diff --git a/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/nocloudservice.py b/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/nocloudservice.py
index 70190d01..78af542d 100644
--- a/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/nocloudservice.py
+++ b/cloudbaseinit/metadata/services/nocloudservice.py
@@ -695,7 +695,13 @@ def get_public_keys(self):
         if isinstance(raw_ssh_keys, list):
             return raw_ssh_keys
 
-        return [raw_ssh_keys[key].get('openssh-key') for key in raw_ssh_keys]
+        keys = []
+        for value in raw_ssh_keys.values():
+            if isinstance(value, str):
+                keys.append(value)
+            else:
+                keys.append(value.get('openssh-key'))
+        return keys
 
     def get_network_details(self):
         debian_net_config = self._get_meta_data().get('network-interfaces')
diff --git a/cloudbaseinit/tests/metadata/services/test_nocloudservice.py b/cloudbaseinit/tests/metadata/services/test_nocloudservice.py
index d3266116..00a2d1c0 100644
--- a/cloudbaseinit/tests/metadata/services/test_nocloudservice.py
+++ b/cloudbaseinit/tests/metadata/services/test_nocloudservice.py
@@ -516,6 +516,19 @@ def test_get_public_keys_alt_fmt(self, mock_get_metadata):
         result = self._config_drive.get_public_keys()
         self.assertEqual(result, expected_result)
 
+    @mock.patch(MODULE_PATH + '.NoCloudConfigDriveService._get_meta_data')
+    def test_get_public_keys_dict_of_strings(self, mock_get_metadata):
+        fake_key0 = 'ssh-rsa AAAA0 user0@host'
+        fake_key1 = 'ssh-rsa AAAA1 user1@host'
+        mock_get_metadata.return_value = {
+            'public-keys': {
+                'key0': fake_key0,
+                'key1': fake_key1,
+            }
+        }
+        result = sorted(self._config_drive.get_public_keys())
+        self.assertEqual(result, sorted([fake_key0, fake_key1]))
+
     @ddt.data(('', ('V2 network metadata is empty', None)),
               ('1', ('V2 network metadata is not a dictionary', None)),
               ('{}', ('V2 network metadata is empty', None)),