diff --git a/LibOS/shim/include/shim_internal.h b/LibOS/shim/include/shim_internal.h
index d63a6d68..25c199af 100644
--- a/LibOS/shim/include/shim_internal.h
+++ b/LibOS/shim/include/shim_internal.h
@@ -145,20 +145,16 @@ static inline PAL_HANDLE __open_shim_stdio (void)
     return shim_stdio;
 }
 
-#define USE_PAUSE       0
-
-static inline void do_pause (void);
-
-#if USE_PAUSE == 1
-# define PAUSE() do { do_pause(); } while (0)
+#if 0
+# define DEBUG_BREAK_ON_FAILURE() DEBUG_BREAK()
 #else
-# define PAUSE() do { __asm__ volatile ("int $3"); } while (0)
+# define DEBUG_BREAK_ON_FAILURE() do {} while (0)
 #endif
 
 #define BUG()                                                               \
     do {                                                                    \
         __SYS_PRINTF("BUG() " __FILE__ ":%d\n", __LINE__);                  \
-        PAUSE();                                                            \
+        DEBUG_BREAK_ON_FAILURE();                                           \
         shim_clean_and_exit(-ENOTRECOVERABLE);                              \
     } while (0)
 
@@ -679,13 +675,6 @@ static inline void clear_event (AEVENTTYPE * e)
     }
 }
 
-static inline void do_pause (void)
-{
-    bool go = false;
-    while (!go)
-        DkThreadDelayExecution(60 * 60 * 1000000ULL);
-}
-
 /* reference counter APIs */
 #define REF_GET(ref)            atomic_read(&(ref))
 #define REF_SET(ref, count)     atomic_set(&(ref), count)
diff --git a/LibOS/shim/src/bookkeep/shim_signal.c b/LibOS/shim/src/bookkeep/shim_signal.c
index bed1102a..fd9ec143 100644
--- a/LibOS/shim/src/bookkeep/shim_signal.c
+++ b/LibOS/shim/src/bookkeep/shim_signal.c
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ static inline void internal_fault(const char* errstr,
                    addr, context ? context->IP : 0,
                    cur_process.vmid, is_internal_tid(tid) ? 0 : tid);
 
-    PAUSE();
+    DEBUG_BREAK_ON_FAILURE();
 }
 
 static void arithmetic_error_upcall (PAL_PTR event, PAL_NUM arg, PAL_CONTEXT * context)
diff --git a/LibOS/shim/src/shim_init.c b/LibOS/shim/src/shim_init.c
index 9c32502f..aa7c2c4c 100644
--- a/LibOS/shim/src/shim_init.c
+++ b/LibOS/shim/src/shim_init.c
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ static void handle_failure (PAL_PTR event, PAL_NUM arg, PAL_CONTEXT * context)
 }
 
 noreturn void __abort(void) {
-    PAUSE();
+    DEBUG_BREAK_ON_FAILURE();
     shim_clean_and_exit(-ENOTRECOVERABLE);
 }
 
diff --git a/Pal/include/lib/api.h b/Pal/include/lib/api.h
index ff2f7b1a..98ac5cec 100644
--- a/Pal/include/lib/api.h
+++ b/Pal/include/lib/api.h
@@ -99,6 +99,8 @@ typedef ptrdiff_t ssize_t;
 #define ARRAY_SIZE(a) (FORCE_STATIC_ARRAY(a) + sizeof(a) / sizeof(a[0]))
 #endif
 
+#define DEBUG_BREAK() do { __asm__ volatile ("int $3"); } while (0)
+
 #ifndef container_of
 /**
  * container_of - cast a member of a structure out to the containing structure