UnicodeDecodeError parsing handles information

When running the handles plugin, AW got the following backtrace:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "vol.py", line 184, in <module>
    main()
  File "vol.py", line 175, in main
    command.execute()
  File "/volatility/commands.py", line 113, in execute
    func(outfd, data)
  File "/volatility/plugins/handles.py", line 68, in render_text
    self.table_row(outfd, offset, pid, handle.HandleValue, handle.GrantedAccess, object_type, name)
  File "/volatility/commands.py", line 203, in table_row
    result = self._elide(("{0:" + spec.to_string() + "}").format(args[index]), spec.minwidth)
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode characters in position 1-4: 
ordinal not in range(128)

AW narrowed it down to the object_type parameter which was 'unicode' when he 
printed type(object_type). The usual trick of doing str(object or '') did not 
help. However, he was able to prevent the backtrace by using .encode('ascii', 
'ignore'). 

For more info or for help testing patches, please contact AW. I set this as low 
priority because its not a common error.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by michael.hale@gmail.com on 9 Oct 2013 at 12:37

ECToo / volatility

UnicodeDecodeError parsing handles information #452