[Workaround in description] Mac is detecting Docker as a malware and keeping it from starting

[acassioaraujo]

Description

Whenever Docker is started, this error is shown:

Malware Blocked. “com.docker.socket” was not opened because it contains malware. this action did not harm your Mac.

Reproduce

1. Start Docker
2. See the error

Workaround

Tip

If you face this issue, try the following procedure:

1. Quit Docker Desktop and check that no remaining docker processes are running using the Activity Monitor
2. Run the following commands:

#!/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/

3. Restart Docker Desktop.

If that still doesn't work, download one of the currently supported release from the Release notes and re-apply step 2.

As suggested running this command is working for most of people that had this problem.

Original issue details

### docker version

Client:
 Version:           26.1.4
 API version:       1.45
 Go version:        go1.21.11
 Git commit:        5650f9b
 Built:             Wed Jun  5 11:26:02 2024
 OS/Arch:           darwin/arm64
 Context:           desktop-linux
Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///Users/admin/.docker/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?

(Can't get docker started to check more details)

----
Asked for a friend running Docker in the same version and this is the output:

Client:
 Version:           27.0.3
 API version:       1.46
 Go version:        go1.21.11
 Git commit:        7d4bcd8
 Built:             Fri Jun 28 23:59:41 2024
 OS/Arch:           darwin/arm64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.32.0 (157355)
 Engine:
  Version:          27.0.3
  API version:      1.46 (minimum version 1.24)
  Go version:       go1.21.11
  Git commit:       662f78c
  Built:            Sat Jun 29 00:02:44 2024
  OS/Arch:          linux/arm64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          1.7.18
  GitCommit:        ae71819c4f5e67bb4d5ae76a6b735f29cc25774e
 runc:
  Version:          1.7.18
  GitCommit:        v1.1.13-0-g58aa920
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0

docker info

lient:
 Version:    27.0.3
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.15.1-desktop.1
    Path:     /Users/lorenzo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.28.1-desktop.1
    Path:     /Users/lorenzo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.32
    Path:     /Users/lorenzo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-debug
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Alpha) (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.0.14
    Path:     /Users/lorenzo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-desktop
  dev: Docker Dev Environments (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.2
    Path:     /Users/lorenzo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-dev
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.25
    Path:     /Users/lorenzo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-extension
  feedback: Provide feedback, right in your terminal! (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.0.5
    Path:     /Users/lorenzo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-feedback
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.3.0
    Path:     /Users/lorenzo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-init
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
    Version:  0.6.0
    Path:     /Users/lorenzo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-sbom
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.10.0
    Path:     /Users/lorenzo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-scout

Server:
 Containers: 10
  Running: 9
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 1
 Images: 41
 Server Version: 27.0.3
 Storage Driver: overlay2
  Backing Filesystem: extfs
  Supports d_type: true
  Using metacopy: false
  Native Overlay Diff: true
  userxattr: false
 Logging Driver: json-file
 Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs
 Cgroup Version: 2
 Plugins:
  Volume: local
  Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay
  Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local splunk syslog
 Swarm: inactive
 Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 runc
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: ae71819c4f5e67bb4d5ae76a6b735f29cc25774e
 runc version: v1.1.13-0-g58aa920
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: unconfined
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 6.6.32-linuxkit
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: aarch64
 CPUs: 12
 Total Memory: 7.657GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: 1e75072f-7d8f-47c3-917a-43dc08d31755
 Docker Root Dir: /var/lib/docker
 Debug Mode: false
 HTTP Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 HTTPS Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 No Proxy: hubproxy.docker.internal
 Labels:
  com.docker.desktop.address=unix:///Users/lorenzo/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/docker-cli.sock
 Experimental: false
 Insecure Registries:
  hubproxy.docker.internal:5555
  127.0.0.0/8
 Live Restore Enabled: false

Diagnostics ID

Can't get a Diagnostics ID because I'm not able to open docker, the error is from MacOS

Additional Info

I tried installing older versions of Docker but the error is the same to all of them.

[luckystreak96]

If it helps, I have the same issue and am running this version of MacOS M3: macOS Sequoia 15.1 (24B83)

[jpbriend]

can you tell us how old is the vmnetd executable on your machines?
it's located here: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.docker.vmnetd

[luckystreak96]

Running ls -lrt /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/ gives this:

-r-xr--r--  1 root  wheel  5636768 31 May  2024 com.docker.vmnetd

[mat007]

Hi,

Which version(s) of Docker Desktop have you tried? Which one is the highest one? Did you download it fresh?
What happens if you do

sudo rm /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.docker.vmnetd

then start Docker Desktop again? (Docker Desktop should re-install it on-demand when it needs it)

Thanks, and sorry this happened to you!

[mancha-24]

I deleted the com.docker.vmnetd but now I get this opening docker again

[luckystreak96]

I uninstalled after the issue happened and re-installed the latest version available on the website - since deleting com.docker.vmnetd the application hangs (the window never opens), there is no visible error message, the file com.docker.vmnetd is still missing and trying to open the application multiple times yields an error of the likes of "Cannot start Docker because the application is not responding" (same as the post above)

[mat007]

Ah maybe you need to (sudo) kill -9 the vmnetd process, actually. Does

ps aux | grep vmnetd

show it running?

[mat007]

Or any other docker process running?

ps aux | grep [dD]ocker

[luckystreak96]

vmnetd was not running, and killing the docker process and starting it again gives the same result.

$ps aux | grep vmnetd
user        25212   0.0  0.0 410733072   1664 s000  S+    1:16pm   0:00.01 grep vmnetd
$ps aux | grep "[dD]ocker"
user        24255   0.0  0.2 412151024  73200   ??  S     1:05pm   0:00.15 /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.backend run

[akerouanton]

It'd be helpful to get some system logs to see why macOS is rejecting vmnetd.

1. Make sure that no docker process are running -- or kill them through the Activity Monitor.
2. Note the current time.
3. Start Docker Desktop
4. Run the following command in a terminal and replace the time with what you noted in step 2. (this command might be really slow).

$ log show --start '2025-01-07 X:Y:00' | grep 'com.docker'

[luckystreak96]

I see this at the end of the log output that looks suspicious:

trustd: [com.apple.securityd:SecWarning]
Entitlement com.apple.application-identifier=9BNSXJN65R.com.docker.docker is ignored because of invalid application signature or incorrect provisioning profile
    "group.com.docker"

docker-log-output.txt

[mat007]

vmnetd was not running, and killing the docker process and starting it again gives the same result.

Ah right, so Docker Desktop does not re-install vmnetd in that case.
You can do

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

then restart Docker Desktop.

edit: this probably needs you to update to at least Docker Desktop 4.35 before cp’ing

[EricCrete]

This worked for me ^