kernel-debugging

kernel-debugging is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills. It costs 91 tokens per session (1,812 once invoked), scanned B, original, MIT.

A guide to finding and investigating Linux kernel failures with built-in tracing and debugging tools. It covers kernel debuggers, function tracing, probes, diagnostic logging, and crash-dump analysis.

In plain words
What is it for?
Debugging kernel modules and drivers, tracing function calls, increasing diagnostic logs, examining crash dumps, and investigating kernel panics or oopses.
Why use it?
It helps turn kernel panics, crashes, unclear stack traces, and missing driver information into evidence that can be investigated.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

Good fit Debugging kernel modules and drivers, tracing function calls, increasing diagnostic logs, examining crash dumps, and investigating kernel panics or oopses.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/kernel-debugging
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills --skill kernel-debugging
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for kernel-debugging

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/kernel-debugging/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/kernel-debugging)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/kernel-debugging"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/kernel-debugging/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for kernel-debugging

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/kernel-debugging"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/kernel-debugging.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 91 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,812 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan B 1 finding. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00091 $0.01812
Opus 5 $0.00046 $0.00906
Sonnet 5 $0.00018 $0.00362
Haiku 4.5 $0.00009 $0.00181

Measured 8d ago against content hash c7e9f0a3f252, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-11, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade B, and why

kernel-debugging scanned grade B with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 8d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Asks for rootmediumPrivilege escalation

A mod that escalates privileges can change anything on the machine, not only the project.

sudo kdump-config show
skills/kernel/kernel-debugging/SKILL.md · 230 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 230 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Kernel Debugging

Purpose

Guide agents through debugging the Linux kernel: kgdb over serial or USB, kdb built-in debugger commands, ftrace and trace-cmd, kprobes and kretprobes, dynamic debug (dyndbg), crash dump analysis with crash and makedumpfile, dmesg log levels, and /proc/sys runtime tuning for debugging.

When to Use

  • Kernel panic or oops with unclear stack trace
  • Live debugging a kernel module or driver with kgdb
  • Tracing function calls without recompiling (ftrace, kprobes)
  • Enabling verbose driver logging with dyndbg
  • Analyzing production crash dumps from kdump
  • Tuning kernel runtime parameters for debug sessions

Workflow

1. dmesg and log levels

# Kernel ring buffer
dmesg -T -l err,warn
dmesg -w   # follow live

# Log level (0=emerg .. 7=debug)
cat /proc/sys/kernel/printk
# current  default  minimum  boot-default
# 4        4        1        7

# Temporarily increase verbosity
echo 8 > /proc/sys/kernel/printk

Kernel printk levels: KERN_EMERG through KERN_DEBUG. Driver dev_dbg() requires dyndbg or DEBUG define.

2. kgdb over serial

Kernel config: CONFIG_KGDB, CONFIG_KGDB_SERIAL_CONSOLE.

# Boot parameter (ttyS0, 115200)
kgdboc=ttyS0,115200 kgdbwait

# Or at runtime
echo ttyS0,115200 > /sys/module/kgdboc/parameters/kgdboc
echo g > /proc/sysrq-trigger   # break into kgdb

GDB host side:

# Connect to remote serial
gdb vmlinux
(gdb) set serial baud 115200
(gdb) target remote /dev/ttyUSB0
(gdb) bt
(gdb) list *panic+0x20

USB variant: CONFIG_KGDB_KDB with kgdboc=usb on supported hardware.

3. kdb commands

When CONFIG_KGDB_KDB enabled, kdb provides in-kernel shell:

kdb commands (at SysRq break)
├── bt          — stack backtrace
├── lsmod       — loaded modules
├── md <addr>   — memory display
├── ps          — process list
├── id <cpu>    — CPU registers
├── go          — continue execution
└── cpu <n>     — switch CPU context
# Enter kdb
echo k > /proc/sysrq-trigger

Read the full file on GitHub · 230 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 8d ago First seen · 230 lines · 91 tokens per session scan B c7e9f0a3f252

Subscribe to this mod's changes

kernel-debugging is a skill published in the GitHub repository mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills (203 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 91 tokens to every session and 1,812 once invoked, about $0.0005 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it B with 1 finding (asks for root). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-09-03.

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