Solution in-addition to offical fixes and workarounds

Fix Docker treated as malware issue by MacOS

What happened?

Last night when I reboot my computer after some Python stuff setup, MacOS starts to complaints about Docker. Prompts warning Docker is malware and ask me to delete it.

Then I start searching the Internet to find out why…

It turns out many of us was being frustrated by this sudden error comes up without doing anything and after installing Docker for years.

The reason behind is that the certificate of com.docker.vmnetd has been revoked, and no one knows why this can happen.

The official fix is to update Docker to version 4.37.2, which released just 3 days ago (2025-01-09). However this only applies to who can launch Docker Desktop and click the update button.

Most of us was stuck into a pop up loop hell that even you click put docker into bin, the pop up is still showing up every fill seconds.

Docker treated as malware

What I’ve tried

First attempt

Some has suggested to

sudo cp /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Library/LaunchServices/com.docker.vmnetd /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/

Stopping the pop up loop

I had to use this script from official workaround to kill all running docker processes after putting Docker into bin before I can stop the pop up loop:

#!/bin/bash

# Stop the docker services
echo "Stopping Docker..."
sudo pkill '[dD]ocker'

# Stop the vmnetd service
echo "Stopping com.docker.vmnetd service..."
sudo launchctl bootout system /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.docker.vmnetd.plist

# Stop the socket service
echo "Stopping com.docker.socket service..."
sudo launchctl bootout system /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.docker.socket.plist

# Remove vmnetd binary
echo "Removing com.docker.vmnetd binary..."
sudo rm -f /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.docker.vmnetd

# Remove socket binary
echo "Removing com.docker.socket binary..."
sudo rm -f /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.docker.socket

# Install new binaries
echo "Install new binaries..."
sudo cp /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Library/LaunchServices/com.docker.vmnetd /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/
sudo cp /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.socket /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/

New Problem

I assume the system is now clean so I can download and reinstall the latest version of Docker Desktop.

However once I install from the installer, MacOS has another complaints. It say Docker is damaged and cannot be started… 🙃

Docker is damaged

Install in another way

So it seems like installing via the Docker installer is not working. I uninstalled Docker and then install by Homebrew:

brew update
brew reinstall --cask docker

The installation cannot complete, but it provides some insights:

==> Purging files for version 4.37.2,179585 of Cask docker
Error: It seems there is already a Binary at '/usr/local/bin/docker'.

Wait! Why the binaries still exists?

Solution

After I removed all existing Docker binaries in /usr/local/bin/, the Homebrew installation script completed successfully.

hub-tool
com.docker.cli			
kubectl.docker
docker
docker-compose
docker-credential-desktop
docker-credential-ecr-login
docker-credential-osxkeychain
docker-index

Open Docker Desktop again, you will be prompted for privilege and Docker can finally start normally again. :tada:

NOTE If you failed the first time, you will probably need to delete /opt/homebrew/etc/bash_completion.d/docker too before you try again.

To check if your Docker’s certificate is valid, use the check.sh in this official workaround:

$ ./check.sh /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Library/LaunchServices/com.docker.vmnetd
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Certificate details for com.docker.vmnetd:
 serial=3EC22E699630083A
 subject=UID=9BNSXJN65R
 CN=Developer ID Application: Docker Inc (9BNSXJN65R)
 OU=9BNSXJN65R
 O=Docker Inc
 C=US
 issuer=CN=Developer ID Certification Authority
 OU=Apple Certification Authority
 O=Apple Inc.
 C=US
 notBefore=Oct  2 16:46:37 2024 GMT
 notAfter=Feb  1 22:12:15 2027 GMT
-----------------------------------------------------------------

com.docker.vmnetd is signed with a correct certificate

NOTE 🪖 This is just my own experiences for someone that is unfortunate enough like me, which cannot fix it after trying the official fix. The fix on Docker documentation page below had cover different scenarios, you should try all of them before trying the way I mentioned above.

References