The specified user or domain group was not found

Today something nice what can happen if you don't pay enough attention on that, what you are doing.

For the object cache we updated the superreader and superuser in one of our web applications. First we added the policies for the web application.

Secondly we executed the necessary PowerShell script for updating the properties for that specific web application.

BUT we had a typo in the username we did not recognise and suddenly our web shows the error message:

SORRY, SOMETHING WENT WRONG (indeed!)
English: The specified user or domain group was not found.
German: Der angegebene Benutzer oder die angegebene Domänengruppe wurde nicht gefunden

You can see that SharePoint is loading some parts of the masterpage and then suddenly this error occurs.

On new created site collections it does not occur until you activate the publishing features. If you disable the publishing features, this error remains.

The error message (if I would read this more cautious) indicates the origin of the error (marked bold and underlined):

xx/xx/2014 12:14:37.07    w3wp.exe (0x2264)    0x2378    SharePoint Foundation    General    8sl1    High    DelegateControl: Exception thrown while adding control 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation.PortalSiteMapDataSource': Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: Der angegebene Benutzer oder die angegebene Domänengruppe wurde nicht gefunden. ---> System.Security.Principal.IdentityNotMappedException: Some or all identity references could not be translated.
    at System.Security.Principal.NTAccount.Translate(IdentityReferenceCollection sourceAccounts, Type targetType, Boolean forceSuccess)
    at System.Security.Principal.NTAccount.Translate(Type targetType)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Claims.SPClaimProviderManager.GetProviderUserKeyClaim(IClaimsIdentity claimsIdentity, SPClaim loginClaim)     --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.AdministrationClaims.SPClaimProviderManager.GetProviderUserKeyClaim(IClaimsIdentity claimsIdentity, SPClaim loginClaim)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Claims.SPClaimProviderManager.GetProviderUserKey(IClaimsIdentity claimsIdentity, String encodedIdentityClaimSuffix)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Claims.SPClaimProviderManager.GetProviderUserKey(String encodedIdentityClaimSuffix)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.GetFullUserKeyFromFullName(String fullName)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPGlobal.CreateSPRequestAndSetIdentity(SPSite site, String name, Boolean bNotGlobalAdminCode, String strUrl, Boolean bNotAddToContext, Byte[] UserToken, SPAppPrincipalToken appPrincipalToken, String userName, Boolean bIgnoreTokenTimeout, Boolean bAsAnonymous)
    at Microsoft.SharePointSPSite.get_Request()
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite.OpenWeb(Guid gWebId, Int32 mondoHint)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.CachedObjectFactory.OpenWebFromSuperUserSite(Guid webId)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.CacheManager..ctor(SPSite site)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.CacheManager.GetManager(SPSite site, Boolean useContextSite, Boolean allowContextSiteOptimization, Boolean refreshIfNoContext)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.CachedAreaLookup.EnsureLookup(Boolean errorsAsExceptions)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.CachedAreaLookup.GetCachedAreaOrException()
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation.TaxonomyNavigationCache.GetCachedWebInfo(CachedAreaLookup cachedAreaLookup)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation.TaxonomyNavigationCache.GetWebNavigationSettings(CachedAreaLookup cachedArea, CachedAreaLookup& parentCachedArea, Exception& loadError)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation.TaxonomyNavigation.GetEffectiveProviderSettingsList(CachedAreaLookup cachedArea, Boolean includeInheritedSettings)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation.TaxonomyNavigation.GetEffectiveProviderSettings[T](CachedAreaLookup cachedArea, String siteMapProviderName, Boolean includeInheritedSettings, CachedAreaLookup& cachedAreaWithSettings)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation.TaxonomyNavigation.GetEffectiveProviderSettings[T](SPWeb web, String siteMapProviderName, Boolean includeInheritedSettings)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation.SwitchableSiteMapProvider.GetCurrentWrappedProvider()     at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation.SwitchableSiteMapProvider.get_RootNode()
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation.SwitchableDataSourceBehavior.AssignProperties(SiteMapProvider targetProvider)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation.PortalSiteMapDataSource.OnInit(EventArgs e)
    at System.Web.UI.Control.InitRecursive(Control namingContainer)
    at System.Web.UI.Control.AddedControl(Control control, Int32 index)
    at Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.DelegateControl.AddControlResilient(Control ctl)    a2dcc69c-9d3f-d090-1565-39d609448356 

After updating the web application with the correct superuser / superreader, everything works fine. Took some time to figure this out :)