Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S261601AbVCWOEP (ORCPT ); Wed, 23 Mar 2005 09:04:15 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S261468AbVCWOEP (ORCPT ); Wed, 23 Mar 2005 09:04:15 -0500 Received: from smtp-out.tiscali.no ([213.142.64.144]:62982 "EHLO smtp-out.tiscali.no") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S262399AbVCWOD7 (ORCPT ); Wed, 23 Mar 2005 09:03:59 -0500 Subject: Re: forkbombing Linux distributions From: Natanael Copa To: Erik Mouw Cc: aq , "Hikaru1@verizon.net" , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <20050323134525.GA5374@harddisk-recovery.com> References: <20050322112628.GA18256@roll> <20050322124812.GB18256@roll> <20050322125025.GA9038@roll> <9cde8bff050323025663637241@mail.gmail.com> <1111581459.27969.36.camel@nc> <20050323134525.GA5374@harddisk-recovery.com> Content-Type: text/plain Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 15:03:56 +0100 Message-Id: <1111586636.27969.81.camel@nc> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.0.4 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 937 Lines: 26 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 - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/