auditd Overload Generates Excessive Logs And CPU Usage

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

High CPU and rapid audit log growth degrade system performance.

Environment & Reproduction

Overly broad audit rules or event storms generate unsustainable volume.

Root Cause Analysis

Run auditctl -s and check backlog, lost events, and failure mode indicators.

Quick Triage

Review /etc/audit/rules.d and correlate with aureport event frequency.

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Narrow path filters and syscall coverage to required compliance objectives.

Solution – Primary Fix

Load refined rules and verify lower event rates with auditd running.

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Ensure /etc/audit/auditd.conf rotate settings match retention and disk limits.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

Correlate audit spikes with service events using journalctl timestamps.

Rollback Plan

Separate SELinux AVC volume from other audit classes for targeted tuning.

Prevention & Hardening

System responsiveness drops and disk exhaustion risk increases.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Maintain required evidence while removing redundant high-cost audit noise.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for rhel-9.

View all rhel-9 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

Periodically review audit rules against current threat model and regulation scope.