Thanks for the suggestion, but this is not an option for us as our users often use screen. Anyway, a few (even many) of these processes should not be a problem. In addition, a new login does not create more processes, it's using the already existing ones. What is my best option to fix/mask the problem? - revert to the older version of systemd (The problem will still be there, it's just not triggered as often.) - revert to the older kernel 3.11.10-25, where I don't see the problem. Perhaps this needs more testing. - wait for a kernel with the problematic code reverted. I don't know, if it's obvious, where the problem might be. - wait for a fixed kernel. I guess this will take a while. Any suggestions? Thanks.