diff --git a/openid/src/main/java/com/inrupt/client/openid/PKCE.java b/openid/src/main/java/com/inrupt/client/openid/PKCE.java
index 1f4031a072c..c1c0f80f4b2 100644
--- a/openid/src/main/java/com/inrupt/client/openid/PKCE.java
+++ b/openid/src/main/java/com/inrupt/client/openid/PKCE.java
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
  */
 public final class PKCE {
 
+    private static final BigInteger PADDING = BigInteger.valueOf(2).pow(256);
+
     /**
      * Create a PKCE challenge value using the S256 algorithm.
      *
@@ -73,7 +75,7 @@ static String createChallenge(final String verifier, final String alg) {
      * @return the Base64URL-encoded verifier
      */
     static String createVerifier() {
-        final byte[] rand = new BigInteger(32 * 8, new SecureRandom()).toByteArray();
+        final byte[] rand = PADDING.add(new BigInteger(32 * 8, new SecureRandom())).toByteArray();
         return Base64.getUrlEncoder().withoutPadding().encodeToString(rand);
     }
 
diff --git a/openid/src/test/java/com/inrupt/client/openid/PKCETest.java b/openid/src/test/java/com/inrupt/client/openid/PKCETest.java
index 3bbbff414eb..913c9e1f9bd 100644
--- a/openid/src/test/java/com/inrupt/client/openid/PKCETest.java
+++ b/openid/src/test/java/com/inrupt/client/openid/PKCETest.java
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
  */
 package com.inrupt.client.openid;
 
-import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 
@@ -30,16 +29,16 @@ class PKCETest {
 
     @Test
     void createChallengeTest() {
-        assertTrue(PKCE.createChallenge("🐶🐶🐶", "SHA-256").getBytes(UTF_8).length >= 43);
-        assertTrue(PKCE.createChallenge("🐶🐶🐶", "SHA-256").getBytes(UTF_8).length <= 128);
-        assertTrue(PKCE.createChallenge("", "SHA-256").getBytes(UTF_8).length >= 43);
-        assertTrue(PKCE.createChallenge("", "SHA-256").getBytes(UTF_8).length <= 128);
+        assertTrue(PKCE.createChallenge("🐶🐶🐶", "SHA-256").length() >= 43);
+        assertTrue(PKCE.createChallenge("🐶🐶🐶", "SHA-256").length() <= 128);
+        assertTrue(PKCE.createChallenge("", "SHA-256").length() >= 43);
+        assertTrue(PKCE.createChallenge("", "SHA-256").length() <= 128);
         assertThrows(NullPointerException.class, () -> PKCE.createChallenge(null, "SHA-256"));
     }
 
     @Test
     void createVerifierTest() {
-        assertTrue(PKCE.createVerifier().getBytes(UTF_8).length >= 43);
-        assertTrue(PKCE.createVerifier().getBytes(UTF_8).length <= 128);
+        assertTrue(PKCE.createVerifier().length() >= 43);
+        assertTrue(PKCE.createVerifier().length() <= 128);
     }
 }