fork bomb
nounEtymology From fork (“splitting-up of an existing process”) + bomb.
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Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A program that creates a large number of self-replicating tasks or processes in a computer system in order to cause a denial of service.
- In contrast to the wabbit's slow growth, a fork bomb quickly generates multiple copies itself.2002, Philip E. N. Howard, “Hacktivism”, in Steve Jones, editor, Encyclopedia of New Media, SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 216:
- By using the limits described in this chapter, you can mitigate the risk of a fork bomb by restricting the maximum number of processes that a single user can invoke. While the fork bomb can still cause your system to become highly loaded, […]2020, Wale Soyinka, Linux Administration: A Beginner’s Guide, Eighth Edition, McGraw Hill Professional, →ISBN, page 331: