diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 1497c8009..845701d8c 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@
         "@types/leaflet-gpx": "1.3.7",
         "@types/mime-types": "2.1.4",
         "@types/multer": "1.4.12",
-        "@types/node": "22.13.5",
+        "@types/node": "22.13.8",
         "@types/react": "18.3.18",
         "@types/react-dom": "18.3.5",
         "@types/safe-compare": "1.1.2",
@@ -4629,9 +4629,9 @@
       }
     },
     "node_modules/@types/node": {
-      "version": "22.13.5",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/node/-/node-22.13.5.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-+lTU0PxZXn0Dr1NBtC7Y8cR21AJr87dLLU953CWA6pMxxv/UDc7jYAY90upcrie1nRcD6XNG5HOYEDtgW5TxAg==",
+      "version": "22.13.8",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/node/-/node-22.13.8.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-G3EfaZS+iOGYWLLRCEAXdWK9my08oHNZ+FHluRiggIYJPOXzhOiDgpVCUHaUvyIC5/fj7C/p637jdzC666AOKQ==",
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "undici-types": "~6.20.0"
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a5b65bc4f..2d086ed84 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@
     "@types/leaflet-gpx": "1.3.7",
     "@types/mime-types": "2.1.4",
     "@types/multer": "1.4.12",
-    "@types/node": "22.13.5",
+    "@types/node": "22.13.8",
     "@types/react": "18.3.18",
     "@types/react-dom": "18.3.5",
     "@types/safe-compare": "1.1.2",
diff --git a/src/services/encryption/data_encryption.ts b/src/services/encryption/data_encryption.ts
index 285462d89..624a845ed 100644
--- a/src/services/encryption/data_encryption.ts
+++ b/src/services/encryption/data_encryption.ts
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ function encrypt(key: Buffer, plainText: Buffer | string) {
         throw new Error("No data key!");
     }
 
-    const plainTextBuffer = Buffer.from(plainText);
+    const plainTextBuffer = Buffer.isBuffer(plainText) ? plainText : Buffer.from(plainText);
 
     const iv = crypto.randomBytes(16);
     const cipher = crypto.createCipheriv("aes-128-cbc", pad(key), pad(iv));
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ function decrypt(key: Buffer, cipherText: string | Buffer): Buffer | false | nul
         if (e.message?.includes("WRONG_FINAL_BLOCK_LENGTH") || e.message?.includes("wrong final block length")) {
             log.info("Caught WRONG_FINAL_BLOCK_LENGTH, returning cipherText instead");
 
-            return Buffer.from(cipherText);
+            return (Buffer.isBuffer(cipherText) ? cipherText : Buffer.from(cipherText));
         } else {
             throw e;
         }
diff --git a/src/services/utils.ts b/src/services/utils.ts
index a2e5da3f6..6c539f9de 100644
--- a/src/services/utils.ts
+++ b/src/services/utils.ts
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@ export function hashedBlobId(content: string | Buffer) {
 }
 
 export function toBase64(plainText: string | Buffer) {
-    return Buffer.from(plainText).toString("base64");
+    const buffer = (Buffer.isBuffer(plainText) ? plainText : Buffer.from(plainText));
+    return buffer.toString("base64");
 }
 
 export function fromBase64(encodedText: string) {