diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 792840db5b..14e78ff810 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -765,9 +765,9 @@ jobs:
               false
             fi
       - run:
-          name: "Verify Kurtosis cleaned up all its volumes (except for the log storage and github auth storage volumes)"
+          name: "Verify Kurtosis cleaned up all its volumes (except for the log storage, github auth storage, docker auth config storage volumes)"
           command: |
-            if ! [ $(docker volume ls | grep -v kurtosis-logs-collector-vol | grep -v kurtosis-logs-db-vol | tail -n+2 | wc -l ) -eq 2 ]; then
+            if ! [ $(docker volume ls | grep -v kurtosis-logs-collector-vol | grep -v kurtosis-logs-db-vol | tail -n+2 | wc -l ) -eq 3 ]; then
               docker volume ls
               false
             fi
diff --git a/container-engine-lib/lib/backend_impls/docker/docker_manager/docker_auth.go b/container-engine-lib/lib/backend_impls/docker/docker_manager/docker_auth.go
index 1f3879d7ff..e956126d92 100644
--- a/container-engine-lib/lib/backend_impls/docker/docker_manager/docker_auth.go
+++ b/container-engine-lib/lib/backend_impls/docker/docker_manager/docker_auth.go
@@ -40,19 +40,27 @@ func loadDockerAuth() (RegistryAuthConfig, error) {
 	if errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
 		// If the auth config doesn't exist, return an empty auth config
 		logrus.Debugf("No docker config found at '%s'. Returning empty registry auth config.", configFilePath)
-		return RegistryAuthConfig{}, nil
+		return emptyRegistryAuthConfig(), nil
 	} else if err != nil {
-		return RegistryAuthConfig{}, stacktrace.Propagate(err, "error reading Docker config file at '%s'", configFilePath)
+		return emptyRegistryAuthConfig(), stacktrace.Propagate(err, "error reading Docker config file at '%s'", configFilePath)
 	}
 
 	var authConfig RegistryAuthConfig
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(file, &authConfig); err != nil {
-		return RegistryAuthConfig{}, stacktrace.Propagate(err, "error unmarshalling Docker config file at '%s'", configFilePath)
+		return emptyRegistryAuthConfig(), stacktrace.Propagate(err, "error unmarshalling Docker config file at '%s'", configFilePath)
 	}
 
 	return authConfig, nil
 }
 
+func emptyRegistryAuthConfig() RegistryAuthConfig {
+	return RegistryAuthConfig{
+		Auths:       map[string]registry.AuthConfig{},
+		CredHelpers: map[string]string{},
+		CredsStore:  "",
+	}
+}
+
 // getRegistriesFromCredsStore fetches all registries from a Docker credential helper (credStore)
 func getRegistriesFromCredsStore(credHelper string) ([]string, error) {
 	credHelperCmd := "docker-credential-" + credHelper
@@ -105,7 +113,11 @@ func getCredentialsFromStore(credHelper string, registryURL string) (*registry.A
 		Username  string `json:"Username"`
 		Secret    string `json:"Secret"`
 		ServerURL string `json:"ServerURL"`
-	}{}
+	}{
+		Username:  "",
+		Secret:    "",
+		ServerURL: "",
+	}
 
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(out.Bytes(), &creds); err != nil {
 		return nil, stacktrace.Propagate(err, "error parsing credentials from store")