Cluster fencing fails when fencing device password contains an ampersand (&) character

Issue

We are trying to insert a password for our fencing agent in cluster.conf for fencing utility. Our password includes an ampersand character ('&'). As an example illustration, let's say the fencing mechanism's password is passw&rd.

• Writing "passw&rd" is not valid XML, it leads to an invalid cluster.conf.
• Writing "passw&apm;rd" allows for valid cluster.conf, but then the fencing agent fails with wrong credentials. I.e. the & char has been replaced by the proper XML entity in the file, but it seems to be transferred without interpretation to the fencing agent.