fork bomb

English

Alternative forms

• forkbomb

Etymology

fork (“splitting-up of an existing process”) +‎ bomb

Noun

fork bomb (plural fork bombs)

1. (computing) A program that creates a large number of self-replicating tasks or processes in a computer system in order to produce a denial of service.

   Coordinate term: wabbit

   • 2002, Philip E. N. Howard, “Hacktivism”, in Steve Jones, editor, Encyclopedia of New Media, SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 216:

     In contrast to the wabbit's slow growth, a fork bomb quickly generates multiple copies itself.

   • 2020, Wale Soyinka, Linux Administration: A Beginner’s Guide, Eighth Edition, McGraw Hill Professional, →ISBN, page 331:

     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, […]

Translations

Program to produce a denial of service with forks

• French: fork bomb (fr) f

See also

• crock recursion