diff --git a/doc/faqs/how-to-install-untrusted-packages-safely.md b/doc/faqs/how-to-install-untrusted-packages-safely.md
index 27a8b7efd..6048d1523 100644
--- a/doc/faqs/how-to-install-untrusted-packages-safely.md
+++ b/doc/faqs/how-to-install-untrusted-packages-safely.md
@@ -39,3 +39,10 @@ Also note that the `exec` command will always run third party code as the user w
 
 See the [COMPOSER_ALLOW_SUPERUSER](../03-cli.md#composer-allow-superuser) environment variable for
 more info on how to disable the warnings.
+
+## Running Composer inside Docker/Podman containers
+
+Composer makes a best effort attempt to detect that it runs inside a container and if so it will
+allow running as root without any further issues. If that detection fails however you will
+see warnings and plugins will be disabled unless you set the [COMPOSER_ALLOW_SUPERUSER](../03-cli.md#composer-allow-superuser)
+environment variable.
diff --git a/src/Composer/Console/Application.php b/src/Composer/Console/Application.php
index 2f3e2c4b1..217919bc0 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Console/Application.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Console/Application.php
@@ -218,11 +218,7 @@ class Application extends BaseApplication
         $needsSudoCheck = !Platform::isWindows()
             && function_exists('exec')
             && !Platform::getEnv('COMPOSER_ALLOW_SUPERUSER')
-            && (ini_get('open_basedir') || (
-                !file_exists('/.dockerenv')
-                && !file_exists('/run/.containerenv')
-                && !file_exists('/var/run/.containerenv')
-            ));
+            && !Platform::isDocker();
         $isNonAllowedRoot = false;
 
         // Clobber sudo credentials if COMPOSER_ALLOW_SUPERUSER is not set before loading plugins
diff --git a/src/Composer/Util/Platform.php b/src/Composer/Util/Platform.php
index 6266b0413..dd41904a0 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Util/Platform.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Util/Platform.php
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ class Platform
     private static $isVirtualBoxGuest = null;
     /** @var ?bool */
     private static $isWindowsSubsystemForLinux = null;
+    /** @var ?bool */
+    private static $isDocker = null;
 
     /**
      * getcwd() equivalent which always returns a string
@@ -153,12 +155,10 @@ class Platform
             }
 
             if (
-                !ini_get('open_basedir')
+                !(bool) ini_get('open_basedir')
                 && is_readable('/proc/version')
                 && false !== stripos((string)Silencer::call('file_get_contents', '/proc/version'), 'microsoft')
-                && !file_exists('/.dockerenv') // Docker and Podman running inside WSL should not be seen as WSL
-                && !file_exists('/run/.containerenv')
-                && !file_exists('/var/run/.containerenv')
+                && !self::isDocker() // Docker and Podman running inside WSL should not be seen as WSL
             ) {
                 return self::$isWindowsSubsystemForLinux = true;
             }
@@ -175,6 +175,40 @@ class Platform
         return \defined('PHP_WINDOWS_VERSION_BUILD');
     }
 
+    public static function isDocker(): bool
+    {
+        if (null !== self::$isDocker) {
+            return self::$isDocker;
+        }
+
+        // cannot check so assume no
+        if ((bool) ini_get('open_basedir')) {
+            return self::$isDocker = false;
+        }
+
+        // .dockerenv and .containerenv are present in some cases but not reliably
+        if (file_exists('/.dockerenv') || file_exists('/run/.containerenv') || file_exists('/var/run/.containerenv')) {
+            return self::$isDocker = true;
+        }
+
+        // see https://www.baeldung.com/linux/is-process-running-inside-container
+        $cgroups = [
+            '/proc/self/mountinfo', // cgroup v2
+            '/proc/1/cgroup', // cgroup v1
+        ];
+        foreach($cgroups as $cgroup) {
+            if (!is_readable($cgroup)) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            $data = file_get_contents($cgroup);
+            if (is_string($data) && str_contains($data, '/var/lib/docker/')) {
+                return self::$isDocker = true;
+            }
+        }
+
+        return self::$isDocker = false;
+    }
+
     /**
      * @return int    return a guaranteed binary length of the string, regardless of silly mbstring configs
      */