System Hung After "TCP: too many of orphaned sockets" and "Out of socket memory" Errors

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • System was forced offline after being unresponsive to logins. Inspection of log entries prior to the forced reboot show an ever increasing number of the following messages.
    • kernel: TCP: too many of orphaned sockets
    • kernel: Out of socket memory
    • login: FATAL: bad tty

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
  • Improperly customized net.ipv4.tcp_mem sysctl

Subscriber exclusive content

A Red Hat subscription provides unlimited access to our knowledgebase, tools, and much more.

Current Customers and Partners

Log in for full access

Log In

New to Red Hat?

Learn more about Red Hat subscriptions

Using a Red Hat product through a public cloud?

How to access this content