Docker 4.58 CPU usage regularly spiking to high values

3 min read Original article ↗

Description

So yesterday I update my Docker Desktop and start up all my usual services for work. My computer starts lagging on various tasks even my browser, which is unheard of for my M1. Just last week I was running several workers in Docker, no issue, so I check my Activity Monitor:

Image

Yikes.... I tried recreating my services, only spinning up certain ones. Nothing helps. CPU usage just jumps whenever I start Docker.

So I reverted to 4.57, and that has put me back into a stable CPU pattern for now:

Image

So yeah, not entirely sure whats up. Unfortunately I can't provide many other debug steps, other than saying I was running a bunch of debian containers with ruby/rails services.

Reproduce

Install Docker 4.58, run a docker compose up -d on some docker services of your choosing.

Observe Activity Monitor. Assuming there's nothing unique about my setup, you'll CPU usage is noticeably higher.

Revert to Docker 4.57 using the Release Notes page.

(At least for me) CPU spiking stops and overall activity baseline is lower.

Expected behavior

No response

docker version

Client:
 Version:           29.1.5
 API version:       1.52
 Go version:        go1.25.6
 Git commit:        0e6fee6
 Built:             Fri Jan 16 12:47:44 2026
 OS/Arch:           darwin/arm64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.58.0 (216728)
 Engine:
  Version:          29.1.5
  API version:      1.52 (minimum version 1.44)
  Go version:       go1.25.6
  Git commit:       3b01d64
  Built:            Fri Jan 16 12:48:37 2026
  OS/Arch:          linux/arm64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          v2.2.1
  GitCommit:        dea7da592f5d1d2b7755e3a161be07f43fad8f75
 runc:
  Version:          1.3.4
  GitCommit:        v1.3.4-0-gd6d73eb8
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0

docker info

Client:
 Version:    29.1.5
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.17.1
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-ai
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.30.1-desktop.2
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v5.0.1
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.47
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-debug
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.0
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-desktop
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.31
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-extension
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.4.0
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-init
  mcp: Docker MCP Plugin (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.35.0
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-mcp
  model: Docker Model Runner (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.0.7
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-model
  offload: Docker Offload (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.5.41
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-offload
  pass: Docker Pass Secrets Manager Plugin (beta) (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.0.22
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-pass
  sandbox: Docker Sandbox (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.7.1
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-sandbox
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
    Version:  0.6.0
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-sbom
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.19.0
    Path:     /Users/john.crowe/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-scout

Server:
 Containers: 8
  Running: 6
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 2
 Images: 6
 Server Version: 29.1.5
 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
 CDI spec directories:
  /etc/cdi
  /var/run/cdi
 Discovered Devices:
  cdi: docker.com/gpu=webgpu
 Swarm: inactive
 Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 runc
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: dea7da592f5d1d2b7755e3a161be07f43fad8f75
 runc version: v1.3.4-0-gd6d73eb8
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: builtin
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 6.12.65-linuxkit
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: aarch64
 CPUs: 10
 Total Memory: 7.653GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: 1a0f119a-6f3c-4980-b179-901ba7100bb2
 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/john.crowe/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/docker-cli.sock
 Experimental: false
 Insecure Registries:
  hubproxy.docker.internal:5555
  ::1/128
  127.0.0.0/8
 Live Restore Enabled: false
 Firewall Backend: iptables

Diagnostics ID

70BBA952-E374-4B98-B03A-E6422F016491/20260127162341

Additional Info

No response