Defunct (i.e. zombie) processes continue to build up over time. This often occurs after installing a managed client for Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) 14.0 RU1 or 12.1 RU6 MP9 on Linux
There is no error message, but the process table will fill up with defunct processes that appear as:
[uname] <defunct>
These processes show a parent process ID (PID) that corresponds to the running smcd process.
SEP 14.0 RU1 or SEP 12.1 RU6 MP9 managed clients on any version of Linux.
This issue is fixed in SEP 14 RU1 MP1 and later, and SEP 12.1 RU6 MP10 and later.
See Download the latest version of Symantec Endpoint Protection.