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CRE-2025-0137

Pod terminated with Exit Code 137 due to OOMKilled (memory limit exceeded)High
Impact: 6/10
Mitigation: 2/10

CRE-2025-0137View on GitHub

Description

The container exceeded its memory limit and was killed by the kernel OOM killer.

Kubernetes reports a terminated state with Reason=OOMKilled and exitCode=137.

This often manifests as CrashLoopBackOff under sustained memory pressure.


Cause

  • Memory limit too low relative to peak usage.
  • Sudden traffic spikes causing allocation bursts.
  • Memory leaks or fragmentation in long-running processes.
  • Under-provisioned nodes or overly strict pod limits.

Mitigation

  • Raise memory requests/limits; add headroom for peak allocations.
  • Enable profiling and leak detection; tune GC/heap where applicable.
  • Consider Vertical Pod Autoscaler for right-sizing.
  • Watch node memory pressure and eviction thresholds.

References