diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile.non_root b/docker/Dockerfile.non_root
index fda591df083..431bd49fbc8 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile.non_root
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile.non_root
@@ -41,8 +41,15 @@ COPY . .
 ENV LITELLM_NON_ROOT=true
 
 # Build Admin UI using the upstream command order while keeping a single RUN layer
+# NOTE: .npmrc (which has ignore-scripts=true and min-release-age=3d) is temporarily
+# renamed during npm install/ci. This is safe because npm ci installs from
+# package-lock.json with pinned versions + integrity hashes.
 RUN mkdir -p /var/lib/litellm/ui && \
-    npm install -g npm@latest && npm cache clean --force && \
+    [ -f /app/.npmrc ] && mv /app/.npmrc /app/.npmrc.bak || true && \
+    npm install -g npm@11.12.1 && \
+    npm install -g node-gyp@12.2.0 && \
+    ln -sf /usr/local/lib/node_modules/node-gyp /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp && \
+    npm cache clean --force && \
     cd /app/ui/litellm-dashboard && \
     if [ -f "/app/enterprise/enterprise_ui/enterprise_colors.json" ]; then \
       cp /app/enterprise/enterprise_ui/enterprise_colors.json ./ui_colors.json; \