Process Killed — the process was terminated by a SIGKILL signal
What 137 Means
The 137 error on the Linux system-errors indicates process killed — the process was terminated by a sigkill signal. This typically occurs due to the system out-of-memory (oom) killer terminating a heavy process.
Exit code 137 is 128 + 9 (the signal number for SIGKILL). Unlike SIGTERM, SIGKILL cannot be caught or ignored by the process, resulting in an immediate exit.
Technical Background
Exit code 137 indicates that the process received a SIGKILL signal (Signal 9). Following the 128 + SignalNumber convention, 128 + 9 = 137.
Unlike other signals, SIGKILL cannot be caught, blocked, or ignored by the process. It is an immediate termination by the kernel. This is most commonly seen when the system runs out of memory (OOM) and the 'OOM Killer' picks the process to be terminated to save the system.
Common Causes
- The system Out-Of-Memory (OOM) killer terminating a heavy process
- A user running 'kill -9' on the process ID
- A container orchestration system stopping an unresponsive container
Typical Scenarios
- A database server consuming all available RAM and being killed by the kernel
- A CI/CD pipeline timing out and killing the build worker
What to Know
Reviewing system kernel logs (dmesg) for 'Out of memory' events provides definitive confirmation of OOM-related kills. Resolution typically involves either scaling system memory or optimizing the application's memory footprint.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Linux 137 error
No, SIGKILL prevents the process from performing any cleanup or closing files properly.