ldap_add_ext_s and Error 17

i've been trying to load a pkcs12 file stored in a character buffer into the ldap server(2.3). i've made sure that i'm passing LDAP_MOD_BVALUES as well as a LDAPMod stuct that contains the berval stuct with the binary pkcs12 data in it. i've read that i either have to do some combination of base64 encoding and utf8 encoding to the data before i can submit it (tried every possible combo of plain, base64, and utf8 to no avail); however, ever time i perform the actual ldap_add_ext_s, i receive an error 17 about inappropriate characters in the attributes . looking throught the archives, this was something that happend back in 2.0 and i guess indicated that the attribute name(userPKCS12) was incorrect? i've been hamming on this for about four days now and i've had no luck. can someone please tell me how i can stop breaking this?