Re: forkbombing Linux distributions

Natanael Copa
2005-03-23T14:04:15Z

On Wed, 2005-03-23 at 14:45 +0100, Erik Mouw wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 23, 2005 at 01:37:38PM +0100, Natanael Copa wrote:
> > On Wed, 2005-03-23 at 19:56 +0900, aq wrote:
> > > > /etc/limits does a better job at stopping forkbombs.
> >
> > but does not limit processes that are started from the boot scripts. So
> > if a buggy non-root service is exploited, an attacker would be able to
> > easily shut down the system.
>
> That's easy to fix: set limits from initrd or initramfs.

..or run "ulimit -u" early in the boot scripts.

What I suggest is doing the reverse. Let the kernel be restrictive by
default and let distro's or sysadmins open up if they need more
processes.

--
Natanael Copa