Answer
Pods run under cgroup memory limits; exceeding the limit triggers kernel OOM kill regardless of host memory.
Quick Answer
Kubernetes enforces memory limits via cgroups per Pod (container memory.limit_in_bytes). The OOM killer operates at the cgroup level — it can kill a container even if the host has free memory, because the container's memory usage exceeded its cgroup limit. This is intentional — limits are hard boundaries for the container, not the host.
S
SugharaIQ Editorial Team
Verified Answer
This answer has been peer-reviewed by industry experts holding senior engineering roles to ensure technical accuracy and relevance for modern interview standards.
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Source: SugharaIQ