diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 6609ed7464..5f4c4ab35f 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -880,12 +880,15 @@ RUN if [ "${INSTALL_RUBIN_PRERELEASE}" = "true" ]; then \
 # `vllm snapshot`. CRIU and its CUDA plugin are built from the same pinned
 # source. The `cuda-checkpoint`-compatible helper is built from NVIDIA Dynamo's
 # Apache-2.0 source against the public CUDA Driver checkpoint APIs instead of
-# redistributing NVIDIA's proprietary cuda-checkpoint binary.
+# redistributing NVIDIA's proprietary cuda-checkpoint binary. The helper uses
+# checkpoint APIs (CUcheckpointGpuPair) that first appear in the CUDA 13
+# headers, so CUDA 12.x images skip the snapshot runtime.
 COPY tools/install_snapshot_runtime.sh /usr/local/bin/install_snapshot_runtime.sh
-RUN if [ "${TARGETPLATFORM}" = "linux/amd64" ]; then \
+RUN if [ "${TARGETPLATFORM}" = "linux/amd64" ] \
+        && [ "${CUDA_VERSION%%.*}" -ge 13 ]; then \
         MAX_JOBS="${max_jobs}" /usr/local/bin/install_snapshot_runtime.sh; \
     else \
-        echo "Initialized snapshots are not installed for ${TARGETPLATFORM}"; \
+        echo "Initialized snapshots are not installed for ${TARGETPLATFORM} with CUDA ${CUDA_VERSION}"; \
     fi
 
 ENV CRIU_CUDA_PLUGIN_DIR=/usr/local/lib/criu