Author: Sam Michaels Date: To: exim-users Subject: [Exim] Heavy traffic (kind of) solved!
Found this in the panic log after continuous hammering:
2001-06-01 10:29:47 155mBf-0006Kt-02 system_aliases director: failed to open /etc/aliases for linear search: Too many open files in system
Bingo. That would explain why it couldn't open the database files even with proper permissions...why it couldn't find the "smtp" service...why it couldn't find the "root" alias...
Now, since the box is a Netwinder, it has an ARM processor and needs to use precompiled kernels. Is there any way to increase the file descriptors without messing with the kernel? (probably the wrong place to ask...but hey..)
Sounds like a possible exploit, don't you think? Purposely hammer the server and if the admin is using an out-of-the-box kernel, it'll disable just about everything. Refusing connections works...but...if you stream all the email in 1 connection like I am, it doesn't seem to check for floods/hammering.
