Backup failure in SSP/SSPI 5.0 due to unsupported special characters in backup passphrase

Products

• VMware vDefend Firewall
• VMware vDefend Firewall with Advanced Threat Prevention

Issue/Introduction

In SSP/SSPI 5.0 environments, the backup operation may fail when the backup encryption passphrase contains certain unsupported special characters. These characters cause the underlying encryption process to break, resulting in backup failure with errors similar to the following when you click on SSP/SSPI UI -> Backup and Restore -> Backup History -> Failed

bash: -c: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token `1' bash: -c: line 1: `openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -in /image/br/bundle/sspi_backup.tar.gz -out /image/br/bundle/sspi_backup.tar.gz.enc -k pwd

Environment

SSP 5.0

Cause

The backup passphrase is passed to an internal encryption process. Certain special characters are interpreted by the shell, causing the encryption command to break. These characters disrupt command execution and prevent successful backup bundle creation.

Unsupported characters include:

\ / , ; : ' " | ? < > = % & ` { } ( ) spaces invisible characters


When any of these characters are present in the passphrase, the shell incorrectly parses the command, leading to backup failure.

 

Resolution

Workaround for SSP/SSPI 5.0

Step 1: Remove unsupported characters from the passphrase

Create a new passphrase using only supported characters:

Uppercase letters: A–Z
Lowercase letters: a–z
Numbers: 0–9
Safe symbols such as:
! @ # $ ^ * _ - + ~

Examples of valid passphrases:
VMware!1234_ABC
SecureKey@2025
BackupKey#VMW90

Step 2: Update the Backup Configuration

Log in to SSPI.
Navigate to Settings → Backup & Restore.
Edit the backup configuration.
Replace the existing passphrase with the newly created valid passphrase.
Save the configuration.

Step 3: Trigger a Manual Backup
Navigate to Backup & Restore.
Run a Manual Backup.
Confirm that the backup completes successfully.

Issue fixed in SSP5.1