Docker Desktop 4.64 and 4.65 exhausting file descriptors with VirtioFS

[mikesdnielsen]

Bug report

When running Docker Desktop and using docker compose up that Virtualization.framework goes from using around 30 file descriptors to over 230.000. I've tried to bump my maximum ulimit to around 500.000 but the system still exhausts this.

I tried to switch from VirtioFS to the older gRPC Fuse but the system is still eating up file descriptors, albeit at a slower rate.

I'm running a Macbook Pro M4 Max with 128GB and when this happens, macOS starts shutting down apps at random and becomes very unresponsive.

Here is a debug command crafted with the help of Claude:

sudo lsof -n 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $2}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20 | while read count pid; do
  name=$(ps -p "$pid" -o comm= 2>/dev/null || echo "dead")
  printf "%6d  %6d  %s\n" "$count" "$pid" "$name"
done
232419    4989  /System/Library/Frameworks/Virtualization.framework/Versions/A/XPCServices/com.apple.Virtualization.VirtualMachine.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.Virtualization.VirtualMachine

Downgrading to 4.64 seems to help if I also switch to gRPC Fuse. If I switch back to VirtioFS, the File Descriptors are immediately exhausted.

Sorry,

Platform

macOS

Version information

(Note: this is from the downgraded version). 
Client:
 Version:           29.2.1
 API version:       1.53
 Go version:        go1.25.6
 Git commit:        a5c7197
 Built:             Mon Feb  2 17:16:37 2026
 OS/Arch:           darwin/arm64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.64.0 (221278)
 Engine:
  Version:          29.2.1
  API version:      1.53 (minimum version 1.44)
  Go version:       go1.25.6
  Git commit:       6bc6209
  Built:            Mon Feb  2 17:16:47 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
Client:
 Version:    29.2.1
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  agent: create or run AI agents (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.27.1
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-agent
  ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.18.0
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-ai
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.31.1-desktop.1
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v5.1.0
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.47
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-debug
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.3.0
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-desktop
  dhi: CLI for managing Docker Hardened Images (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.0.1
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-dhi
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.31
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-extension
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.4.0
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-init
  mcp: Docker MCP Plugin (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.40.2
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-mcp
  model: Docker Model Runner (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.1.5
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-model
  offload: Docker Offload (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.5.56
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-offload
  pass: Docker Pass Secrets Manager Plugin (beta) (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.0.24
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-pass
  sandbox: Docker Sandbox (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.12.0
    Path:     /Users/mike/.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/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-sbom
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.20.0
    Path:     /Users/mike/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-scout

Server:
 Containers: 8
  Running: 8
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 0
 Images: 6
 Server Version: 29.2.1
 Storage Driver: overlayfs
  driver-type: io.containerd.snapshotter.v1
 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: 6.12.72-linuxkit
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: aarch64
 CPUs: 4
 Total Memory: 39.11GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: 0531a68f-6f50-4caf-804a-6a30d574d414
 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/mike/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

BA483284-14B8-445B-AFCC-14BCC1069E51/20260320123823

[mikesdnielsen]

Some additional findings here. It seems like com.apple.Virtualization.VirtualMachine is also racking up file descriptors when Claude is running on Code or Cowork. The issue may not be related to Docker Desktop itself, as both things seem to cause this.

I can see the file descriptors sky rocket as soon as I launch something with docker compose up .