> when you launch an executable in linux, the kernel identifies the format
> (elf, aout, etc) of the executable by the first couple of bytes. it then
> tries to load a module to handle the loading of that executable. if it
> cant find the appropriate module, an error is logged.
>
> e.g.
>
> % dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/test bs=1k count=1
> % chmod 755 /tmp/test
> % /tmp/test
> /tmp/test: Exec format error. Binary file not executable.
>
> and via syslog..
>
> Mar 28 11:00:23 host modprobe: modprobe: Can't locate module binfmt-0000
>
> IOW ... you probably tried to execute a non-executable file.
Or a binary is of size 0.
In my case, I found /sbin/ipchains was somehow overwritten. :)
Thanks... Dan.
