/proc/sys/kernel/core_pipe_limit
When collecting core dumps via a pipe to a user-space program, it can be useful for the collecting program to gather data about the crashing process from that process's /proc/[pid] directory. In order to do this safely, the kernel must wait for the program collecting the core dump to exit, so as not to remove the crashing process's /proc/[pid] files prematurely. This in turn creates the possibility that a misbehaving collecting program can block the reaping of a crashed process by simply never exiting.
Since Linux 2.6.32, the /proc/sys/kernel/core_pipe_limit can be used to defend against this possibility. The value in this file defines how many concurrent crashing processes may be piped to user-space programs in parallel. If this value is exceeded, then those crashing processes above this value are noted in the kernel log and their core dumps are skipped.
A value of 0 in this file is special. It indicates that unlimited processes may be captured in parallel, but that no waiting will take place (i.e., the collecting program is not guaranteed access to /proc/<crashing-PID>). The default value for this file is 0.
(edit: in case if that came off as curt i didn't intend it to, i do agree that far too many things suck because "it's documented in a defunct mailing list somewhere and if you don't know it's your own fault")