linux reboots when a process asks for all memory !?!

I have two different boards with same kernel version but different 
configurations of this kernel. I wrote a little program that continuosly 
malloc memory, on one board when the memory is not more available the test 
program gets killed, on the other the board reboots, and something like "out 
of memory" message from the kernel is printed.

Does this depend on the configuration of the kernel?

Bye,
Antonio.