Fork bombing a Linux machine as a non-root user

[Jerry DeLisle]

M.Rudra wrote:
> Hello All,
> 
> When my Windows system crashed recently, a patient of mine introduced
> me to Linux as a secure OS but today I read an article on fork bombing
> a Linux system.
> 
> http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/308?ref=rssdebia
> 
> As a non-geek user I am concerned as I thought Linux is very secure. 
> So I googled "fork bombing" and after reading them, I have some doubts :
> 
> 1] Is this applicable to newer version of FC3/4 or will this affect
> older stable versions too.
> 2] The article mentions Debian survived among others but some of the
> Linux distributions are  vulnerable to fork bombing. Is FC a part of
> the latter ?
> 3] If a non -root 'user' can bring down the system, then can a person
> without login facility bring down the system too if the machine is
> connected to the Internet ?.
> 4] What precautions must one take for [a] general PC [b] servers. do
> they differ ?
> 5] Does one have to download a patch for the kernel ? If we install an
> older stable version of the distro  will the system be safe from such
> an attack ?
> 
> All comments and pointers to online resources are welcome.
> Thanks for reading. 
Go look at the file /etc/security/limits.conf

There are already scripts in place to handle this and allow 
configuration of the necessary limits.