diff --git a/AzureMonitorAgent/agent.py b/AzureMonitorAgent/agent.py
index 4dc9d29d..985481a9 100644
--- a/AzureMonitorAgent/agent.py
+++ b/AzureMonitorAgent/agent.py
@@ -2447,9 +2447,13 @@ def parse_context(operation):
                         output = 'Logrotate removal failed with error: {0}\nStacktrace: {1}'.format(ex, traceback.format_exc())
                         hutil_log_info(output)
             else:
-                if not os.path.exists(AMAExtensionLogRotateFilePath):      
-                    logrotateFilePath = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'azuremonitoragentextension.logrotate')
-                    copyfile(logrotateFilePath,AMAExtensionLogRotateFilePath)
+                if not os.path.exists(AMAExtensionLogRotateFilePath):
+                    try:
+                        logrotateFilePath = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'azuremonitoragentextension.logrotate')
+                        copyfile(logrotateFilePath,AMAExtensionLogRotateFilePath)
+                    except Exception as ex:
+                        output = 'Logrotate config copy failed with error: {0}\nStacktrace: {1}'.format(ex, traceback.format_exc())
+                        hutil_log_info(output)
             
         # parse_context may throw KeyError if necessary JSON key is not
         # present in settings
@@ -3060,9 +3064,13 @@ def get_settings():
             protected_settings_str = None
             for decrypt_cmd in [cms_cmd, smime_cmd]:
                 try:
+                    # stderr is intentionally captured separately from stdout (and never
+                    # logged verbatim) so that non-fatal openssl warnings (e.g. a missing
+                    # openssl.cnf) can't get concatenated with the decrypted output, corrupt the
+                    # JSON payload, and risk the decrypted secret being echoed in error handling.
                     session = subprocess.Popen([decrypt_cmd], shell=True,
                                                stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
-                                               stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
+                                               stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
                                                stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
                     output = session.communicate(decoded_settings)
                     # success only if return code is 0 and we have output
diff --git a/Utils/HandlerUtil.py b/Utils/HandlerUtil.py
index ee588aca..cdadb477 100755
--- a/Utils/HandlerUtil.py
+++ b/Utils/HandlerUtil.py
@@ -222,8 +222,13 @@ def _parse_config(self, ctxt):
                 jctxt = ''
                 try:
                     jctxt = json.loads(protected_settings_str)
-                except:
-                    self.error('JSON exception decoding ' + HandlerUtility.redact_protected_settings(protected_settings_str))
+                except Exception as e:
+                    # Do not log protected_settings_str here: it is the decrypted
+                    # plaintext of protectedSettings and may contain secrets (e.g.
+                    # workspace keys). redact_protected_settings() only knows how to
+                    # redact the outer (still-encrypted) envelope fields, so it would
+                    # not mask secrets that live inside this already-decrypted payload.
+                    self.error('JSON exception decoding protectedSettings: {0}'.format(e))
                 handlerSettings['protectedSettings']=jctxt
                 self.log('Config decoded correctly.')
         return config