diff --git a/client/container_create.go b/client/container_create.go
index 522a194c8c..94925d7b7f 100644
--- a/client/container_create.go
+++ b/client/container_create.go
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"net/url"
 	"path"
+	"sort"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/docker/docker/api/types/container"
 	"github.com/docker/docker/api/types/network"
@@ -52,6 +54,9 @@ func (cli *Client) ContainerCreate(ctx context.Context, config *container.Config
 			// When using API under 1.42, the Linux daemon doesn't respect the ConsoleSize
 			hostConfig.ConsoleSize = [2]uint{0, 0}
 		}
+
+		hostConfig.CapAdd = normalizeCapabilities(hostConfig.CapAdd)
+		hostConfig.CapDrop = normalizeCapabilities(hostConfig.CapDrop)
 	}
 
 	// Since API 1.44, the container-wide MacAddress is deprecated and will trigger a WARNING if it's specified.
@@ -108,3 +113,42 @@ func hasEndpointSpecificMacAddress(networkingConfig *network.NetworkingConfig) b
 	}
 	return false
 }
+
+// allCapabilities is a magic value for "all capabilities"
+const allCapabilities = "ALL"
+
+// normalizeCapabilities normalizes capabilities to their canonical form,
+// removes duplicates, and sorts the results.
+//
+// It is similar to [github.com/docker/docker/oci/caps.NormalizeLegacyCapabilities],
+// but performs no validation based on supported capabilities.
+func normalizeCapabilities(caps []string) []string {
+	var normalized []string
+
+	unique := make(map[string]struct{})
+	for _, c := range caps {
+		c = normalizeCap(c)
+		if _, ok := unique[c]; ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		unique[c] = struct{}{}
+		normalized = append(normalized, c)
+	}
+
+	sort.Strings(normalized)
+	return normalized
+}
+
+// normalizeCap normalizes a capability to its canonical format by upper-casing
+// and adding a "CAP_" prefix (if not yet present). It also accepts the "ALL"
+// magic-value.
+func normalizeCap(cap string) string {
+	cap = strings.ToUpper(cap)
+	if cap == allCapabilities {
+		return cap
+	}
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(cap, "CAP_") {
+		cap = "CAP_" + cap
+	}
+	return cap
+}
diff --git a/client/container_create_test.go b/client/container_create_test.go
index 46e8cf79e2..1a1ea62280 100644
--- a/client/container_create_test.go
+++ b/client/container_create_test.go
@@ -125,3 +125,52 @@ func TestContainerCreateConnectionError(t *testing.T) {
 	_, err = client.ContainerCreate(context.Background(), nil, nil, nil, nil, "")
 	assert.Check(t, is.ErrorType(err, IsErrConnectionFailed))
 }
+
+// TestContainerCreateCapabilities verifies that CapAdd and CapDrop capabilities
+// are normalized to their canonical form.
+func TestContainerCreateCapabilities(t *testing.T) {
+	inputCaps := []string{
+		"all",
+		"ALL",
+		"capability_b",
+		"capability_a",
+		"capability_c",
+		"CAPABILITY_D",
+		"CAP_CAPABILITY_D",
+	}
+
+	expectedCaps := []string{
+		"ALL",
+		"CAP_CAPABILITY_A",
+		"CAP_CAPABILITY_B",
+		"CAP_CAPABILITY_C",
+		"CAP_CAPABILITY_D",
+	}
+
+	client := &Client{
+		client: newMockClient(func(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
+			var config container.CreateRequest
+
+			if err := json.NewDecoder(req.Body).Decode(&config); err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			assert.Check(t, is.DeepEqual([]string(config.HostConfig.CapAdd), expectedCaps))
+			assert.Check(t, is.DeepEqual([]string(config.HostConfig.CapDrop), expectedCaps))
+
+			b, err := json.Marshal(container.CreateResponse{
+				ID: "container_id",
+			})
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, err
+			}
+			return &http.Response{
+				StatusCode: http.StatusOK,
+				Body:       io.NopCloser(bytes.NewReader(b)),
+			}, nil
+		}),
+		version: "1.24",
+	}
+
+	_, err := client.ContainerCreate(context.Background(), nil, &container.HostConfig{CapAdd: inputCaps, CapDrop: inputCaps}, nil, nil, "")
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+}