botframework-sdk: Buffer cannot be null. Parameter name: buffer

Bot Info

• SDK Platform: .NET
• SDK Version: 3.13.1
• Active Channels: Skype, MS Teams, Slack, Skype for Business, WebChat, Emulator
• Deployment Environment: Azure Bot Service, Azure App Service and local development & testing with Emulator and ngrok.

Issue Description

Getting ArgumentNullException with the following message, Buffer cannot be null. Parameter name: buffer. ParamName: “buffer”, Source: “mscorlib”

The following is the stack trace,

   at System.IO.MemoryStream..ctor(Byte[] buffer, Boolean writable)
   at System.IO.MemoryStream..ctor(Byte[] buffer)
   at Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Azure.BotDataEntity.Deserialize(Byte[] bytes)
   at Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Azure.TableBotDataStore.<Microsoft-Bot-Builder-Dialogs-Internals-IBotDataStore<Microsoft-Bot-Connector-BotData>-LoadAsync>d__8.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Dialogs.Internals.CachingBotDataStore.<LoadFromInnerAndCache>d__8.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at Microsoft.Bot.Builder.Dialogs.Internals.CachingBotDataStore.<Microsoft-Bot-Builder-Dialogs-Internals-IBotDataStore<Microsoft-Bot-Connector-BotData>-LoadAsync>d__6.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.ThrowForNonSuccess(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()
   at AppName.Filters.RefreshTokenFilter.<OnActionExecutingAsync>d__0.MoveNext() in D:\TFS\Source\Workspaces\TP_APPNAME\Development\Source\Dev_AppName_Version1\FolderName\AppName\Filters\RefreshTokenFilter.cs:line 49

Everything was working fine and we didn’t change anything in our code but this issue started showing up from 2/8/2018. We are using Azure Table Storage by following this article here

Code Example

The following statement is throwing the exception var userData = await botDataStore.LoadAsync(key, BotStoreType.BotUserData, CancellationToken.None);

Registering the Azure Table Storage

Conversation.UpdateContainer(builder =>
{
    builder.RegisterModule(new AzureModule(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()));

    // Bot Storage: register state storage for your bot
    var connectionString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[Constants.Database.BotStorageConnectionString].ConnectionString;
    var store = new TableBotDataStore(connectionString);

    builder.Register(c => store)
    .Keyed<IBotDataStore<BotData>>(AzureModule.Key_DataStore)
    .AsSelf()
    .SingleInstance();
});

The code that throws the exception,

public class RefreshTokenFilter : ActionFilterAttribute
{
    public async override Task OnActionExecutingAsync(HttpActionContext actionContext, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        try
        {
            object activity;
            actionContext.ActionArguments.TryGetValue(Constants.MessagesAndOptions.Activity, out activity);
            IMessageActivity message = activity as IMessageActivity;

            if (message != null &&
                message.Text != null &&
                message.Type == ActivityTypes.Message &&
                !Constants.MessagesAndOptions.BotResetCommand.Contains(message.Text.ToLower()))
            {
                using (var scope = DialogModule.BeginLifetimeScope(Conversation.Container, message))
                {
                    var botDataStore = scope.Resolve<IBotDataStore<BotData>>();
                    var key = new AddressKey
                    {
                        BotId = message.Recipient.Id,
                        ChannelId = message.ChannelId,
                        UserId = message.From.Id,
                        ConversationId = message.Conversation.Id,
                        ServiceUrl = message.ServiceUrl
                    };

                    var userData = await botDataStore.LoadAsync(key, BotStoreType.BotUserData, CancellationToken.None); // problem occurs here
                    // ... code omitted for brevity
                }
            }
        }
        catch (HttpOperationException ex)
        {
            // error handling due to concurrency issues (another instance of the bot has changed the data)
            ErrorSignal.FromCurrentContext().Raise(ex);
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            ErrorSignal.FromCurrentContext().Raise(ex);
        }

        await base.OnActionExecutingAsync(actionContext, cancellationToken);
    }
}

Reproduction Steps

Expected Behavior

Exception shouldn’t occur and the user data should load properly.

Actual Results

Buffer cannot be null. Parameter name: buffer