diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/lib/Dockerfile b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/lib/Dockerfile
index 54969bb5fde2c..21dbeeaaf2072 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/lib/Dockerfile
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/lib/Dockerfile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # The correct AWS SAM build image based on the runtime of the function will be
 # passed as build arg. The default allows to do `docker build .` when testing.
-ARG IMAGE=public.ecr.aws/sam/build-nodejs14.x
+ARG IMAGE=public.ecr.aws/sam/build-nodejs18.x
 FROM $IMAGE
 
 # Install yarn
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/test/docker.test.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/test/docker.test.ts
index d1b85dfcca2b8..9336d92f58b3a 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/test/docker.test.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs/test/docker.test.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 import { spawnSync } from 'child_process';
 import * as path from 'path';
 
+const docker = process.env.CDK_DOCKER ?? 'docker';
 beforeAll(() => {
-  spawnSync('docker', ['build', '-t', 'esbuild', path.join(__dirname, '../lib')]);
+  const process = spawnSync(docker, ['build', '-t', 'esbuild', path.join(__dirname, '../lib')], { stdio: 'inherit' });
+  expect(process.error).toBeUndefined();
+  expect(process.status).toBe(0);
 });
 
 test('esbuild is available', () => {