Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

secondary damage
     
        When a fatal error occurs (especially a {segfault}) the
        immediate cause may be that a pointer has been trashed due to
        a previous {fandango on core}.  However, this fandango may
        have been due to an *earlier* fandango, so no amount of
        analysis will reveal (directly) how the damage occurred.  "The
        data structure was clobbered, but it was secondary damage."
     
        By extension, the corruption resulting from N cascaded
        fandangoes on core is "Nth-level damage".  There is at least
        one case on record in which 17 hours of {grovel}ling with
        "adb" actually dug up the underlying bug behind an instance of
        seventh-level damage!  The hacker who accomplished this
        near-superhuman feat was presented with an award by his
        fellows.
     
        [{Jargon File}]