diff --git a/cmd/urunc/create.go b/cmd/urunc/create.go
index 8911eae2..b016cb10 100644
--- a/cmd/urunc/create.go
+++ b/cmd/urunc/create.go
@@ -90,8 +90,7 @@ var createCommand = &cli.Command{
 func createUnikontainer(cmd *cli.Command, uruncCfg *unikontainers.UruncConfig) (err error) {
 	err = nil
 	containerID := cmd.Args().First()
-	if containerID == "" {
-		err = fmt.Errorf("container id cannot be empty")
+	if err = unikontainers.ValidateID(containerID); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	metrics.SetLoggerContainerID(containerID)
diff --git a/cmd/urunc/delete.go b/cmd/urunc/delete.go
index 7ba25ec0..3817c64c 100644
--- a/cmd/urunc/delete.go
+++ b/cmd/urunc/delete.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/urfave/cli/v3"
+	"github.com/urunc-dev/urunc/pkg/unikontainers"
 )
 
 var deleteCommand = &cli.Command{
@@ -58,8 +59,8 @@ status of "ubuntu01" as "stopped" the following will delete resources held for
 		if err != nil {
 			if errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
 				containerID := cmd.Args().First()
-				if containerID == "" {
-					return ErrEmptyContainerID
+				if err = unikontainers.ValidateID(containerID); err != nil {
+					return err
 				}
 				rootDir := cmd.String("root")
 				containerDir := filepath.Join(rootDir, containerID)
diff --git a/cmd/urunc/utils.go b/cmd/urunc/utils.go
index 2773d765..74a8ad28 100644
--- a/cmd/urunc/utils.go
+++ b/cmd/urunc/utils.go
@@ -36,8 +36,6 @@ const (
 	maxArgs          // Checks for a maximum number of arguments.
 )
 
-var ErrEmptyContainerID = errors.New("container ID can not be empty")
-
 // checkArgs checks the number of arguments provided in the command-line context
 // against the expected number, based on the specified checkType.
 func checkArgs(cmd *cli.Command, expected, checkType int) error {
@@ -69,8 +67,8 @@ func checkArgs(cmd *cli.Command, expected, checkType int) error {
 
 func getUnikontainer(cmd *cli.Command) (*unikontainers.Unikontainer, error) {
 	containerID := cmd.Args().First()
-	if containerID == "" {
-		return nil, ErrEmptyContainerID
+	if err := unikontainers.ValidateID(containerID); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	// We have already made sure in main.go that root is not nil
diff --git a/pkg/unikontainers/unikontainers.go b/pkg/unikontainers/unikontainers.go
index a3a00bb5..4d7b9069 100644
--- a/pkg/unikontainers/unikontainers.go
+++ b/pkg/unikontainers/unikontainers.go
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ var uniklog = logrus.WithField("subsystem", "unikontainers")
 var ErrQueueProxy = errors.New("this a queue proxy container")
 var ErrNotUnikernel = errors.New("this is not a unikernel container")
 var ErrNotExistingNS = errors.New("the namespace does not exist")
+var ErrInvalidContainerID = errors.New("invalid container ID")
 
 // Unikontainer holds the data necessary to create, manage and delete unikernel containers
 type Unikontainer struct {
@@ -63,8 +64,30 @@ type Unikontainer struct {
 	Conn     *net.UnixConn
 }
 
+// ValidateID checks containerID against the allowed character set,
+func ValidateID(id string) error {
+	if id == "" {
+		return ErrInvalidContainerID
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < len(id); i++ {
+		c := id[i]
+		switch {
+		case c >= 'a' && c <= 'z':
+		case c >= 'A' && c <= 'Z':
+		case c >= '0' && c <= '9':
+		case c == '_', c == '+', c == '-', c == '.':
+		default:
+			return fmt.Errorf("%w: invalid character %q in id %q", ErrInvalidContainerID, c, id)
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // New parses the bundle and creates a new Unikontainer object
 func New(bundlePath string, containerID string, rootDir string, cfg *UruncConfig) (*Unikontainer, error) {
+	if err := ValidateID(containerID); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 	spec, err := loadSpec(bundlePath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -113,6 +136,9 @@ func New(bundlePath string, containerID string, rootDir string, cfg *UruncConfig
 
 // Get retrieves unikernel data from disk to create a Unikontainer object
 func Get(containerID string, rootDir string) (*Unikontainer, error) {
+	if err := ValidateID(containerID); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
 	u := &Unikontainer{}
 	containerDir := filepath.Join(rootDir, containerID)
 	stateFilePath := filepath.Join(containerDir, stateFilename)