An engineer modifies the Linux kernel to explore what would happen if normal processes could catch or mask SIGKILL — a signal traditionally guaranteed to be unstoppable. The post walks through signal handling internals, patches the kernel, boots the modified build, and reports experimental observations.
Background
POSIX signals are a core Unix IPC mechanism; SIGKILL and SIGSTOP have long been defined as unmaskable and unhandled so the kernel always retains the ability to terminate or stop a process. Kernel hacking explorations like this test those hard guarantees in controlled experiments.
- Source
- Lobsters
- Published
- Nov 11, 2026 at 02:14 PM
- Score
- 5.0 / 10