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B78 AKEB Abend During CICS TS V5.3/V5.4 Startup or Shutdown Caused by Vanguard Integrity Multifactor Authentication SMF Exit

Troubleshooting


Problem

You receive multiple system abend codes B78 AKEB during startup or shutdown of CICS Transaction Server for z/OS (CICS TS) V5.3 or V5.4. You are using Multifactor Authentication from Vanguard Integrity Professionals with the original version of the vendors SMF exit.

Cause

Implementation of Multifactor Authentication.

Diagnosing The Problem

The system trace in the dump shows a FREEMAIN followed by an SVC 13 abend request.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00A1 009C83B8  SSRV    78          868504E0  0000D703 00000DF0 7F462210
                                             00A10000
                 Freemain                    16:10:55.879873629 00C6
00A1 009C83B8 *SVC      D 00000000_0156FF82  00000014 84000000 84B78000
                                             16:10:55.879874217 00C6

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Freemain request points at IGC0008C+14E0 IN EXTENDED PLPA. However, it appears that this Freemain worked but another Freemain request is issued afterwards that is not recorded in the system trace.  It is this unrecorded Freemain that fails.
The only way to find this, is by capturing the abend code B78 with a SLIP trap and looking at the registers at the time of the error.
The SLIP may show the Freemain was attempted by module DFHMNSVC.  But, the problem is due to a request from vendor code.

 

Resolving The Problem

Contact Vanguard Integrity Professionals for a fix for the abend B78 AKEB.

Document Location

Worldwide

[{"Business Unit":{"code":"BU048","label":"IBM Software"},"Product":{"code":"SSGMGV","label":"CICS Transaction Server"},"Component":"","Platform":[{"code":"PF035","label":"z\/OS"}],"Version":"5.3, 5.4","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB70","label":"Z TPS"}}]

Product Synonym

CICS/TS CICS TS CICS Transaction Server

Document Information

Modified date:
24 August 2026

UID

ibm10876642