Fix CrashLoopBackOff in Kubernetes Pods

What Does CrashLoopBackOff Mean?

When Kubernetes shows CrashLoopBackOff, the container process is exiting immediately after start. Kubernetes retries with exponential backoff (10s, 20s, 40s, 80s…).

Step 1: Identify the Failing Pod

kubectl get pods -A | grep CrashLoop

Step 2: Read the Container Logs

kubectl logs <pod-name> --previous

The --previous flag shows logs from the last crashed instance.

Step 3: Common Root Causes

Symptom in logs	Cause	Fix
Error: cannot find module	Missing dependency	Rebuild image
Permission denied	Wrong user/file perms	Fix securityContext
OOMKilled	Out of memory	Increase memory limit
No logs at all	Entrypoint not found	Check Dockerfile CMD

Step 4: Describe the Pod for Events

kubectl describe pod <pod-name>

Look at the Events section at the bottom for scheduling or image pull errors.

Step 5: Fix and Redeploy

kubectl rollout restart deployment/<deployment-name>
kubectl rollout status deployment/<deployment-name>