Official Docker image (latest) fails to start: PF_RING version mismatch (expected v9.2.0 found v9.3.0)

[Darry1968]

Environment

• OS: Ubuntu 26.04
• Docker: Docker version 29.6.2, build dfc4efb
• Image: ntop/ntopng:latest
• Image Digest: sha256:3e3d1027e1cedc9e6bb577af5cf066e1fc46598ad4a7ff02fe1a3bc7fd3aae37

Description

The official ntop/ntopng:latest Docker image fails to start due to a PF_RING version mismatch. The issue occurs even when following the official Docker Hub documentation exactly.

Steps to Reproduce

Run the official command from the Docker Hub page:

docker run -it --net=host ntop/ntopng:latest -i eth0

Alternatively, simply running:

docker run --rm ntop/ntopng:latest ntopng --version

also results in the same failure.

Expected Behavior

The container should start normally and initialize ntopng.

Actual Behavior

The container exits immediately with the following error:

Starting redis-server: redis-server.
04/Aug/2026 09:04:20 [Redis.cpp:167] Successfully connected to redis 127.0.0.1:6379@0
04/Aug/2026 09:04:20 [Redis.cpp:167] Successfully connected to redis 127.0.0.1:6379@0
04/Aug/2026 09:04:21 [NtopPro.cpp:443] [LICENSE] No license file found /etc/ntopng.license: reading license from redis
04/Aug/2026 09:04:21 [NtopPro.cpp:645] [LICENSE] Unable to validate license [Empty license file]
04/Aug/2026 09:04:21 [NtopPro.cpp:709] WARNING: [LICENSE] Invalid license [Empty license file]
04/Aug/2026 09:04:21 [NtopPro.cpp:716] WARNING: [LICENSE] Your license is expired on (null)
04/Aug/2026 09:04:21 [NtopPro.cpp:722] WARNING: [LICENSE] ntopng will start in community mode. You can buy a license at http://shop.ntop.org
04/Aug/2026 09:04:21 [PF_RINGInterface.cpp:62] ERROR: PF_RING version mismatch (expected v.9.2.0 found v.9.3.0)

Additional Information

The installed PF_RING package inside the container reports version 9.2.0:

docker run --rm --entrypoint sh ntop/ntopng:latest -c 'dpkg -l | grep -i pfring'

Output:

ii  pfring  9.2.0-10721  amd64  PF_RING (http://www.ntop.org/pf_ring/) [9.2.0-stable:5923ae623b651cdd3f1fe718fe397de3b445714c]

However, ntopng aborts during startup because it detects PF_RING v9.3.0 at runtime:

ERROR: PF_RING version mismatch (expected v.9.2.0 found v.9.3.0)

Notes

• The issue is reproducible on a clean Ubuntu 26.04 installation.
• The issue occurs with the official latest image pulled from Docker Hub.
• The image digest matches the current Docker Hub digest:
  sha256:3e3d1027e1cedc9e6bb577af5cf066e1fc46598ad4a7ff02fe1a3bc7fd3aae37
• The issue occurs without any custom Docker Compose configuration by using the exact command provided in the official Docker Hub documentation.

This appears to be an issue with the current Docker image rather than the host configuration.

[cardigliano]

It seems you are running 9.3.0 on the host, 9.2.0 in the container. Please move to 9.2 in the host (https://www.ntop.org/faq/how-can-i-switch-from-stable-to-dev-builds-or-vice-versa/)

[Darry1968]

Thanks for the clarification.

Is downgrading the host to PF_RING 9.2.0 the recommended workaround for now, or are you planning to publish a new ntop/ntopng:latest image built against PF_RING 9.3.0?

I'm asking because the current Docker image on Docker Hub appears to ship with PF_RING 9.2.0, while the host packages are now at 9.3.0, which results in the version mismatch.

[cardigliano]

You probably want to use the dev image: https://hub.docker.com/r/ntop/ntopng.dev