diff --git a/tests/utils_/test_numa_utils.py b/tests/utils_/test_numa_utils.py
index 0f615fb8c4..9f718703a7 100644
--- a/tests/utils_/test_numa_utils.py
+++ b/tests/utils_/test_numa_utils.py
@@ -464,3 +464,49 @@ def test_parallel_config_validates_numa_bind_nodes():
 def test_parallel_config_rejects_invalid_numa_bind_cpus(cpuset):
     with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="numa_bind_cpus"):
         ParallelConfig(numa_bind_cpus=[cpuset])
+
+
+def _fake_numactl_run(rejected_args):
+    """Fake ``numactl`` that fails when any of ``rejected_args`` is present."""
+
+    def run(cmd, *args, **kwargs):
+        arg_str = " ".join(cmd[1:-1])
+        ok = not any(bad in arg_str for bad in rejected_args)
+        return SimpleNamespace(returncode=0 if ok else 1)
+
+    return run
+
+
+def test_configure_subprocess_numa_fallback(monkeypatch):
+    import multiprocessing
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr("shutil.which", lambda name: "/usr/bin/numactl")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(numa_utils.envs, "VLLM_WORKER_MULTIPROC_METHOD", "spawn")
+    node_config = _make_config(numa_bind=True, numa_bind_nodes=[0])
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(numa_utils.subprocess, "run", _fake_numactl_run([]))
+    with numa_utils.configure_subprocess(node_config, local_rank=0):
+        assert os.environ[numa_utils._NUMACTL_ARGS_ENV] == "--cpunodebind=0 --membind=0"
+
+    membind_fails = _fake_numactl_run(["--membind="])
+    monkeypatch.setattr(numa_utils.subprocess, "run", membind_fails)
+    with numa_utils.configure_subprocess(node_config, local_rank=0):
+        assert os.environ[numa_utils._NUMACTL_ARGS_ENV] == "--cpunodebind=0"
+
+    cpu_config = _make_config(
+        numa_bind=True,
+        numa_bind_nodes=[0],
+        numa_bind_cpus=["0-3"],
+    )
+    with numa_utils.configure_subprocess(cpu_config, local_rank=0):
+        assert os.environ[numa_utils._NUMACTL_ARGS_ENV] == "--physcpubind=0-3"
+
+    before = multiprocessing.spawn.get_executable()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        numa_utils.subprocess,
+        "run",
+        _fake_numactl_run(["--cpunodebind=", "--membind="]),
+    )
+    with numa_utils.configure_subprocess(node_config, local_rank=0):
+        assert multiprocessing.spawn.get_executable() == before
+        assert numa_utils._NUMACTL_ARGS_ENV not in os.environ
diff --git a/vllm/utils/numa_utils.py b/vllm/utils/numa_utils.py
index 6e4b4b471c..2e52935ea6 100644
--- a/vllm/utils/numa_utils.py
+++ b/vllm/utils/numa_utils.py
@@ -473,6 +473,37 @@ def log_current_affinity_state(label: str) -> None:
     _log_numactl_show(label)
 
 
+def _probe_numactl_args(numactl_args: str) -> bool:
+    """Whether ``numactl <args> true`` succeeds in this (parent) environment."""
+    try:
+        result = subprocess.run(
+            ["numactl", *numactl_args.split(), "true"],
+            capture_output=True,
+            timeout=10,
+        )
+    except (OSError, subprocess.SubprocessError):
+        return False
+    return result.returncode == 0
+
+
+def _resolve_numactl_args(numactl_args: str) -> str:
+    """Drop ``--membind`` if the container rejects it, keeping CPU binding."""
+    cpu_only = " ".join(
+        t for t in numactl_args.split() if not t.startswith("--membind=")
+    )
+    for candidate in (numactl_args, cpu_only, ""):
+        if _probe_numactl_args(candidate):
+            if candidate != numactl_args:
+                logger.warning(
+                    "numactl args %r rejected; falling back to %r. Add "
+                    "--cap-add SYS_NICE for full NUMA binding.",
+                    numactl_args,
+                    candidate or "no binding",
+                )
+            return candidate
+    return ""
+
+
 @contextmanager
 def configure_subprocess(
     vllm_config: "VllmConfig",
@@ -500,6 +531,11 @@ def configure_subprocess(
         )
 
     executable, debug_str = _get_numactl_executable()
+    numactl_args = _resolve_numactl_args(numactl_args)
+    if not numactl_args:
+        # No NUMA binding possible here; launch without the wrapper.
+        yield
+        return
     python_executable = os.fsdecode(multiprocessing.spawn.get_executable())
     with (
         _set_numa_wrapper_env(numactl_args, python_executable),