Would you consider the following patch? It makes autopkgtest work for me:
diff --git a/setup-commands/create-normal-user
b/setup-commands/create-normal-user
index 0d0e828..9d66694 100755
--- a/setup-commands/create-normal-user
+++ b/setup-commands/create-normal-user
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ create () {
adduser \
--disabled-login \
--gecos 'Temporary autopkgtest user,,,' \
- "$user" 2>&1
+ "$user" 2>&1 | grep -v 'send message failed: Operation not
permitted'
elif command -v useradd >/dev/null; then
useradd \
--comment 'Temporary autopkgtest user' \