Notification in Plesk: Error: ASL has not been configured run-parts: /etc/cron.hourly/asl exited with return code 1

Symptoms

• The following notification is received every hour:

  Message: 
  /etc/cron.hourly/asl: 
  Error: ASL has not been configured 
  run-parts: /etc/cron.hourly/asl exited with return code 1
  EMAIL ERROR - 2

• Manual execution of the task results in the same outcome:

  # run-parts /etc/cron.hourly/
  /etc/cron.hourly/asl:

  Error: ASL has not been configured

• Executing aum -c via SSH results in another error:

  # aum -c
  ——————————————————————————-
  Errors were encountered:

  L CODE SOURCE MESSAGE
  – —- —————————– ——————————————
  4 9998 Core::_get_config New key, updating config
  2 2 ASLConfig::config_update An error occurred attempting to read file /etc/asl/config
  3 9998 Core::_get_config Failed to update configuration
  4 9998 Core::app_exit Exiting with error level 3
  ——————————————————————————-

• /etc/asl/config file is empty (1 byte size):

  # ls -l /etc/asl/config
  -rw——-. 1 tortix root 1 Aug 31 04:11 /etc/asl/config

Cause

Aum was updated, but was not configured properly, or /etc/asl/config file is empty.

Resolution

Note: in case you have access to the server via SSH, check the solution from the spoiler below first. Restoring the configuration from the backup overall is a faster way in case there is a backup.

At first, try switching ModSecurity Rule Set back and forth. For that:

1. Log in to Plesk.
2. Navigate to Tools & Settings > Web Application Firewall (ModSecurity) > Settings.
3. Temporary select any other Rule Set, for example, OWASP ModSecurity, and click ‘Apply‘.
4. Select Atomic Basic ModSecurity back and click ‘Apply‘.

Those actions should re-create the empty /etc/asl/config file.

In case it did not help, try restoring /etc/asl/config from the backup.