I was able to reproduce this with PS-5.7.14 upstream WAY-1 ==== Tried following 2 commands: ./bin/mysqld --initialize-insecure --datadir=./data-dir --basedir=./ ./bin/mysqld --datadir=./data-dir --basedir=. --port=29993 --socket=/tmp/mysql.sock --skip-grant-tables --plugin-load=audit_log=audit_log.so --audit_log_file=./data-dir/mysql-audit.json --audit_log_strategy=PERFORMANCE --audit_log_format=JSON --audit_log_exclude_accounts='info'@'127.0.0.1' 2016-11-17T09:38:52.280274Z 0 [Note] InnoDB: Buffer pool(s) load completed at 161117 15:08:52 2016-11-17T09:38:53.273925Z 0 [ERROR] Plugin audit_log reported: 'Cannot open file ./data-dir/mysql-audit.json.' 2016-11-17T09:38:53.274028Z 0 [ERROR] Plugin audit_log reported: 'Error: No such file or directory' 2016-11-17T09:38:53.274068Z 0 [ERROR] Plugin 'audit_log' init function returned error. 2016-11-17T09:38:53.274103Z 0 [ERROR] Plugin 'audit_log' registration as a AUDIT failed. mysqld: /opt/projects/codebase/non-forked-percona/ps57/mysys/my_malloc.c:128: my_free: Assertion `mh->m_magic == 1234' failed. 09:38:53 UTC - mysqld got signal 6 ; This could be because you hit a bug. It is also possible that this binary or one of the libraries it was linked against is corrupt, improperly built, or misconfigured. This error can also be caused by malfunctioning hardware. Attempting to collect some information that could help diagnose the problem. As this is a crash and something is definitely wrong, the information collection process might fail. Please help us make Percona Server better by reporting any bugs at http://bugs.percona.com/ key_buffer_size=8388608 read_buffer_size=131072 max_used_connections=0 max_threads=152 thread_count=0 connection_count=0 It is possible that mysqld could use up to key_buffer_size + (read_buffer_size + sort_buffer_size)*max_threads = 68388 K bytes of memory Hope that's ok; if not, decrease some variables in the equation. Thread pointer: 0x0 Attempting backtrace. You can use the following information to find out where mysqld died. If you see no messages after this, something went terribly wrong... stack_bottom = 0 thread_stack 0x40000 ./bin/mysqld(my_print_stacktrace+0x47)[0x199601f] ./bin/mysqld(handle_fatal_signal+0x440)[0xf2c22b] /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0(+0x10d10)[0x7f61c6774d10] /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(gsignal+0x37)[0x7f61c5b2e1c7] /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(abort+0x16a)[0x7f61c5b2fe2a] /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(+0x2e0bd)[0x7f61c5b270bd] /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(+0x2e172)[0x7f61c5b27172] ./bin/mysqld(my_free+0x4c)[0x198fe57] /opt/projects/codebase/non-forked-percona/installed/ps/5.7/lib/mysql/plugin/audit_log.so(+0x621e)[0x7f61ad3cf21e] ./bin/mysqld(_Z21finalize_audit_pluginP13st_plugin_int+0x3f)[0xf2e387] ./bin/mysqld[0x166c27c] ./bin/mysqld[0x166d12a] ./bin/mysqld(_Z11plugin_initPiPPci+0x8f5)[0x166dac4] ./bin/mysqld[0xf1a39f] ./bin/mysqld(_Z11mysqld_mainiPPc+0x82e)[0xf1ba57] ./bin/mysqld(main+0x20)[0xf12946] /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xf0)[0x7f61c5b19ac0] ./bin/mysqld(_start+0x29)[0xf12859] You may download the Percona Server operations manual by visiting http://www.percona.com/software/percona-server/. You may find information in the manual which will help you identify the cause of the crash. WAY-2: ===== ./bin/mysqld --datadir=./data-dir --basedir=. --port=29993 --socket=/tmp/mysql.sock --skip-grant-tables --plugin-load=audit_log=audit_log.so --audit_log_file=/opt/projects/codebase/non-forked-percona/installed/ps/5.7/data-dir/mysql-audit.json --audit_log_strategy=PERFORMANCE --audit_log_format=JSON --audit_log_exclude_accounts='info'@'127.0.0.1' mysqld: /opt/projects/codebase/non-forked-percona/ps57/mysys/my_malloc.c:128: my_free: Assertion `mh->m_magic == 1234' failed. 09:40:10 UTC - mysqld got signal 6 ; This could be because you hit a bug. It is also possible that this binary or one of the libraries it was linked against is corrupt, improperly built, or misconfigured. This error can also be caused by malfunctioning hardware. Attempting to collect some information that could help diagnose the problem. As this is a crash and something is definitely wrong, the information collection process might fail. Please help us make Percona Server better by reporting any bugs at http://bugs.percona.com/ key_buffer_size=8388608 read_buffer_size=131072 max_used_connections=1 max_threads=152 thread_count=1 connection_count=1 It is possible that mysqld could use up to key_buffer_size + (read_buffer_size + sort_buffer_size)*max_threads = 68388 K bytes of memory Hope that's ok; if not, decrease some variables in the equation. Thread pointer: 0x7fe864000b70 Attempting backtrace. You can use the following information to find out where mysqld died. If you see no messages after this, something went terribly wrong... stack_bottom = 7fe8b4d21e18 thread_stack 0x40000 ./bin/mysqld(my_print_stacktrace+0x47)[0x199601f] ./bin/mysqld(handle_fatal_signal+0x440)[0xf2c22b] /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0(+0x10d10)[0x7fe8cdd43d10] /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(gsignal+0x37)[0x7fe8cd0fd1c7] /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(abort+0x16a)[0x7fe8cd0fee2a] /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(+0x2e0bd)[0x7fe8cd0f60bd] /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(+0x2e172)[0x7fe8cd0f6172] ./bin/mysqld(my_free+0x4c)[0x198fe57] /opt/projects/codebase/non-forked-percona/installed/ps/5.7/lib/mysql/plugin/audit_log.so(+0x757c)[0x7fe8b4d6b57c] ./bin/mysqld(_ZN17sys_var_pluginvar13global_updateEP3THDP7set_var+0x369)[0x1673457] ./bin/mysqld(_ZN7sys_var6updateEP3THDP7set_var+0xa5)[0x1567559] ./bin/mysqld(_ZN7set_var6updateEP3THD+0x38)[0x1568dd0] ./bin/mysqld(_Z17sql_set_variablesP3THDP4ListI12set_var_baseE+0x115)[0x1568681] ./bin/mysqld(_Z21mysql_execute_commandP3THDb+0x37f0)[0x163dc1b] ./bin/mysqld(_Z11mysql_parseP3THDP12Parser_state+0x720)[0x164398d] ./bin/mysqld(_Z16dispatch_commandP3THDPK8COM_DATA19enum_server_command+0xc41)[0x1637bcd] ./bin/mysqld(_Z10do_commandP3THD+0x59d)[0x1636a54] ./bin/mysqld(handle_connection+0x2b1)[0x1780184] ./bin/mysqld(pfs_spawn_thread+0x173)[0x19d3c59] /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0(+0x76aa)[0x7fe8cdd3a6aa] /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(clone+0x6d)[0x7fe8cd1cf13d] Trying to get some variables. Some pointers may be invalid and cause the dump to abort. Query (7fe864005a30): set global audit_log_exclude_accounts='info@localhost' Connection ID (thread ID): 2 Status: NOT_KILLED You may download the Percona Server operations manual by visiting http://www.percona.com/software/percona-server/. You may find information in the manual which will help you identify the cause of the crash.