diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
index d1e1d54ec03..1f51ada27b5 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
   "runArgs": [
     "--name=mongo-dev-${containerWorkspaceFolderBasename}-${devcontainerId}"
   ],
+  "initializeCommand": "${localWorkspaceFolder}/.devcontainer/initialize.sh",
   "build": {
     "dockerfile": "./Dockerfile",
     "context": "..",
diff --git a/.devcontainer/initialize.sh b/.devcontainer/initialize.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..99c4f8381c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.devcontainer/initialize.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# MongoDB Development Container Host Initialization Script
+# This script runs on the host machine before the container starts.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Configure core dump pattern in the Docker VM
+# This is a kernel-level setting that cannot be modified from within unprivileged containers,
+# so we use nsenter to enter the Docker VM's mount namespace and set it there.
+echo "Configuring core dump pattern in Docker VM..."
+docker run --rm --privileged --pid=host \
+    alpine:3.22.2@sha256:4b7ce07002c69e8f3d704a9c5d6fd3053be500b7f1c69fc0d80990c2ad8dd412 \
+    nsenter -t 1 -m -- sh -c "echo 'dump_%e.%p.core' > /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern" \
+    2>/dev/null || {
+    echo "Warning: Could not set core dump pattern (this is expected on non-Docker Desktop environments)"
+}
+
+echo "Host initialization complete"
diff --git a/evergreen/devcontainer_test.sh b/evergreen/devcontainer_test.sh
index aa6ba06eeab..0f7aa108bc7 100755
--- a/evergreen/devcontainer_test.sh
+++ b/evergreen/devcontainer_test.sh
@@ -96,6 +96,17 @@ devcontainer_run() {
     devcontainer exec --workspace-folder . --id-label "test-id=${TEST_ID}" --remote-env CI=true "$@"
 }
 
+echo "Checking core dump pattern configuration..."
+CORE_PATTERN=$(devcontainer_run cat /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern)
+if [[ "$CORE_PATTERN" == "dump_%e.%p.core" ]]; then
+    echo "✓ Core dump pattern correctly set to: $CORE_PATTERN"
+else
+    echo "✗ Core dump pattern is: $CORE_PATTERN (expected: dump_%e.%p.core)"
+    echo "  The initializeCommand may have failed to set the kernel parameter"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+echo ""
 echo "Checking GCC version..."
 devcontainer_run gcc --version