-

diff --git a/builtin/credential/approle/path_role.go b/builtin/credential/approle/path_role.go
index 171fa8c..c2a4949 100644
--- a/builtin/credential/approle/path_role.go
+++ b/builtin/credential/approle/path_role.go
@@ -1452,7 +1452,7 @@ func (b *backend) handleRoleSecretIDCommon(req *logical.Request, data *framework
 		Metadata:        make(map[string]string),
 	}
 
-	if err = strutil.ParseArbitraryKeyValues(data.Get("metadata").(string), secretIDStorage.Metadata); err != nil {
+	if err = strutil.ParseArbitraryKeyValues(data.Get("metadata").(string), secretIDStorage.Metadata, ","); err != nil {
 		return logical.ErrorResponse(fmt.Sprintf("failed to parse metadata: %v", err)), nil
 	}
 
diff --git a/helper/strutil/strutil.go b/helper/strutil/strutil.go
index 0d53714..c17d731 100644
--- a/helper/strutil/strutil.go
+++ b/helper/strutil/strutil.go
@@ -32,20 +32,24 @@ func StrListSubset(super, sub []string) bool {
 // Parses a comma separated list of strings into a slice of strings.
 // The return slice will be sorted and will not contain duplicate or
 // empty items. The values will be converted to lower case.
-func ParseDedupAndSortStrings(input string) []string {
+func ParseDedupAndSortStrings(input string, sep string) []string {
 	input = strings.TrimSpace(input)
 	var parsed []string
 	if input == "" {
 		// Don't return nil
 		return parsed
 	}
-	return RemoveDuplicates(strings.Split(input, ","))
+	return RemoveDuplicates(strings.Split(input, sep))
 }
 
 // Parses a comma separated list of `<key>=<value>` tuples into a
 // map[string]string.
-func ParseKeyValues(input string, out map[string]string) error {
-	keyValues := ParseDedupAndSortStrings(input)
+func ParseKeyValues(input string, out map[string]string, sep string) error {
+	if out == nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("'out is nil")
+	}
+
+	keyValues := ParseDedupAndSortStrings(input, sep)
 	if len(keyValues) == 0 {
 		return nil
 	}
@@ -72,7 +76,7 @@ func ParseKeyValues(input string, out map[string]string) error {
 //
 // Input will be parsed into the output paramater, which should
 // be a non-nil map[string]string.
-func ParseArbitraryKeyValues(input string, out map[string]string) error {
+func ParseArbitraryKeyValues(input string, out map[string]string, sep string) error {
 	input = strings.TrimSpace(input)
 	if input == "" {
 		return nil
@@ -94,7 +98,7 @@ func ParseArbitraryKeyValues(input string, out map[string]string) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		// If JSON unmarshalling fails, consider that the input was
 		// supplied as a comma separated string of 'key=value' pairs.
-		if err = ParseKeyValues(input, out); err != nil {
+		if err = ParseKeyValues(input, out, sep); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to parse the input: %v", err)
 		}
 	}
@@ -109,6 +113,55 @@ func ParseArbitraryKeyValues(input string, out map[string]string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// Parses a `sep`-separated list of strings into a
+// []string.
+func ParseStringSlice(input string, sep string) []string {
+	input = strings.TrimSpace(input)
+	if input == "" {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+
+	splitStr := strings.Split(input, sep)
+	ret := make([]string, len(splitStr))
+	for i, val := range splitStr {
+		out[i] = val
+	}
+
+	return ret
+}
+
+// Parses arbitrary string slice. The input can be one of
+// the following:
+// * JSON string
+// * Base64 encoded JSON string
+// * `sep` separated list of values
+// * Base64-encoded string containting a `sep` separated list of values
+func ParseArbitraryStringSlice(input string, sep string) ([]string, error) {
+	if input == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	// Try to base64 decode the input. If successful, consider the decoded
+	// value as input.
+	inputBytes, err := base64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(input)
+	if err == nil {
+		input = string(inputBytes)
+	}
+
+	ret := []string{}
+
+	// Try to JSON unmarshal the input. If successful, consider that the
+	// metadata was supplied as JSON input.
+	err = json.Unmarshal([]byte(input), &ret)
+	if err != nil {
+		// If JSON unmarshalling fails, consider that the input was
+		// supplied as a separated string of values.
+		return ParseStringSlice(input, sep)
+	}
+
+	return ret
+}
+
 // Removes duplicate and empty elements from a slice of strings.
 // This also converts the items in the slice to lower case and
 // returns a sorted slice.
diff --git a/helper/strutil/strutil_test.go b/helper/strutil/strutil_test.go
index f5ceb8c..331270c 100644
--- a/helper/strutil/strutil_test.go
+++ b/helper/strutil/strutil_test.go
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ func TestStrutil_ParseArbitraryKeyValues(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// Test <key>=<value> as comma separated string
 	input = "key1=value1,key2=value2"
-	err = ParseArbitraryKeyValues(input, actual)
+	err = ParseArbitraryKeyValues(input, actual, ",")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ func TestStrutil_ParseArbitraryKeyValues(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// Test <key>=<value> as base64 encoded comma separated string
 	input = base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(input))
-	err = ParseArbitraryKeyValues(input, actual)
+	err = ParseArbitraryKeyValues(input, actual, ",")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ func TestStrutil_ParseArbitraryKeyValues(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// Test JSON encoded <key>=<value> tuples
 	input = `{"key1":"value1", "key2":"value2"}`
-	err = ParseArbitraryKeyValues(input, actual)
+	err = ParseArbitraryKeyValues(input, actual, ",")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ func TestStrutil_ParseArbitraryKeyValues(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// Test base64 encoded JSON string of <key>=<value> tuples
 	input = base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(input))
-	err = ParseArbitraryKeyValues(input, actual)
+	err = ParseArbitraryKeyValues(input, actual, ",")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
diff --git a/physical/consul.go b/physical/consul.go
index f939dcf..9bc0ae5 100644
--- a/physical/consul.go
+++ b/physical/consul.go
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ func newConsulBackend(conf map[string]string, logger *log.Logger) (Backend, erro
 		kv:                  client.KV(),
 		permitPool:          NewPermitPool(maxParInt),
 		serviceName:         service,
-		serviceTags:         strutil.ParseDedupAndSortStrings(tags),
+		serviceTags:         strutil.ParseDedupAndSortStrings(tags, ","),
 		checkTimeout:        checkTimeout,
 		disableRegistration: disableRegistration,
 	}