QlikView Server: Management Service logs show "Exception while decrypting: Bad Data" error messages

Environment:

QlikView Server 11.20 and newer

You may observe the following error message once or multiple times in the QlikView Management Service (QMS) logs:

20190522T091305.901+0200 Error Exception while decrypting. EncryptedText length=8 chars Exception=System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException: Bad Data. || || at System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException.ThrowCryptographicException(Int32 hr) || at System.Security.Cryptography.Utils._DecryptData(SafeKeyHandle hKey, Byte[] data, Int32 ib, Int32 cb, Byte[]& outputBuffer, Int32 outputOffset, PaddingMode PaddingMode, Boolean fDone) || at System.Security.Cryptography.CryptoAPITransform.TransformFinalBlock(Byte[] inputBuffer, Int32 inputOffset, Int32 inputCount) || at System.Security.Cryptography.CryptoStream.FlushFinalBlock() || at System.Security.Cryptography.CryptoStream.Dispose(Boolean disposing) || at System.IO.Stream.Close() || at SolutionGlobal.Security.CryptoAlgorithm.Decrypt(EncryptedSecret encryptedSecret, Boolean isCurrentAlgorithm)

 

Antivirus software or other security appliances may cause disruption if files needed by QlikView services are being locked for scanning / change monitoring. When using Certificate Trust, the certificates may have expired / gone missing on the Management Console server, which will prevent the QMS from reading encrypted data in the QVPR, such as passwords (used in tasks and other areas of the QMC).

The log entry itself does not reference the "bad data", only a string length of the problematic string, which does not help in narrowing down the malformed data and correct it. Furthermore it is not advised to manually edit the QVPR and doing so will result in an unsupported environment. If the solutions proposed did not remove the log entries, you may try to restore the QVPR from an earlier version, prior to the first appearance of the error messages, using the instructions in article How To: Restore QVPR From Backup

• Exclude QlikView folders from Antivirus or other security tools: QlikView Folder And Files To Exclude From Anti-Virus Scanning
• If using Certificate Trust instead of Windows Administrator groups to protect communication between services / servers, verify that this certificate setup is still valid: How to Switch to Certificate Trust in QlikView Server