Aexpluginmanager is crashing on MAC devices
Article ID: 241073
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
The customer is seeing this plugin gets crashed in MAC PCs: "Aexpluginmanager".
From the agent log, we see three crashes. Each time it happens after: "CTA-registrator > GetServerList(): request from NS the list of Task Servers"
Environment
ITMS 8.6, 8.6 RU1, 8.6 RU2
Cause
Known issue. Our Dev team found what was causing the crash on Aexpluginmanager:
The agent crash dump showed that it happened in Application Metering plug-in.
Thread 10 Crashed:
0 libsystem_kernel.dylib 0x00007fff2032f91e __pthread_kill + 10
1 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x00007fff2035e5bd pthread_kill + 263
2 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff202b3406 abort + 125
3 libsystem_c.dylib 0x00007fff202b27d8 __assert_rtn + 314
4 libaexmetering.so.1.0 0x00000001083798c4 MeteringSDK::InventoryMetering::OnNext(MeteringSDK::ProcessStateEvent const&) + 2660
5 libaexmetering.so.1.0 0x000000010836983c 0x108360000 + 38972
6 libaexmetering.so.1.0 0x0000000108369afe MeteringSDK::ProcessMonitor::OnNext(MeteringSDK::ProcessStateEvent const&) + 302
7 libaexmetering.so.1.0 0x000000010836983c 0x108360000 + 38972
8 libaexmetering.so.1.0 0x000000010836d14b MeteringSDK::ProcessMonitorThread::Run() + 843
9 libaps.so.1.0 0x000000010775e3dc BaseSDK::AThreadImpl::AThreadFunc(void*) + 76
10 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x00007fff2035e8fc _pthread_start + 224
11 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x00007fff2035a443 thread_start + 15
We have found that crashes are triggered by abort signal which is sent (most probably) by assertion macros in the code.
Resolution
This issue has been reported to Broadcom Development team. A fix has been added to the ITMS 8.6 RU3 release.
For troubleshooting purposes in order to validate if it is the same issue with the Application Metering plug-in been the one causing the crash, please try the following:
1. Collect next evidences from one of the affected MAC machines:
- Verbose logs.
--To enable Devnote logging run this in Terminal:
aex-helper agent -s "Configuration" debug_level DEVNOTE
aex-helper agent -s "Configuration" debug_file_size 0--To Disable devnote logging run this in Terminal:
aex-helper agent -s "Configuration" debug_level ERROR
aex-helper agent -s "Configuration" debug_file_size 1024--Collect agent logs from: /opt/altiris/notification/nsagent/var/
- Crash dump (if exist) from directory: "/opt/altiris/notification/nsagent/var/crashreport".
- Data from database table "Evt_AeX_Client_Crash_Detection" for this machine.
select * from Evt_AeX_Client_Crash_Detection
where _resourceguid ='GUIDofthatMACmachine'
Also you can check:
- "Applications->Utilities->Console" in macOS UI and choose "Crash Reports" if any for aex-pluginmanager.
It should look like something like this:
"/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/aex-pluginmanager-bin_2022-04-21-143403_rn-macos11.crash" - Root folder "/cores/" could contain core dumps if allowed.
Workaround:
It is not possible to disable the 'mac only' metering policy. It is generated based on Software products that have enabled "Usage Tracking" and this setting is common for Mac and Windows product metering. If you do not need to track usage of software products on both (Mac and Windows), you just need to disable this setting in Software products listed under Manage > Software > Metered Software > Usage Tracking.
Alternatively you may try just to uninstall Application Metering Plugin from Mac devices using Settings > Agents/Plug-ins > Discovery and Inventory > Windows/UNIX/Linux/Mac > Application Metering Plug-in Uninstall policy.
Also you may need to update target for Application Metering Plug-in Install policies to prevent installing plugin to new Mac devices.
Additional Information
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