diff --git a/base/images/images.toml b/base/images/images.toml
index b454c4237ec..ec1bd77c930 100644
--- a/base/images/images.toml
+++ b/base/images/images.toml
@@ -95,14 +95,35 @@ runtime-package-management = true
 [images.container-distroless-minimal]
 description = "Container Distroless Minimal Image"
 definition = { type = "kiwi", path = "container-base/container-base.kiwi", profile = "distroless-minimal" }
+tests.test-suites = [{ name = "static-image-checks" }]
+
+[images.container-distroless-minimal.capabilities]
+machine-bootable = false
+container = true
+systemd = false
+runtime-package-management = false
 
 [images.container-distroless-base]
 description = "Container Distroless Base Image"
 definition = { type = "kiwi", path = "container-base/container-base.kiwi", profile = "distroless-base" }
+tests.test-suites = [{ name = "static-image-checks" }]
+
+[images.container-distroless-base.capabilities]
+machine-bootable = false
+container = true
+systemd = false
+runtime-package-management = false
 
 [images.container-distroless-debug]
 description = "Container Distroless Debug Image"
 definition = { type = "kiwi", path = "container-base/container-base.kiwi", profile = "distroless-debug" }
+tests.test-suites = [{ name = "static-image-checks" }]
+
+[images.container-distroless-debug.capabilities]
+machine-bootable = false
+container = true
+systemd = false
+runtime-package-management = false
 
 # ---- wsl ---------------------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/base/images/tests/README.md b/base/images/tests/README.md
index ea1202d6e68..3ef265035b6 100644
--- a/base/images/tests/README.md
+++ b/base/images/tests/README.md
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ base/images/
     │   └── tools.py                     # Native-tool registry
     └── cases/                           # Test cases
         ├── test_os_release.py           # Shared: /etc/os-release
+        ├── test_oci_config.py           # Shared (container): OCI Config.User unset
         ├── test_packages.py             # Shared: rpm-db checks (capability-gated)
         ├── vm-base/                     # VM-specific tests (auto-restricted to the vm-base family — vm-base, vm-base-dev)
         │   ├── test_kernel.py
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ base/images/
 | `capabilities` | session | `set[str]` | Parsed `--capabilities` |
 | `workdir` | session | `Path` | Working directory for mounts/extractions |
 | `rootfs` | session | `Path` | Mounted/extracted root filesystem |
+| `oci_image_config` | session | `dict[str, object]` | Parsed `skopeo inspect --config` output (use with `@pytest.mark.require_capability("container")`) |
 | `os_release` | session | `dict[str, str]` | Parsed `/etc/os-release` |
 | `installed_packages` | session | `set[str]` | Installed RPM names (`rpm --root`) |
 | `disk_info` | session | `DiskInfo \| None` | VM only |
diff --git a/base/images/tests/cases/test_oci_config.py b/base/images/tests/cases/test_oci_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..67a6a124af8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/base/images/tests/cases/test_oci_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+"""OCI image-config validation (container images).
+
+Shared test (not under a ``cases/<family>/`` directory) so it applies to
+every container image family — both ``core`` (container-base) and the
+``distroless-*`` variants. Gated on the ``container`` capability via
+``@pytest.mark.require_capability`` so it only runs for container images
+(VM images, which declare ``container = false``, are skipped).
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import pytest
+
+
+@pytest.mark.require_capability("container")
+def test_no_explicit_config_user(oci_image_config: dict[str, object]) -> None:
+    """OCI ``Config.User`` must be unset.
+
+    Azure Linux base/distroless images intentionally leave ``Config.User``
+    unset (matching AZL 3.0 and mainstream base images such as Debian,
+    Ubuntu, Alpine, UBI, Fedora). The OCI runtime default for an unset
+    user is uid 0, so this does not change effective runtime behavior, but
+    explicitly declaring a user diverges from that convention. An explicit
+    empty string still counts as "set" and must therefore also fail.
+    """
+    config = oci_image_config.get("config")
+    assert isinstance(config, dict), (
+        f"OCI image config has no 'config' object (got {type(config).__name__}); "
+        f"cannot validate Config.User. Full inspect output: {oci_image_config!r}"
+    )
+    assert "User" not in config, (
+        "OCI Config.User must be unset, but the image explicitly declares "
+        f"User={config['User']!r}. Remove the user attribute from the kiwi "
+        "<containerconfig> so the published manifest leaves Config.User unset."
+    )
diff --git a/base/images/tests/conftest.py b/base/images/tests/conftest.py
index 66f06ba29b3..9907f1d750e 100644
--- a/base/images/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/base/images/tests/conftest.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 from utils.disk import inspect_disk
 from utils.extract import (
+    inspect_oci_config,
     mount_container_image,
     mount_vm_image,
     unmount_container_image,
@@ -160,6 +161,19 @@ def rootfs(image_path: Path, image_type: str, workdir: Path) -> Path:
         unmount_container_image(container_dir)
 
 
+@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
+def oci_image_config(image_path: Path) -> dict[str, object]:
+    """Return the parsed OCI image config.
+
+    Only meaningful for container images; tests using this fixture gate on
+    the ``container`` capability via
+    ``@pytest.mark.require_capability("container")``.
+    """
+    config = inspect_oci_config(image_path)
+    logger.info("OCI image config.config keys: %s", sorted(config.get("config", {})))
+    return config
+
+
 @pytest.fixture(scope="session")
 def disk_info(image_path: Path, image_type: str) -> DiskInfo | None:
     """Partition/filesystem info — ``None`` for container images."""
diff --git a/base/images/tests/utils/extract.py b/base/images/tests/utils/extract.py
index 7a99fa953b4..7b616b99d54 100644
--- a/base/images/tests/utils/extract.py
+++ b/base/images/tests/utils/extract.py
@@ -7,10 +7,12 @@
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import json
 import logging
 import os
 import subprocess
 from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Any
 
 from .tools import NativeTool
 
@@ -202,3 +204,24 @@ def unmount_container_image(extract_dir: Path) -> None:
             result.returncode,
             result.stderr.strip(),
         )
+
+
+def inspect_oci_config(image_path: Path) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Return the OCI image configuration for a container archive.
+
+    Runs ``skopeo inspect --config`` against the OCI archive and parses
+    the resulting JSON (the OCI image config, which carries the
+    ``config`` object with ``User``, ``Cmd``, ``WorkingDir``, etc.).
+    Unlike rootfs extraction this needs only ``skopeo`` — no umoci unpack.
+    """
+    image_path = image_path.resolve()
+    logger.info("Inspecting OCI image config: %s", image_path)
+    result = _run(
+        [
+            SKOPEO.name,
+            "inspect",
+            "--config",
+            f"oci-archive:{image_path}",
+        ]
+    )
+    return json.loads(result.stdout)