a cross-reference entry. Expected keywords are "f" or "n".

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-85

Message

No document catalog dictionary

Details

The trailer has no document catalogue entry ("Root") or a trailer was not found. The Catalog of the document contains all the references to other objects for example contents, outline, named destinations. JHOVE's approach to the document catalog is a little scattergun. Specifically here the reference to the document catalog is null. As the examples show this error can be reached, even when similar parsing in the trailer is done earlier. When the parsing of the cross-reference fails this error is reached (Example 2) or when the Root is missing after reaching PDF-HUL-75 the parsing continues until this error.

  • Type: Error Message, Malformed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1, 2

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-86

Message

No document catalog dictionary

Details

The trailer contains a document catalogue entry ("Root") but it cannot be resolved. The Catalog of the document contains all the references to other objects for example contents, outline, named destinations.

  • Type: Error Message, Malformed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-87

Message

File header gives version as <header-version>, but catalog dictionary gives version as <catalog-version>

Details

The PDF version specified in the header is different from the version specified in the document catalogue dictionary. This is OK by specification and the higher PDF version "wins" in terms of the version of the specification the document conforms to.

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-88

Message

Invalid Version in document catalog

Details

The document's PDF version, from EITHER the file header or document catalog dictionary, cannot be recognised as a number, this doesn't apply to the document catalog alone, misleading and needs review, or at least MUST be sure that the header version parses properly.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-89

Message

Invalid Names dictionary

Details

The document catalogue dictionary's "Names" value is a reference to a non-dictionary object.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-90

Message

Invalid Names dictionary

Details

An unexpected error occurred while retrieving the document catalogue's Names dictionary ("Names").

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-91

Message

Invalid destinations dictionary

Details

The document catalogue's "Dests" entry references an object which is not a dictionary. The optional "Dests" entry is expected to contain a dictionary of the document's destination objects.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-92

Message

Invalid destinations dictionary

Details

An unexpected error occurred while retrieving the document catalogue's destinations dictionary ("Dests").

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-93

Message

Invalid algorithm value in encryption dictionary

Details

The "V" entry of an encryption dictionary, which specifies the encryption algorithm used, has an invalid value. It must be a number value from 0-4 inclusive. Note that the PDF 1.7 specification seems to disbar the "3" option also. From PDF extension level 3 onward a new value number 5 is added (for the algorithm AESV3)

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Example with V value of 5: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-94

Message

Unexpected exception <exception-details>

Details

Unexpected error while parsing the document information dictionary, most likely a missing (null) object or object of the wrong type encountered while resolving the dictionary object or processing its entries.

  • Type: ErrorMessage
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-95

Message

Document page tree not found

Details

The document catalogue is missing its mandatory "Pages" entry. The entry must be a reference to the page tree node dictionary that is root of the document's page tree.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-96

Message

Document page tree not found

Details

There was an error parsing the documents page tree.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException, Malformed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-97

Message

Invalid page dictionary object

Details

The "Pages" reference from the document catalog was resolved to a non-dictionary object. This must resolve to a dictionary representing the page tree element that is the tree's root node.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Example PDF we (@BL) have so far has turned out to be a bug in source code from handling stream objects - https://github.com/openpreserve/jhove/pull/151. Correcting error leads to PDF-HUL-56.

PDF-HUL-98

Message

Unexpected exception <exception-details>

Details

Unexpected error while parsing the document page tree.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, Malformed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-99

Message

Unexpected exception <exception-details>

Details

Unexpected error while parsing the document page label tree.

  • Type: ErrorMessage
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

  • PDF 1.6: Needs review
  • PDF 1.7: Needs review

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-100

Message

Invalid or ill-formed XMP metadata

Details

There was a character encoding issue when parsing the XMP metadata embedded in the PDF. This error is a catch around an initial SAX error that's analysed for an encoding value which is used in a second attempt to open the file. It's not clear how often this error is triggered, so I added an info log statement.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-101

Message

Invalid or ill-formed XMP metadata

Details

An exception was caught while parsing an XMP block embedded in the PDF.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, Invalid
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-102

Message

Unexpected exception <exception-details>

Details

Unexpected error while parsing a page objects external content streams. This is a single stream or an array of streams that is the value of the optional "Contents" key.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, Malformed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-103

Message

Unexpected exception <exception-details>

Details

Unexpected error while parsing and analysing images embedded in the PDF. This a a very general catch and might benefit from been more specific, with more errors and more descriptive messages.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, Malformed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-104

Message

Expected dictionary for font entry in page resource

Details

One of the font entries returned when processing the "Fonts" resource dictionary was resolved but a non-dictionary object was returned.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, Malformed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needs examples

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-105

Message

Fonts exist, but are not displayed; to display remove param value of f from the config file

Details

This is just a message to say that font information is available but not reported. The configuration needs to be changed to see the font information (See Remediation)

  • Type: InfoMessage
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Not applicable, is jHove configuration

References

  • PDF 1.6: Not applicable, is jHove configuration
  • PDF 1.7: Not applicable, is jHove configuration

Impact

No impact. This is because a configuration option prevent the reporting of font information.

Remediation

The configuration file can be changed to show fonts. The configuration contains: <param>f</param> to prevent the reporting of fonts.

PDF-HUL-106

Message

Unexpected error in findFonts

Details

Some fonts in the document are missing / unreadable in the file. Needs review.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, Malformed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

The missing fonts are typically replaced by similar fonts that are found on the client's computer. These replacements can be imperfect and may cause letters or symbols to be subtstituted by incorrect glyphs, leading to spelling errors and missing or misleading iconography.

Remediation

Create the original document with embedded fonts, as in PDF/A-compliant files. If this is not possible, one may be able to acquire the correct font and append it to the original PDF.

PDF-HUL-107

Message

Improper nesting of object streams

Details

This occurs when an arbitary recursion limit, of thirty times, has occurred when searching for an object in a stream.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-108

Message

Invalid object number or object stream

Details

An object stream dictionary has failed JHOVE's validity tests:

  • must have a "Type" entry which is the name: "ObjStm";
  • must have a count "N" entry that's an integer value; and
  • must have a first offset "First" entry that's an integer value. This error is probably never shown, as the error is catched in PDF-HUL-110.
  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-109

Message

Compression method is invalid or unknown to JHOVE

Details

An error ("ZipException") occurred while decompressing an object stream. <See explanation for Object Streams: Object streams are stream objects (a dictionary followed by a stream of bytes) which contain other indirect objects. Placing objects in a stream allows them to be compressed with one or more filters, optimizing file sizes.> As of October 2016, this module only supports decompressing object streams with "FlateDecode" filters, although this exception can be thrown even when FlateDecode filters are being used. Needs further investigation. Beware if encryption is used this Error is also show. All examples are examples of encrypted documents.

References

Impact

For error messages due to encryption the ETH Data Archive makes sure the files can be opened, as some DRM rights expire.

Remediation

In some cases, one could ask the producer for the password, or remove certain kinds of PDF security using software tools.

PDF-HUL-110

Message

Invalid object number or object stream

Details

An object stream dictionary has failed JHOVE's validity tests:

  • must have a "Type" entry which is the name: "ObjStm";
  • must have a count "N" entry thats an integer value; and
  • must have a first offset "First" entry that's an integer value.
  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-111

Message

Bad page labels

Details

The document catalog dictionary has a "PageLabels" entry but there's no children in the number tree structure. JHOVE munges PDF's page labels and number tree concepts making this error trickier to interpret.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-112

Message

Page information is not displayed; to display remove param value of p from the config file

Details

This just informs the user that JHOVE has skipped storing and reporting the page level properties and that it can be re-enabled by config. If the parameter p is added in the configuration the Pages are ignored <param>p</param>

  • Type: InfoMessage
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Not applicable, this is a configuration option

References

  • PDF 1.6: Not applicable
  • PDF 1.7: Not applicable

Impact

Not applicable, this is a configuration option

Remediation

Not applicable, this is a configuration option

PDF-HUL-113

Message

Invalid page label info

Details

A general exception was caught when parsing a document's page labels to build JHOVE's page properties.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-114

Message

Annotation object is not a dictionary

Details

An item in a page's annotations array ("Annots") does not point to a dictionary. Each item in an annotation array should point to an annotation dictionary containing that annotation's details.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-115

Message

Annotations exist, but are not displayed; to display remove param value of a from the config file

Details

This just informs the user that JHOVE has skipped storing and reporting the annotation level properties and that it can be re-enabled by config. This is not an error, but a configuration option. By adding: <param>a</param> to the configuration of JHOVE, the annotations are not displayed.

  • Type: InfoMessage
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Not applicable. This is a configuration option.

References

  • PDF 1.6: Needs review
  • PDF 1.7: Needs review

Impact

Not applicable, this is a configuration option

Remediation

Not applicable, this is a configuration option

PDF-HUL-116

Message

Invalid Annotation list

Details

Unexpected error while parsing a page's annotations. This is a general catch with multiple potential causes including: an I/O exception reading an object or encountering a missing (null) object or an object of an unexpected type.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-117

Message

Invalid page dictionary

Details

Unexpected exception while parsing a page object'd dictionary. This is a general catch with multiple potential causes including: an I/O exception reading an object or encountering a missing (null) object or an object of an unexpected type.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-118

Message

Invalid page label sequence

Details

JHOVE has calculated a page position value of less than 1. PDF's page numbering consists of a number tree whose elements are labelling ranges stored as pdf dictionaries. JHOVE's logic around page label sequences is a little confusing, this seems to be an effort to track a "natural" sequence number, that's checked against pages accumulated in other ranges. I don't believe that this error can be thrown as it's caught by the next general catch and changed to PDF-HUL-119.

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-119

Message

Problem with page label structure

Details

Unexpected error while parsing the page label structure. This is a general catch with multiple potential causes including: an I/O exception reading an object or encountering a missing (null) object or an object of an unexpected type. This error is also shown when actually the problem is PDF-HUL-118. All the Examples in this error are examples from this. The problem in these files are PDF-HUL-118, but instead PDF-HUL-119 is reported.

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-120

Message

Annotation dictionary missing required type (S) entry

Details

An annotation dictionary contains an action dictionary ("A") which is missing its subtype entry ("S"). The subtype entry is necessary for determining which kind of action to perform when the annotation is activated.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-121

Message

Invalid Annotation property

Details

Unexpected error while parsing an annotation dictionary. This is a general catch with multiple potential causes including: an I/O exception reading an object or encountering a missing (null) object or an object of an unexpected type.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-122

Message

General Exception: <exception-details>

Details

This needs review, it's a horrible cludge that eats and PDFExceptions thrown while processing destination objects and always sets the invalid flag. Seems dubious behaviour. It, for example, reports the error "Invalid indirect destination - referenced object ' ' cannot be found". This error comes from PDF-HUL-149.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, An Exception for all the messages coming from adding Destination to Property list
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Impact is described in a blogpost

Remediation

Remediation is described in a blogpost

PDF-HUL-123

Message

Outlines contain recursive references

Details

An outline dictionary's "Next" entry points to itself. This would cause a recursive loop so JHOVE warns and breaks out. The PDF 1.6 specification doesn't explicitly disallow this.

  • Type: InfoMessage
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

This is an info Message warning about potential infinite loops. This isn't violating the PDF specification

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-124

Message

Malformed outline dictionary

Details

Unexpected error while parsing the document outline. This is a general catch with multiple potential causes including: an I/O exception reading an object or encountering a missing (null) object or an object of an unexpected type.

  • Type: PdfMalformedException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-125

Message

Invalid outline dictionary item

Details

An outline item dictionary has no "Title" value.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-126

Message

Invalid outline dictionary item

Details

An outline item dictionary has no "Parent" entry. This must be an indirect reference to the parent dictionary in the outline hierarchy.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-127

Message

Invalid outline dictionary item

Details

An outline item dictionary has a "Count" value but it's not an integer or is not a Simple Object. This is required if the outline item has children, but JHOVE doesn't check it child elements are available.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-128

Message

Outlines contain recursive references

Details

An outline dictionary's "Next" entry points to itself. This would cause a recursive loop so JHOVE warns and breaks out. The PDF 1.6 specification doesn't explicitly disallow this.

  • Type: InfoMessage
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-129

Message

Outlines contain recursive references

Details

An outline dictionary's "Next" entry points to itself. This would cause a recursive loop so JHOVE warns and breaks out. The PDF 1.6 specification doesn't explicitly disallow this.

  • Type: InfoMessage
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-130

Message

Invalid outline dictionary item

Details

An unexpected object type was encountered while parsing an outline item. Possible causes include unexpected "Prev", "Next", "First", or "Last" values.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException, ClassCastException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-131

Message

Invalid outline dictionary item

Details

Unexpected error while parsing an outline item. This is a general catch with multiple potential causes including: an I/O exception reading an object or encountering a missing (null) object.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-132

Message

Outlines exist, but are not displayed; to display remove param value of o from the config file

Details

This is just a message to say that outline information isn't been reported. It is information about the [jHove configuration](http://jhove.openpreservation.org/modules/pdf/). If the parameter "o" is added the Document Outline will be suppressed: <param>o</param>.

  • Type: InfoMessage
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: This is configuration option in jHove.

References

  • PDF 1.6: Needs review
  • PDF 1.7: Needs review

Impact

No impact, this is a configuration option

Remediation

No remediation needed as this is a configuration option.

PDF-HUL-133

Message

Improperly formed date

Details

A date found in a dictionary does not conform to the expected format. Dates specified in dictionaries should follow the format: (D:YYYYMMDDHHmmSSOHH'mm') (PDF 1.4 Spec page 100, section 3.8.2 "Dates")

  • Type: PdfInvalidException, ErrorMessage
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1, 2, 3

References

Impact

Minor. This is "just" bad formatting in metadata. It violates the specification and possibly signals a useless timestamp in metadata, but usually won't keep the file from being displayed.

Remediation

It may happen that after a "cure" there is no information about the creation date any more, if there are no XMP metadata in the original PDF. The date may be written poorly enough that some tools cannot recognize the date and so do not translate it into the new/corrected PDF.

PDF-HUL-134

Message

Cross-reference tables are broken

Details

Another check to prevent an endless loop when processing the cross references. This is flagged the current cross reference is the same as the previous one. The program logic is a little dark here involving state across a few member variables.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, MalFormed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-135

Message

Unexpected error in parsing font property

Details

A Java null pointer exception was caught, roughly equivalent to a missing and expected PDF object, when building the font property list. Show Fonts or Maximum Verbosity needs to be configured to show this information.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, NullPointerException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-136

Message

Too many fonts to report; some fonts omitted

Details

Really an application level warning, there's nothing wrong with the PDF, just JHOVE's ability to report all of the details.

References

  • PDF 1.6: Needs review
  • PDF 1.7: Needs review

Impact

No Impact, is an InfoMessage about jHove functionality

Remediation

No Remediation, is an InfoMessage about jHove functionality

PDF-HUL-137

Message

No PDF header found

Details

The PDF header could not be found within the file's first 1024 bytes. This can also appear when there are certain kinds of junk data before the header, even if the header exists within the first 1024 bytes. Should a file be classified as malformed if there is any non-zero data before the header, instead of only certain kinds? The implementation notes in the second accompanying PDF 1.6 reference has more to say about headers. The PDF 1.7 spec has no equivalent note.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, Malformed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

The file can't be identified as PDF and the version is unknown

Remediation

If extra information is added to the header, that extra information can be removed.

PDF-HUL-138

Message

No PDF trailer

Details

An end-of-file marker ("%%EOF") could not be found within the file's last 1024 bytes. This indicates truncates and can often be due to a PDF file being incompletely uploaded or downloaded.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, Malformed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

The file is incomplete or extra information is added after the last EOF

Remediation

Needs to be supplied again or extra information can be removed.

PDF-HUL-139

Message

Missing startxref keyword or value

Details

The "startxref" keyword marking the reference to a cross-reference stream couldn't be found OR the following line wasn't a numeric offset to a cross reference dictionary.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, Malformed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-140

Message

Document catalog dictionary object number and trailer root ref number are inconsistent.

Details

The object retrieved as the document catalog dictionary from the cross-reference table does not have the same ID as the the reference used to retrieve it. An object's ID and it's position in the cross reference table should be the same, i.e. object ID 1 is found at index 1 in the cross-reference table. This may be indicative of a broken cross-reference table. This needs review as it's really a problem with the cross-reference table / JHOVE's parsing of it as readers are more forgiving.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, MalFormed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1

References

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-141

Message

Document catalog Type key must have value Catalog

Details

The document catalog dictionary object must have key called type with the value Catalog. This error is related to PDF-HUL-142 and PDF-HUL-143.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, MalFormed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1, 2

References

  • PDF 1.6: Needs review
  • PDF 1.7: Needs review

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-142

Message

Document catalog has no Type key or it has a null value.

Details

The document catalog dictionary object must have key called type. In this error the Type does not exist and is null. This error is related to PDF-HUL-141 and PDF-HUL-143.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, MalFormed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-143

Message

Document catalog Type key does not have a simple String value.

Details

The document catalog dictionary object has a key called Type. In this error the Type is not a Simple Object. This error is related to PDF-HUL-141 and PDF-HUL-142.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, MalFormed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-144

Message

Pages dictionary has no Type key or it has a null value.

Details

This error message and the next two error messages (PDF-HUL-145 and PDF-HUL-146) are related. They check the Pages in a Dictionary have the correct properties. PDF-HUL-144 is about Type key is missing or null.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, MalFormed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-145

Message

Pages dictionary Type key does not have a simple String value.

Details

This error message and the error messages (PDF-HUL-144 and PDF-HUL-146) are related. The Type of the Page in the Directory is not a Simple Object.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, MalFormed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-146

Message

Pages dictionary Type key must have value /Pages.

Details

This error message and the error messages (PDF-HUL-144 and PDF-HUL-145) are related.The value of Type is not Pages.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, MalFormed
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-147

Message

Page tree node not found.

Details

This error occurs when the page tree is build.

  • Type: ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException, PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-148

Message

PDF minor version number is out of valid range.

Details

At the moment the latest version of PDF is version 2.0. The highest minor version is 7, for PDF 1.7. It is defined in MAX_VALID_MAJOR_VERSION Constant.

  • Type: ErrorMessage, Not Valid
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: 1, 2

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-149

Message

Invalid indirect destination - referenced object <object> cannot be found

Details

The Destination was not found for an annotation that is referenced in the document This error is never reported in the output, because the Message is included with PDF-HUL-122.

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-150

Message

Cross-reference stream must be a stream

Details

The retrieved object must be a stream. This error can occur when the Trailer is parsed or when the Cross references are parsed.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-151

Message

Unexpected error occurred while attempting to read the cross-reference table

Details

A catch all error for the cross-reference table.

  • Type: Exception
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-152

Message

Encrypt dictionary has no OE key or it has a null value

Details

OE key is a manditory key when using an encrypted dictionary. This is part of a supplement of PDF specification for ISO 32000. According to the documentation, it is based on owner and user passwords and it is used in computing encryption key.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-153

Message

Encrypt dictionary has no UE key or it has a null value

Details

UE key is a manditory key when using an encrypted dictionary. This is part of a supplement of PDF specification for ISO 32000. According to the documentation, it is based on user passwords and it is used in computing encryption key.

  • Type: PdfInvalidException
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: Needed

Impact

Needs review

Remediation

Needs review

PDF-HUL-154

Message

Unknown Developer Prefix

Details

The Extension information in PDF Specification (ISO 32000) has information about developer key of the extension. The Developer Key is mandatory and needs to be included in the specified list.

Impact

The impact is not large, because this is part of the extension support in PDF. An unknown developer prefix could mean an unsupported extension. This means that this extension information is not shown in the output. The second possibility is that the Developer Prefix information is not up-to-date. The table cited above needs to be updated.

Remediation

Update the Developer Prefix table in jHove

PDF-HUL-155

Message

Error parsing mandatory version number, PDF header too short: "{0}"

Details

NEEDS REVIEW

  • Type: Error Message
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: NEEDS REVIEW

Impact

NEEDS REVIEW

Remediation

NEEDS REVIEW

PDF-HUL-156

Message

Extension can't be defined as an indirect reference

Details

NEEDS REVIEW

  • Type: Error Message
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: NEEDS REVIEW

Impact

NEEDS REVIEW

Remediation

NEEDS REVIEW

PDF-HUL-157

Message

Unexpected exception <exception-details>

Details

NEEDS REVIEW

  • Type: Error Message
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: NEEDS REVIEW

Impact

NEEDS REVIEW

Remediation

NEEDS REVIEW

PDF-HUL-158

Message

Unexpected exception <exception-details>

Details

NEEDS REVIEW

  • Type: Error Message
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: NEEDS REVIEW

Impact

NEEDS REVIEW

Remediation

NEEDS REVIEW

PDF-HUL-159

Message

Image height and width are mandatory properties

Details

NEEDS REVIEW

  • Type: Error Message
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: NEEDS REVIEW

Impact

NEEDS REVIEW

Remediation

NEEDS REVIEW

PDF-HUL-160

Message

IO Exception reading PDF Header

Details

NEEDS REVIEW

  • Type: Error Message
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: NEEDS REVIEW

Impact

NEEDS REVIEW

Remediation

NEEDS REVIEW

PDF-HUL-161

Message

PDF major version number should be 1.x or 2.x

Details

The numbers 1 and 2 are the only legal values for PDF major version numbers which range as follows: 1.0 - 1.7 and 2.0.

  • Type: Error Message
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: NEEDS REVIEW

Impact

NEEDS REVIEW

Remediation

NEEDS REVIEW

PDF-HUL-162

Message

Malformed PDF version number

Details

Having found the beginning of the PDF header JHOVE uses a regex pattern to try to parse the version number. The pattern expects a digit followed by a period, then another digit, e.g. (\d)\.(\d). This message indicates that the pattern wasn't found.

  • Type: Error Message
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: NEEDS REVIEW

Impact

NEEDS REVIEW

Remediation

NEEDS REVIEW

PDF-HUL-163

Message

IO Exception reading text stream

Details

NEEDS REVIEW

  • Type: Error Message
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: NEEDS REVIEW

Impact

NEEDS REVIEW

Remediation

NEEDS REVIEW

PDF-HUL-164

Message

Unbalanced parentheses in text stream

Details

NEEDS REVIEW

  • Type: Error Message
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: NEEDS REVIEW

Impact

NEEDS REVIEW

Remediation

NEEDS REVIEW

PDF-HUL-165

Message

Object number exceeds the number of objects reported in the trailer Size entry Object number {0} + 1 is greater than trailer.Size {1}

Details

NEEDS REVIEW

  • Type: Error Message
  • Source location: Search Source
  • Examples: NEEDS REVIEW

Impact

NEEDS REVIEW

Remediation

NEEDS REVIEW

Clone this wiki locally