RewriteRule rule crashes server

hi there

Whenever a client uses:

RewriteRule ^(([^/\.\?]+/?)*)$ index.php?c=$1 [L,QSA]

in .htaccess, it spawns several Apache threads each consuming 99.9% CPU. These need to be killed otherwise the entire server is, eventually, brought to it knees.

Would there be any mod rewrite gurus out there that could shed any light please?

Regards
Dude

 

yes indeed I have a feeling you know the answer to this

note the 99% Apache threads are running as "nobody" instead of "userid"