canonical / canonical/multipass
One VM running out of RAM clogged Multipass
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Description
**Describe the bug**
As per title.

**To Reproduce**
How, and what happened?
1. `multipass launch ...`
2. Do something nasty inside the VM that exhausts the RAM
3. Observe the Multipass GUI freezing, the CLI not working
**Expected behavior**
My host system should be totally unperturbed if something nasty happens inside a VM.
**Logs**
```
sep 22 17:29:27 bardor multipassd[3090]: Executing 'wall The system is going down for poweroff now'
sep 22 17:29:59 bardor multipassd[3090]: Could not broadcast shutdown message in VM: failed to obtain exit status for remote process 'wall The system is going down for poweroff now': timed out after 5000 ms
sep 22 17:29:59 bardor multipassd[3090]: Dropping cached SSH session
sep 22 17:29:59 bardor multipassd[3090]: QMP: {"timestamp": {"seconds": 1758554999, "microseconds": 768175}, "event": "POWERDOWN"}
sep 22 17:29:59 bardor multipassd[3090]: VM powering down
sep 22 17:29:59 bardor multipassd[3090]: QMP: {"return": {}}
sep 22 17:30:21 bardor multipassd[3090]: QMP: {"timestamp": {"seconds": 1758555021, "microseconds": 503089}, "event": "RTC_CHANGE", "data": {"offset": 0, "qom-path": "/machine/unattached/device[4]/rtc"}}
sep 22 17:34:59 bardor multipassd[3090]: SSH session disconnected
sep 22 17:34:59 bardor multipassd[3090]: Caching new SSH session
sep 22 17:35:04 bardor multipassd[3090]: QMP: {"timestamp": {"seconds": 1758555228, "microseconds": 504395}, "event": "RTC_CHANGE", "data": {"offset": 0, "qom-path": "/machine/unattached/device[4]/rtc"}}
sep 22 17:35:05 bardor multipassd[3090]: SSH session disconnected
sep 22 17:35:05 bardor multipassd[3090]: Caching new SSH session
sep 22 17:35:10 bardor multipassd[3090]: SSH session disconnected
sep 22 17:35:10 bardor multipassd[3090]: Caching new SSH session
sep 22 17:35:15 bardor multipassd[3090]: SSH session disconnected
sep 22 17:35:15 bardor multipassd[3090]: Caching new SSH session
sep 22 17:35:20 bardor multipassd[3090]: SSH session disconnected
sep 22 17:35:20 bardor multipassd[3090]: Caching new SSH session
sep 22 17:35:25 bardor multipassd[3090]: SSH session disconnected
sep 22 17:35:25 bardor multipassd[3090]: Caching new SSH session
sep 22 17:35:30 bardor multipassd[3090]: SSH session disconnected
sep 22 17:35:30 bardor multipassd[3090]: Caching new SSH session
sep 22 17:35:36 bardor multipassd[3090]: SSH session disconnected
sep 22 17:35:36 bardor multipassd[3090]: Caching new SSH session
sep 22 17:35:41 bardor multipassd[3090]: fetch manifest periodically
sep 22 17:35:41 bardor multipassd[3090]: SSH session disconnected
sep 22 17:35:41 bardor multipassd[3090]: Caching new SSH session
...
sep 22 17:37:13 bardor multipassd[3090]: SSH session disconnected
sep 22 17:37:13 bardor multipassd[3090]: Caching new SSH session
sep 22 17:41:20 bardor multipassd[3090]: QMP: {"timestamp": {"seconds": 1758555680, "microseconds": 509188}, "event": "RTC_CHANGE", "data": {"offset": 0, "qom-path": "/machine/unattached/device[4]/rtc"}}
sep 22 17:44:47 bardor multipassd[3090]: QMP: {"timestamp": {"seconds": 1758555887, "microseconds": 535864}, "event": "RTC_CHANGE", "data": {"offset": 0, "qom-path": "/machine/unattached/device[4]/rtc"}}
sep 22 17:50:45 bardor multipassd[3090]: fetch manifest periodically
sep 22 17:50:59 bardor multipassd[3090]: SSH session disconnected: [ssh proc] failed to open session channel: 'Socket error: Connection reset by peer'
```
**Additional info**
- OS: Ubuntu 25.04
- CPU architecture or model: amd64
- `multipass version`
```
multipass 1.17.0-dev.456+gcb628d61
multipassd 1.17.0-dev.456+gcb628d61
```
- `multipass info`
```
multipass info
Name: rock-dev
State: Stopped
Snapshots: 0
IPv4: --
Release: --
Image hash: 834af9cd766d (Ubuntu 24.04 LTS)
CPU(s): --
Load: --
Disk usage: --
Memory usage: --
Mounts: --
```
- `multipass get local.driver` `qemu`
**Additional context**
Add any other context about the problem here.
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by reproducing the failure with `multipass launch ...` using the QEMU driver and an instance that exhausts its RAM. Inspect how `multipassd`, the GUI, and CLI behave during the incident; done means the host, GUI, and CLI remain responsive when the VM runs out of memory.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- cpp
- Domain
- infrastructure
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 28/100