:(){ :|:& };:

The command shown in the heading is known as a Bash “Fork Bomb.”

A fork bomb is a denial-of-service attack where a process continuously creates child processes at an exponential rate, consuming system resources like CPU, memory, and process slots, ultimately causing the system to crash. //

To set limits for the current bash session:

Run ulimit -u to check the maximum number of processes you can have (e.g., 30593).
Run ulimit -u NUM, where NUM is significantly lower than your maximum (e.g., 1024).

Setting persistent user limits
The above method works unless the user reopens their terminal and runs the fork bomb again.

To set persistent user limits, add the same ulimit command to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile file.

ulimit -u 1024 # Example for my system 

Setting persistent user limits
Configuring system-wide limits is similar to setting user limits, but involves editing a different file that manages system-wide process rules.

Typically, you would run sudo nano /etc/security/limits.conf and add the following user limits:
username hard nproc 1024
Remember to replace “username” with the user you wish to limit.