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auditd: no audit log file after reboot

This document (000020700) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5

Situation

Auditd is enabled and running.

 # systemctl status auditd.service
● auditd.service - Security Auditing Service
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/auditd.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2022-07-20 08:07:48 MDT; 4min 7s ago
     Docs: man:auditd(8)
           https://github.com/linux-audit/audit-documentation
  Process: 3567 ExecStartPost=/sbin/augenrules --load (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 3562 ExecStart=/sbin/auditd (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 3563 (auditd)
    Tasks: 2 (limit: 512)
   CGroup: /system.slice/auditd.service
           └─3563 /sbin/auditd

Jul 20 08:07:48 sles12sp5 systemd[1]: Starting Security Auditing Service...

After a system reboot, sometimes the system does not log entries in /var/log/audit.log. The timestamp of the log file remains unchanged or the same as the reboot time. 

Within /var/log/messages following messages are observed:

kauditd hold queue overflow
kernel: kauditd_printk_skb: 11 callbacks suppressed

Resolution

As workaround a restart of auditd will solve it temporarily:
systemctl restart auditd.service
A fix has been released for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 with kernel version 4.12.14-122.127.1 or higher.

Cause

Root cause is a race condition in the communication between kernel and auditd instance that also led to kernel overflow messages.

Status

Reported to Engineering

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

  • Document ID:000020700
  • Creation Date: 15-Jul-2022
  • Modified Date:20-Jul-2022
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

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