Docker Security Dispatch — Issue 2: From JCON to Zurich 🏔️
Recapping JCON Europe, the Mini Shai-Hulud attack, an interview with Baruch Sadogursky, the 'Whispering JAR' in JAVAPRO, Foojay.io debut, Docker Sandboxes, and upcoming talks.
Welcome to the second issue of Docker Security Dispatch. April was a whirlwind of conferences, articles, and interviews. From the cathedrals of Cologne to the mountains of Zurich, here is everything that happened in the Docker security world last month.
🛡️ Critical: CVE-2026-34040 & The Mini Shai-Hulud "Gift"
The biggest news in the Docker security scene this month was the disclosure of CVE-2026-34040. This is a high-severity authorization bypass vulnerability that affected Docker Engine versions prior to 29.3.1. If an API request body exceeded 1MB, the AuthZ plugin would be bypassed. Please ensure you have updated to Docker Engine 29.4.2 or Docker Desktop 4.71.0.
Speaking of security "gifts," as I turned 35 on April 29, the universe (or TeamPCP) decided to send a satirical birthday present: Mini Shai-Hulud.
This third wave of the Shai-Hulud lineage emerged on my birthday and is a highly autonomous NPM supply chain worm. It heavily targeted the SAP cloud ecosystem (infecting @cap-js/sqlite and @cap-js/postgres), harvesting tokens to backdoor other packages. The attack uses a malicious preinstall hook to download the Bun runtime—bypassing Node-based security tooling—and execute an 11.7 MB obfuscated credential stealer. Most disturbingly, it installs persistence hooks directly in your IDE settings, specifically modifying .vscode/tasks.json to trigger on folderOpen.
It's not exactly the kind of "worm" you want at a birthday party, but it's a stark reminder of why we need to move "Beyond SBOMs."
Mini Shai-Hulud: The Next Evolution of NPM Supply Chain Worms
A deep dive into the Mini Shai-Hulud attack, a sophisticated NPM worm that uses the Bun runtime to bypass security and targets developer agents for persistence.
dockersecurity.io
In better news, Docker Sandboxes (Beta) are helpful against Mini Shai-Hulud. They allow you to run your AI coding agents like Claude in an isolated microVM, preventing Mini Shai-Hulud-style attacks from compromising your development environment:
sbx run claude
🏛️ JCON Europe: The Commandos in Cologne
On April 20, I was at JCON Europe 2026 in Cologne, and delivered the "Java Supply Chain Security with Docker" workshop—a Java-focused adaptation of the Docker Commandos series.
The workshop is available as a Docker Labspace, providing a guided, interactive environment.
If you don't have the Labspace extension installed in Docker Desktop, you can still run the full mission locally using the OCI artifact:
docker compose -f oci://docker.io/aerabi/docker-commandos-labspace up -d
Learn more:
Java Supply Chain Security with Docker
The Docker Commandos workshop, adapted for Java developers, delivered at JCON Europe 2026.
dockersecurity.io
🎙️ Interview with Baruch Sadogursky
While at JCON, I sat down with the legendary Baruch Sadogursky (@jbaruch) for an interview with Tessl and JAVAPRO.
We discussed, surprise surprise, container supply chain security.
📰 JAVAPRO: "The Whispering JAR"
Speaking of JAVAPRO, my latest article for them also dropped during the conference: "The Whispering JAR: Java Security Lessons Hidden in a Fantasy Tale".
It's a narrative-driven look at the latest supply chain attacks hidden in a fantasy setting—similar in spirit to Black Forest Shadow, and happening right after the events of the book. It discusses the following attacks:
- NPM supply chain attack of September 2025
- The Shai-Hulud 1 and 2 attacks of late 2025
- React2Shell, the React-based remote code execution attack of late 2025
The Whispering JAR: Java Security Lessons Hidden in a Fantasy Tale
A narrative-driven look at Java security lessons hidden in a fantasy setting.
javapro.io
🐧 Foojay.io Debut
I am also thrilled to have published my first article on Foojay.io (the Friends of OpenJDK platform) this month: "Dockerizing a Java 26 Project with Docker Init".
Dockerizing a Java 26 Project with Docker Init
My debut article on Foojay.io, focusing on modern Java containerization best practices.
foojay.io
🎙️ JobRad Podcast: Writing a Tech Book
JobRad's tech podcast, Increase Cycle Time, is out, and I'm on it! 🎙️
I sat down with Holger Grosse-Plankermann and Urs Lange to talk about the behind-the-scenes of writing a tech book like Docker and Kubernetes Security. We discussed the research process, the challenges of keeping up with a fast-moving ecosystem, and what it takes to get from a rough draft to a published book.
Writing a Tech Book: Docker and Kubernetes Security
Behind-the-scenes interview on the JobRad tech podcast 'Increase Cycle Time'.
podigee.io
🤖 Book: Operational AI with Docker
I'm excited to announce that I served as a technical reviewer for the new book "Operational AI with Docker", published by Packt. As AI models become a standard part of our containerized workloads, this book is a fantastic guide for anyone looking to run LLMs in production using Docker.
🏔️ Upcoming: DevOpsDays Zurich & Berlin
Tomorrow, I'll be heading to DevOpsDays Zurich (May the 6th) to give my talk: "Beyond SBOMs: The Future of Container Supply Chain Security".
I'm happy to share that this talk was also accepted for WeAreDevelopers World Congress in Berlin this July. I can't wait to bring the Commandos to the big stage in Berlin! So, if you missed it in Zurich, we'll catch you in Berlin!
Until next time, and let's hope there are no more "gifts" from the universe in May!