Linux system errors
Linux 137 Process Killed
Reviewed for reference consistency: April 11, 2026
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.
How to fix 137
General informational guidance, not professional advice. Commands can affect your system or data — back up first and proceed at your own risk. FixerCode is an independent reference, not affiliated with any vendor mentioned.
Confirm whether the OOM killer fired
Exit code 137 is 128 plus signal 9 (SIGKILL). The kernel log shows when the out-of-memory killer chose your process.
dmesg -T | grep -iE 'killed process|out of memory'Check the container memory limit
In Docker and Kubernetes, 137 usually means the container hit its memory limit rather than a host-wide shortage.
docker inspect --format '{{.HostConfig.Memory}}' your-containerWatch memory while reproducing
Observe live usage as the workload runs to see how close it gets to the limit before the kill.
free -h ; ps aux --sort=-%mem | headRaise the limit or reduce usage
Give the process more memory or lower its footprint, then run it again to confirm the kill stops.
docker run --memory=2g your-image
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.