VMAccess Extension installed succesfully but still the ssh-keys are not getting updated.ERROR:unicode argument without an encoding occured creating /var/lib/waagent/CustomData

Hi All,

I have 12VM's ubuntu 16.04 and waagent version 2.2.14.
When i am trying to reset the ssh-keys for a user , the VMAccess Extension shows successfully provisioned.
But still i am not able to login , when checked the resource explorer , could see the old public key only.
Below are the snippets from the CSE extension log.
The version of CSE:1.4.7.1 in all the 12 VM's.

2017/11/28 07:59:19 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] sequence number is 0
2017/11/28 07:59:19 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] setting file path is/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1/config/0.settings
2017/11/28 07:59:19 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] JSON config: {"runtimeSettings": [{"handlerSettings": {"protectedSettingsCertThumbprint": "5B5D1886E981048370D475DB01C091CE0BFA7054", "protectedSettings": "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", "publicSettings": {}}}]}
2017/11/28 07:59:19 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] Config decoded correctly.
2017/11/28 07:59:19 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] Install,success,0,Install Succeeded
2017/11/28 07:59:20 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] sequence number is 0
2017/11/28 07:59:20 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] setting file path is/var/lib/waagent/Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1/config/0.settings
2017/11/28 07:59:20 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] JSON config: {"runtimeSettings": [{"handlerSettings": {"protectedSettingsCertThumbprint": "5B5D1886E981048370D475DB01C091CE0BFA7054", "protectedSettings": "MIIDVAYJKoZIhvcNAQcDoIIDRTCCA0ECAQAxggFpMIIBZQIBADBNMDkxNzA1BgoJkiaJk/IsZAEZFidXaW5kb3dzIEF6dXJlIENSUCBDZXJ0aWZpY2F0ZSBHZW5lcmF0b3ICEC8AD01oWneJQOTNS0EGHNQwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQAEggEAirKBxVcUZz7AZL5IQ98ToX8NO9m+UP3JaouOjFPzgS9AyaTdeW2HN0aQye+6iA7OkMYyOd/aepKNr4u1EIaYiDW8mnwEKXSKrcJXL0GKVqJZMhPnpWmQJ03vSSQ42t34gxedUuxSnJMrqNN+BUl+pH7QuQcU4lgvQ8S0ces/lvLG2P9+MvQZ+8//cnii8Atac0fJwoqUNtjqZVtSZFR96iXsRPCGpuLk1u/tPQ1S+OI1PqGHTNOPesx5BlfR4A5t4/jBfVht1kKhVeS1tmp4btuY4tNwfi1uvdIWFpBOQWhtZcyDt3aaZeopMcHk58XzrxfmZKzwvVTTGi86ifFZ7TCCAc0GCSqGSIb3DQEHATAUBggqhkiG9w0DBwQIN3WDRbjCaQSAggGoLj7cayUPD7pJexZxwMBiPrG4SnPvagZFCgq1I/AsugZcU6oZ1pXKRmHKuMl4hcx6UIikafvGMsAyYz90etNUdjcFgYY+8//HA+Odvliv7SNv7dNIPwEvsBsuZZCo3OmQcT5AO6E7HKb5t5uAuGuqU4DpbxoWrOMl2IB/DPNPzFwemXi/7InxvF5QbzbDIlJOz/J+N3FJ5CkqwxPQmZZbWHEcvhSo1lRsHdIDqsfDCrtjpw9DdYXUy8xoGvAlPjYoM9YyQC5d04asVUbAVdEI/phMpIZKgCN++yWfulpxx2nUZ9juJ842qGXKjmb3p5EmguamHl23PYoK0JS3k4ZjeEvMWwsQS9zJOHSL1nO+bQPm5XdlZO9Fsc+C5A1b387Ba9MNQiO7R/oZrc19BKHgwoOtJjEjnchM4V80xHbvYViNrcGi7teBoy+1t+ifF/TS0iwRXPsouGMtIgtFtccXtYNazqpoNUq5cLMsZJH5JH/a/U1YqdR8PskJAOkqgqnepOr7zvAqanaEBzu8+NqiXn/c9oKY/oTJXNvqaFqIMQTV7RkByjk4jA==", "publicSettings": {}}}]}
2017/11/28 07:59:20 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] Config decoded correctly.
2017/11/28 07:59:20 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] set most recent sequence number to 0
2017/11/28 07:59:20 ERROR:unicode argument without an encoding occured creating /var/lib/waagent/CustomData
2017/11/28 07:59:21 Created user account: acsdpr100admin
2017/11/28 07:59:21 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] Succeeded in create the account or set the password.
2017/11/28 07:59:21 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] Succeeded in resetting ssh_key.
2017/11/28 07:59:21 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] Enable,success,0,Enable succeeded.
2017/11/28 07:59:35 [Microsoft.OSTCExtensions.VMAccessForLinux-1.4.7.1] sequence number is 0

we used the below workaround for mitigating the issue

Open a notepad and save the below lines:
#!/bin/bash
cp -p /home/azure/.ssh/authorized_keys /home/azure/.ssh/authorized_keys_backup
echo "ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABJQAAAQEAmRkak5gan+GSRkBlRYLR0P7r9tThtpXRQL89ZyQhrgvsuFFG6Hh27UotgEN7JKHNtTCckGam8VjU2vwXvwKaM0geMg/johACtXp4yFvjS8M7c+ld7socV9L5/nJqoEQp5PxdmAX3SrvHV62yFp0iOy24+RyRf8nOtG7hcaK83AlI5WDzUWIHRN/AE5tLm0r4jTYcpQP6nu+2PLiVBlGcogxRg8aTwiBa1EMzAP+rVF0H3V6i/oc2lvmnpw0mVimIKWfxifMWb59Iv7lh2GcraydxXdSeaqWyWt3hi5hnT4yazYTnKcU8cyG9n0/NAvUiwY1GJq7R1O1XdJu8RnZXxQ== rsa-key-20171205" > /home/azure/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 700 /home/azure/.ssh/
chmod 600 /home/azure/.ssh/authorized_keys
After this go the portal ? click on the vm ? scroll down and select the “Extension Tab” ? in the right blade click on + ADD and select “Custom Script For Linux Tab” and browse the same “script.sh” file and click on save