How to fix Exited (139) - Container terminated with SIGSEGV in Docker

# Confirm exit code 139
docker inspect --format '{{.State.ExitCode}}' <container-id>
# Output: 139

# Check container state details
docker inspect --format '{{json .State}}' <container-id> | jq

# View kernel segfault messages on the host
dmesg | tail -50 | grep -i segfault

# Or with journalctl
journalctl -k --since "10 minutes ago" | grep -i segfault

[12345.678] myapp[1234]: segfault at 0 ip 00007f8a12345678 sp 00007ffc87654321 error 4 in libc.so.6

# View container logs (may be empty for immediate crashes)
docker logs <container-id>
docker logs --tail 100 <container-id>

# Check if the container ever started successfully
docker ps -a --filter 'name=<container-name>'

# Look at container events
docker events --filter 'container=<container-id>' --since 1h

# Check host architecture
uname -m
# Output: x86_64 or aarch64

# Check image architecture
docker image inspect <image> --format '{{.Architecture}}'

# Check binary inside container
docker run --rm -it <image> file /path/to/binary
# Expected: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64

# Force specific platform when running
docker run --platform linux/amd64 <image>

# Build for specific platform
docker build --platform linux/amd64 -t myapp:amd64 .
docker build --platform linux/arm64 -t myapp:arm64 .

# Enter container to inspect
docker run --rm -it <image> /bin/sh

# Check shared library dependencies
ldd /path/to/binary

# Look for missing libraries
ldd /path/to/binary | grep 'not found'

# Check glibc version
ldd --version

# Instead of Alpine
FROM python:3.11-alpine

# Use Debian-based image
FROM python:3.11-slim

# Or add glibc compatibility to Alpine
RUN apk add --no-cache libc6-compat

# Run interactively to test
docker run --rm -it <image> /bin/bash

# Inside container, run the application manually
./your-application

# If available, test on host directly
./your-application

# On host: enable core dumps
ulimit -c unlimited
echo '/tmp/core.%e.%p.%t' | sudo tee /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern

# Run container with core dump support
docker run --rm -it \
  --ulimit core=-1 \
  --cap-add SYS_PTRACE \
  -v /tmp:/tmp \
  <image> /bin/bash

# Run the application
./your-application

# After crash, core dump appears in /tmp
ls -la /tmp/core.*

# Install gdb if needed
apt-get update && apt-get install -y gdb

# Load core dump
gdb /path/to/binary /tmp/core.myapp.12345.1234567890

# Get backtrace
(gdb) bt
(gdb) bt full
(gdb) info registers

# Run under GDB
docker run --rm -it --cap-add SYS_PTRACE <image> /bin/bash
apt-get update && apt-get install -y gdb
gdb ./your-application
(gdb) run
# After crash:
(gdb) bt         # Backtrace
(gdb) frame 0    # Examine crash frame
(gdb) list       # Show source (if debug symbols present)

# Compile with ASan
gcc -fsanitize=address -g -o myapp myapp.c

# Run - ASan provides detailed memory error reports
./myapp

# Example ASan output:
# ==12345==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: SEGV on unknown address
# ==12345==The signal is caused by a READ memory access.

import faulthandler
faulthandler.enable()
# Now Python will print traceback on SIGSEGV

# Update base image to latest stable
FROM node:20-slim  # Instead of node:18
FROM python:3.12-slim  # Instead of python:3.9

# Update all packages
RUN apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y && apt-get clean

# For Python - force reinstall native packages
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir --force-reinstall numpy pandas

# For Node.js - rebuild native modules
RUN npm rebuild

# Build from source to match container environment
RUN pip install --no-binary :all: cryptography

docker pull <image>:latest
docker build --no-cache -t myapp .

# Check if running under WSL2
cat /proc/version | grep -i microsoft

# Try vsyscall emulation for older binaries
# Create %userprofile%\.wslconfig:
[wsl2]
kernelCommandLine = vsyscall=emulate

# Restart WSL
wsl --shutdown
# Then restart Docker Desktop

# Avoid very old images
FROM centos:7  # Instead of centos:6
FROM ubuntu:22.04  # Instead of ubuntu:16.04

# Test without seccomp (usually causes EPERM, not SIGSEGV)
docker run --security-opt seccomp=unconfined <image>

# Test without AppArmor
docker run --security-opt apparmor=unconfined <image>

# Add all capabilities for testing
docker run --privileged <image>

# Check for memory errors in kernel log
dmesg | grep -i 'memory\|hardware\|mce'

# Run memory test (requires reboot)
# Boot into memtest86+ from BIOS/UEFI

# Check disk health
sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda

# Monitor system during container run
watch -n 1 'free -m; vmstat 1 1'