[BUG] file_tree files cause JSON serialization error with salt-ssh

[carsten-AEI]

Description
A file under ext_pillar/file_tree e.g. an openssh host key, works fine in a standard minion setup but results in Object of type bytes is not JSON serializable when using it via salt-ssh. Debugging with jeanluc on Discord showed that a small patch

diff --git i/salt/pillar/file_tree.py w/salt/pillar/file_tree.py
index f17c6ead69..0935bca139 100644
--- i/salt/pillar/file_tree.py
+++ w/salt/pillar/file_tree.py
@@ -256,6 +256,9 @@ def _construct_pillar(
                 if salt.utils.stringio.is_readable(data):
                     pillar_node[file_name] = data.getvalue()
                 else:
-                    pillar_node[file_name] = data
+                    try:
+                        pillar_node[file_name] = data.decode("utf-8")
+                    except (AttributeError, UnicodeDecodeError):
+                        pillar_node[file_name] = data

     return pillar

fixes this issue

Setup

Please be as specific as possible and give set-up details.

• on-prem machine
• VM (Virtualbox, KVM, etc. please specify) - proxmox
• VM running on a cloud service, please be explicit and add details (hetzner cloud)
• container (Kubernetes, Docker, containerd, etc. please specify)
• or a combination, please be explicit
• jails if it is FreeBSD
• classic packaging
• onedir packaging
• used bootstrap to install

Steps to Reproduce the behavior

Easy to reproduce with (soon to be) attached MVE file in Debian 12 VM based on Debian's cloud image.

Example state file failing is

/etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key:
  file.managed:
    - mode: '0600'
    - contents_pillar: ssh:ssh_host_ed25519_key

with

ext_pillar:
  - file_tree:
      root_dir: /srv/salt/file_tree
      keep_newline: True
      template: False

Expected behavior
Data should be properly serialized and transferred via ssh tunnel to client

Screenshots
n/a

Versions Report

salt --versions-report

(Provided by running salt --versions-report. Please also mention any differences in master/minion versions.) ``` Salt Version: Salt: 3007.1

Python Version:
Python: 3.10.14 (main, Apr 3 2024, 21:30:09) [GCC 11.2.0]

Dependency Versions:
cffi: 1.16.0
cherrypy: unknown
dateutil: 2.8.2
docker-py: Not Installed
gitdb: Not Installed
gitpython: Not Installed
Jinja2: 3.1.4
libgit2: Not Installed
looseversion: 1.3.0
M2Crypto: Not Installed
Mako: Not Installed
msgpack: 1.0.7
msgpack-pure: Not Installed
mysql-python: Not Installed
packaging: 23.1
pycparser: 2.21
pycrypto: Not Installed
pycryptodome: 3.19.1
pygit2: Not Installed
python-gnupg: 0.5.2
PyYAML: 6.0.1
PyZMQ: 25.1.2
relenv: 0.16.0
smmap: Not Installed
timelib: 0.3.0
Tornado: 6.3.3
ZMQ: 4.3.4

Salt Package Information:
Package Type: onedir

System Versions:
dist: debian 12.10 bookworm
locale: utf-8
machine: x86_64
release: 6.1.0-34-amd64
system: Linux
version: Debian GNU/Linux 12.10 bookworm

</details>

[carsten-AEI]

bash script reproducing this issue (if needed at all)

salt-mve.txt