Linux cgroup v2 memory.high throttles before memory.max OOM

An analysis of cgroup v2 memory limits reveals that memory.max alone invokes the OOM killer at full speed without delaying anonymous memory, whereas memory.high acts as a throttle that induces progressive sleeps and can delay an OOM kill by nearly half an hour. Testing shows that the throttle frequency depends heavily on concurrent memory allocations on the same CPU, such as monitoring tools or neighboring cgroups. Open article →