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PASSEDserver / cron_daemon_crash
Cron Daemon Crash — All Scheduled Jobs Stopped
The cron daemon on a critical infrastructure server crashes and enters a crash loop due to a corrupted crontab file. All scheduled jobs including log rotation, backup scripts, and health checks stop executing. The issue goes undetected for 48 hours.
Pattern
PROCESS_CRASH_LOOP
Severity
CRITICAL
Confidence
92%
Remediation
Auto-Heal
Test Results
| Metric | Expected | Actual | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pattern Recognition | PROCESS_CRASH_LOOP | PROCESS_CRASH_LOOP | |
| Severity Assessment | CRITICAL | CRITICAL | |
| Incident Correlation | Yes | 4 linked | |
| Cascade Escalation | N/A | No | |
| Remediation | — | Auto-Heal — Corax resolves autonomously |
Scenario Conditions
Debian 12 infrastructure server. crond crashes on parsing corrupted crontab for user 'batch'. All 23 scheduled cron jobs stopped. No cron execution for 48 hours. Log files growing unbounded. Monitoring health checks not executing.
Injected Error Messages (1)
cron daemon crash loop on infra-01 — crond process repeatedly crashing on startup when parsing corrupted crontab for user batch, crash loop detected: 15 restarts in last hour, systemd rate-limiting cron.service, all 23 scheduled jobs stopped for 48 hours, log rotation not running, backup scripts not executing, disk filling with unrotated logs
Neural Engine Root Cause Analysis
The crond process is experiencing a crash loop due to a corrupted crontab file for the 'batch' user, causing systemd to rate-limit the cron.service after 15 restarts in the last hour. This has created a cascading failure where all 23 scheduled jobs have been stopped for 48 hours, preventing critical maintenance tasks like log rotation and backup scripts from executing. The resulting unrotated logs are filling up disk space, which could lead to additional system failures if not addressed promptly.
Remediation Plan
1. Stop the cron service to break the crash loop 2. Backup the corrupted crontab file for forensic analysis 3. Remove or repair the corrupted crontab for the batch user 4. Reset systemd rate-limiting for cron.service 5. Restart cron service and verify it starts successfully 6. Manually execute critical log rotation to free disk space 7. Verify all 23 scheduled jobs are running properly 8. Monitor for stability over the next hour
Tested: 2026-03-30Monitors: 1 | Incidents: 1Test ID: cmncjzcz905unobqer7vc7u7z