From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1750924AbVKFQf6 (ORCPT ); Sun, 6 Nov 2005 11:35:58 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S932124AbVKFQf6 (ORCPT ); Sun, 6 Nov 2005 11:35:58 -0500 Received: from gprs189-60.eurotel.cz ([160.218.189.60]:1476 "EHLO amd.ucw.cz") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1750924AbVKFQf5 (ORCPT ); Sun, 6 Nov 2005 11:35:57 -0500 Date: Sun, 6 Nov 2005 17:33:52 +0100 From: Pavel Machek To: Patrick Barnes Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Killing a process with a kernel module Message-ID: <20051106163352.GB28697@elf.ucw.cz> References: <3c0797c60511050319s79772d84td8ceeaa3b243da30@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <3c0797c60511050319s79772d84td8ceeaa3b243da30@mail.gmail.com> X-Warning: Reading this can be dangerous to your mental health. User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.9i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Hi! > RedHat recently released RHEL4 U2, and this update has some > unfortunate consequences, mainly > https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=170087 > > As stated in the bugzilla report above, useradd gets stuck in a R > state and ignores all signals. > > I have a critical system which I can't take down for another week or > so, but the extra load generated by the rogue useradd process is > slowing things down a little too much. > > I was wondering if it was possible to safely terminate the process > using a more direct method (perhaps by manipulating kernel data > structures.) > > What I'd like to know is if it is actually possible before attempting > to write the code to do it. > > I know this is a long shot, but it's probably worth trying. :) Maybe doable, but I'd certainly not do it on important machine. Pavel -- Thanks, Sharp!