WSO2 MI Docker image built via VS Code extension fails at startup: WSO2 Carbon initialization Failed Invalid UTF-8 start byte 0x93

Symptom When I build a MI Docker image using the WSO2 VS Code extension (Project Overview → Build Docker Image), the container fails on startup with this error:

2025-10-24 09:25:58.643 | [2025-10-24 08:25:58,641] FATAL {CoreServerInitializer} - WSO2 Carbon initialization Failed org.apache.axiom.om.OMException: com.ctc.wstx.exc.WstxIOException: Invalid UTF-8 start byte 0x93 (at char #2614, byte #-1) 2025-10-24 09:25:58.643 | at org.apache.axiom.om.impl.builder.StAXOMBuilder.next(StAXOMBuilder.java:296) 2025-10-24 09:25:58.643 | at org.apache.axiom.om.impl.llom.OMDocumentImpl.getOMDocumentElement(OMDocumentImpl.java:109) 2025-10-24 09:25:58.643 | at org.apache.axiom.om.impl.builder.StAXOMBuilder.getDocumentElement(StAXOMBuilder.java:570) 2025-10-24 09:25:58.643 | at org.apache.axiom.om.impl.builder.StAXOMBuilder.getDocumentElement(StAXOMBuilder.java:566) 2025-10-24 09:25:58.643 | at org.apache.axis2.util.XMLUtils.toOM(XMLUtils.java:592) 2025-10-24

However, if I build a simple Dockerfile myself, the same CAR deploys fine and the server starts:

FROM wso2/wso2mi:4.3.0
COPY CompositeApps/*.car ${WSO2_SERVER_HOME}/repository/deployment/server/carbonapps/

The MI extension’s generated Dockerfile originally looked like:

ARG BASE_IMAGE
FROM ${BASE_IMAGE}
COPY CompositeApps/*.car ${WSO2_SERVER_HOME}/repository/deployment/server/carbonapps/
COPY resources/wso2carbon.jks ${WSO2_SERVER_HOME}/repository/resources/security/wso2carbon.jks
COPY resources/client-truststore.jks ${WSO2_SERVER_HOME}/repository/resources/security/client-truststore.jks
# COPY libs/*.jar ${WSO2_SERVER_HOME}/lib/

Environment

• OS: Windows 10/11
• WSO2 Micro Integrator: 2.4.2 WSO2: MI extension + WSO2 MI 4.3.0 | 4.4.0 runtime (Project Overview → Build Docker Image)
• Docker Desktop (Windows)
• JDK 17 in the base image (wso2/wso2mi:4.3.0 | wso2/wso2mi:4.3.0)