4.17: [VSphereCSIDriverOperator] [Upgrade] VMwareVSphereControllerDegraded: runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference 

UPI installed vsphere cluster upgrade failed caused by CSO degrade
Upgrade path: 4.8 -> 4.17

4.17.0-0.nightly-2024-10-12-174022      

 Always   

    1. Install the OCP cluster on vSphere by UPI with version 4.8.
    2. Upgrade the cluster to 4.17 nightly.
    

    In Step 2: The upgrade failed from path 4.16 to 4.17.    

    In Step 2: The upgrade should be successful.

$ omc get clusterversion
NAME      VERSION                              AVAILABLE   PROGRESSING   SINCE   STATUS
version   4.16.0-0.nightly-2024-10-12-102620   True        True          1h8m    Unable to apply 4.17.0-0.nightly-2024-10-12-174022: wait has exceeded 40 minutes for these operators: storage
$ omc get co storage
NAME      VERSION                              AVAILABLE   PROGRESSING   DEGRADED   SINCE
storage   4.17.0-0.nightly-2024-10-12-174022   True        True          True       15h  
$  omc get co storage -oyaml   
...
status:
  conditions:
  - lastTransitionTime: "2024-10-13T17:22:06Z"
    message: |-
      VSphereCSIDriverOperatorCRDegraded: VMwareVSphereControllerDegraded: panic caught:
      VSphereCSIDriverOperatorCRDegraded: VMwareVSphereControllerDegraded: runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference
    reason: VSphereCSIDriverOperatorCR_VMwareVSphereController_SyncError
    status: "True"
    type: Degraded
...

$ omc logs vmware-vsphere-csi-driver-operator-5c7db457-nffp4|tail -n 50
2024-10-13T19:00:02.531545739Z github.com/openshift/library-go/pkg/controller/factory.(*baseController).runWorker(0xc000ab7e00?, {0x3900f30?, 0xc0000b9ae0?})
2024-10-13T19:00:02.531545739Z     github.com/openshift/library-go@v0.0.0-20240904190755-22d0c848b7a2/pkg/controller/factory/base_controller.go:183 +0x4d
2024-10-13T19:00:02.531545739Z github.com/openshift/library-go/pkg/controller/factory.(*baseController).Run.func2()
2024-10-13T19:00:02.531545739Z     github.com/openshift/library-go@v0.0.0-20240904190755-22d0c848b7a2/pkg/controller/factory/base_controller.go:117 +0x65
2024-10-13T19:00:02.531545739Z created by github.com/openshift/library-go/pkg/controller/factory.(*baseController).Run in goroutine 500
2024-10-13T19:00:02.531545739Z     github.com/openshift/library-go@v0.0.0-20240904190755-22d0c848b7a2/pkg/controller/factory/base_controller.go:112 +0x2c9
2024-10-13T19:00:02.534308382Z I1013 19:00:02.532858       1 event.go:377] Event(v1.ObjectReference{Kind:"Deployment", Namespace:"openshift-cluster-csi-drivers", Name:"vmware-vsphere-csi-driver-operator", UID:"e44ce388-4878-4400-afae-744530b62281", APIVersion:"apps/v1", ResourceVersion:"", FieldPath:""}): type: 'Warning' reason: 'Vmware-Vsphere-Csi-Driver-OperatorPanic' Panic observed: runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference
2024-10-13T19:00:03.532125885Z E1013 19:00:03.532044       1 config_yaml.go:208] Unmarshal failed: yaml: unmarshal errors:
2024-10-13T19:00:03.532125885Z   line 1: cannot unmarshal !!seq into config.CommonConfigYAML
2024-10-13T19:00:03.532498631Z I1013 19:00:03.532460       1 config.go:272] ReadConfig INI succeeded. INI-based cloud-config is deprecated and will be removed in 2.0. Please use YAML based cloud-config.
2024-10-13T19:00:03.532708025Z I1013 19:00:03.532571       1 config.go:283] Config initialized
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z E1013 19:00:03.533160       1 runtime.go:79] Observed a panic: "invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference" (runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference)
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z goroutine 701 [running]:
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/runtime.logPanic({0x2cf3100, 0x54fd210})
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     k8s.io/apimachinery@v0.30.3/pkg/util/runtime/runtime.go:75 +0x85
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/runtime.HandleCrash({0xc0014c54e8, 0x1, 0xc000e7e1c0?})
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     k8s.io/apimachinery@v0.30.3/pkg/util/runtime/runtime.go:49 +0x6b
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z panic({0x2cf3100?, 0x54fd210?})
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     runtime/panic.go:770 +0x132
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z github.com/openshift/vmware-vsphere-csi-driver-operator/pkg/operator/vspherecontroller.(*VSphereController).createVCenterConnection(0xc0008b2788, {0xc0022cf600?, 0xc0014c57c0?}, 0xc0006a3448)
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     github.com/openshift/vmware-vsphere-csi-driver-operator/pkg/operator/vspherecontroller/vspherecontroller.go:491 +0x94
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z github.com/openshift/vmware-vsphere-csi-driver-operator/pkg/operator/vspherecontroller.(*VSphereController).loginToVCenter(0xc0008b2788, {0x3900f30, 0xc0000b9ae0}, 0x3377a7c?)
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     github.com/openshift/vmware-vsphere-csi-driver-operator/pkg/operator/vspherecontroller/vspherecontroller.go:446 +0x5e
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z github.com/openshift/vmware-vsphere-csi-driver-operator/pkg/operator/vspherecontroller.(*VSphereController).sync(0xc0008b2788, {0x3900f30, 0xc0000b9ae0}, {0x38ee700, 0xc0011d08d0})
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     github.com/openshift/vmware-vsphere-csi-driver-operator/pkg/operator/vspherecontroller/vspherecontroller.go:240 +0x6fc
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z github.com/openshift/library-go/pkg/controller/factory.(*baseController).reconcile(0xc000b3ecf0, {0x3900f30, 0xc0000b9ae0}, {0x38ee700?, 0xc0011d08d0?})
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     github.com/openshift/library-go@v0.0.0-20240904190755-22d0c848b7a2/pkg/controller/factory/base_controller.go:201 +0x43
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z github.com/openshift/library-go/pkg/controller/factory.(*baseController).processNextWorkItem(0xc000b3ecf0, {0x3900f30, 0xc0000b9ae0})
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     github.com/openshift/library-go@v0.0.0-20240904190755-22d0c848b7a2/pkg/controller/factory/base_controller.go:260 +0x1ae
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z github.com/openshift/library-go/pkg/controller/factory.(*baseController).runWorker.func1({0x3900f30, 0xc0000b9ae0})
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     github.com/openshift/library-go@v0.0.0-20240904190755-22d0c848b7a2/pkg/controller/factory/base_controller.go:192 +0x89
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait.JitterUntilWithContext.func1()
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     k8s.io/apimachinery@v0.30.3/pkg/util/wait/backoff.go:259 +0x1f
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait.BackoffUntil.func1(0xc002bb1e80?)
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     k8s.io/apimachinery@v0.30.3/pkg/util/wait/backoff.go:226 +0x33
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait.BackoffUntil(0xc0014c5f10, {0x38cf7e0, 0xc00142b470}, 0x1, 0xc0013ae960)
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     k8s.io/apimachinery@v0.30.3/pkg/util/wait/backoff.go:227 +0xaf
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait.JitterUntil(0xc00115bf10, 0x3b9aca00, 0x0, 0x1, 0xc0013ae960)
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     k8s.io/apimachinery@v0.30.3/pkg/util/wait/backoff.go:204 +0x7f
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait.JitterUntilWithContext({0x3900f30, 0xc0000b9ae0}, 0xc00115bf70, 0x3b9aca00, 0x0, 0x1)
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     k8s.io/apimachinery@v0.30.3/pkg/util/wait/backoff.go:259 +0x93
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait.UntilWithContext(...)
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     k8s.io/apimachinery@v0.30.3/pkg/util/wait/backoff.go:170
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z github.com/openshift/library-go/pkg/controller/factory.(*baseController).runWorker(0xc000ab7e00?, {0x3900f30?, 0xc0000b9ae0?})
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     github.com/openshift/library-go@v0.0.0-20240904190755-22d0c848b7a2/pkg/controller/factory/base_controller.go:183 +0x4d
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z github.com/openshift/library-go/pkg/controller/factory.(*baseController).Run.func2()
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     github.com/openshift/library-go@v0.0.0-20240904190755-22d0c848b7a2/pkg/controller/factory/base_controller.go:117 +0x65
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z created by github.com/openshift/library-go/pkg/controller/factory.(*baseController).Run in goroutine 500
2024-10-13T19:00:03.533270439Z     github.com/openshift/library-go@v0.0.0-20240904190755-22d0c848b7a2/pkg/controller/factory/base_controller.go:112 +0x2c9