hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
XK0-006 Practice Question: A system administrator is investigating why a…
A system administrator is investigating why a particular process is not responding. They run strace on the process but get no output. What could be the most likely reason?
⚠ Common exam trap
CompTIA often tests the misconception that strace always produces output or that permission issues result in a clear error message, when in fact strace may produce no output if stderr is not captured or if the process is non-dumpable.
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
✓
The administrator does not have permission to trace that process.
The most likely reason strace produces no output is that the administrator lacks the necessary permissions to trace the process. By default, strace uses the ptrace system call, which requires either root privileges or the same user ID as the target process, and the process must not have the `dumpable` attribute set to 0 (e.g., via prctl(PR_SET_DUMPABLE, 0)). Without proper permissions, strace fails silently or returns an error like 'Operation not permitted' depending on the output configuration.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The process is already being traced by another strace instance.
Why it's wrong here
Only one tracer can attach at a time, but that would produce an error, not no output.
- ✓
The administrator does not have permission to trace that process.
Why this is correct
Non-root users need CAP_SYS_PTRACE or same UID. If not, strace attaches but gets no events, or fails silently depending on configuration.
- ✗
The process is a kernel thread.
Why it's wrong here
strace can trace kernel threads? Actually, strace traces system calls of user-space processes; kernel threads are not user-space processes and cannot be traced via strace. However, the most common reason for no output is permissions.
- ✗
The process is a zombie process.
Why it's wrong here
Zombie processes are dead and cannot be traced.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
File Permissions and Ownership
Key term
Process
In IT service management, a process is a structured set of activities designed to accomplish a specific objective, such as managing incidents or changes, by transforming inputs into defined outputs.
Key term
User
A user is any person, system, or device that interacts with an IT service, resource, or identity system, typically authenticated through credentials and authorized to perform specific actions.
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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.