XK0-006 Security Practice Question
A Linux administrator is troubleshooting a service that fails to start. The audit.log shows an AVC denial related to the httpd_t domain. The administrator wants to see the full denial message and generate a policy to allow the access. Which two commands should be used in conjunction?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse `ausearch` with `aureport` or `auditctl`, or think `restorecon` can fix AVC denials, when in fact only `ausearch` paired with `audit2allow` provides the complete solution for generating a custom policy from a denial message.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
ausearch and audit2allow
`ausearch` retrieves the full AVC denial message from the audit log, and `audit2allow` generates a policy module to allow the denied access. Together, they enable the administrator to first identify the exact denial and then create a custom SELinux policy to permit the httpd_t domain's blocked action.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
auditctl and ausearch
Why it's wrong here
auditctl sets kernel audit rules and ausearch queries existing records, but neither translates an AVC denial into a loadable policy module. That is the job of audit2allow, which reads ausearch output and emits a .te rule set. auditctl and ausearch suit live rule tuning and log review, not policy generation.
- ✗
ausearch and restorecon
Why it's wrong here
restorecon resets SELinux file contexts; it neither displays the full AVC denial nor generates an allow policy. It is tempting because mislabelled contexts cause denials, and would be correct if the audit showed a wrong file type rather than a policy gap.
- ✗
aureport and audit2why
Why it's wrong here
aureport summarises audit events into counts and reports, discarding the raw denial detail needed to build a policy, and audit2why only explains a denial rather than emitting allow rules. Reporting is tempting for spotting denial trends, but policy generation requires ausearch piped into audit2allow.
- ✓
ausearch and audit2allow
Why this is correct
ausearch retrieves the full AVC denial records from the audit log, while audit2allow converts those denials into allow rules for a loadable policy module. Together they reveal the complete denial and generate the targeted SELinux policy.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
System Troubleshooting and Performance Tuning
Key term
Linux
Linux is an open-source operating system that manages computer hardware and software, widely used in servers, desktops, and embedded systems.
Key term
Service
A service is a software component or system that performs a specific function and is available to be used by other programs or users over a network.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This XK0-006 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the XK0-006 exam.