diff --git a/smite-nyx-sys/src/jvm-crash-handler.c b/smite-nyx-sys/src/jvm-crash-handler.c
index 5c4fbde..272c8a4 100644
--- a/smite-nyx-sys/src/jvm-crash-handler.c
+++ b/smite-nyx-sys/src/jvm-crash-handler.c
@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@
 ///
 /// Crashes are reported for ALL exit codes (including code 0). Any exit
 /// triggered by a peer message is a bug, since an offline LN node cannot
-/// enforce contracts on chain.
+/// enforce contracts on chain. Exits that occur during node startup are not
+/// reported since Eclair runs various external binaries during startup that
+/// are expected to exit.
 ///
 /// Note that our fuzz scenarios send SIGTERM to shut down LN nodes when done
 /// running in local mode. The JVM calls exit(143) in this case, which triggers
@@ -42,6 +44,13 @@
 #include "nyx.h"
 #endif
 
+// Must match STARTUP_COMPLETE_MARKER in smite/src/runners.rs.
+#define STARTUP_COMPLETE_MARKER "/tmp/smite-startup-complete"
+
+static int startup_complete(void) {
+  return access(STARTUP_COMPLETE_MARKER, F_OK) == 0;
+}
+
 static void report_crash(const char *reason, int code) {
   char buf[256];
   int len = snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%s (code %d)\n", reason, code);
@@ -62,14 +71,16 @@ static void report_crash(const char *reason, int code) {
 
 // Override exit(). The JVM routes all normal termination through exit().
 void exit(int status) {
-  report_crash("exit", status);
+  if (startup_complete())
+    report_crash("exit", status);
   syscall(SYS_exit_group, status);
   __builtin_unreachable();
 }
 
 // Override abort(). The JVM calls abort() for crash dumps (SIGSEGV, etc.).
 void abort(void) {
-  report_crash("abort", 134);
+  if (startup_complete())
+    report_crash("abort", 134);
   syscall(SYS_exit_group, 134);
   __builtin_unreachable();
 }
diff --git a/smite-scenarios/src/targets/eclair.rs b/smite-scenarios/src/targets/eclair.rs
index e4c1931..8a0a561 100644
--- a/smite-scenarios/src/targets/eclair.rs
+++ b/smite-scenarios/src/targets/eclair.rs
@@ -118,11 +118,14 @@ impl EclairTarget {
         Self::write_config(config, &eclair_dir)?;
 
         let mut cmd = Command::new("eclair-node.sh");
-        // Skip java_version_check() in eclair-node.sh. It runs `java -version`,
-        // which inherits our crash handler wrapper and could trigger a false
-        // crash report on exit().
-        cmd.arg("-no-version-check")
-            .arg(format!("-Declair.datadir={}", eclair_dir.display()))
+
+        // LD_PRELOAD the crash handler to report crashes immediately (before
+        // process teardown closes TCP sockets).
+        if let Ok(handler) = std::env::var("SMITE_CRASH_HANDLER") {
+            cmd.env("LD_PRELOAD", handler);
+        }
+
+        cmd.arg(format!("-Declair.datadir={}", eclair_dir.display()))
             .stdout(Stdio::null())
             .stderr(Stdio::null());
 
diff --git a/smite/src/runners.rs b/smite/src/runners.rs
index 33411ca..23d9ecb 100644
--- a/smite/src/runners.rs
+++ b/smite/src/runners.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,15 @@
 #[cfg(feature = "nyx")]
 use smite_nyx_sys::{nyx_fail, nyx_get_fuzz_input, nyx_init, nyx_release, nyx_skip};
 
+/// Marker file created right before the first fuzz input is delivered, so
+/// crash handlers can filter out expected subprocess exits that occur during
+/// node startup.
+const STARTUP_COMPLETE_MARKER: &str = "/tmp/smite-startup-complete";
+
+fn create_startup_complete_marker() {
+    let _ = std::fs::File::create(STARTUP_COMPLETE_MARKER);
+}
+
 /// `Runner` provides an abstraction for a smite test case runner (e.g. run under nyx,
 /// local system for reproduction, etc.)
 pub trait Runner {
@@ -36,6 +45,9 @@ impl Runner for LocalRunner {
 
     fn get_fuzz_input(&self) -> Vec<u8> {
         use std::io::Read;
+
+        create_startup_complete_marker();
+
         if let Ok(path) = std::env::var("SMITE_INPUT") {
             log::info!("Reading input from {path:?}");
             std::fs::read(&path).unwrap_or_default()
@@ -74,6 +86,8 @@ impl Runner for NyxRunner {
     }
 
     fn get_fuzz_input(&self) -> Vec<u8> {
+        create_startup_complete_marker();
+
         let mut data = vec![0u8; self.max_input_size];
         // SAFETY: We pass a valid pointer to an allocated buffer of exactly
         // max_input_size bytes. The C code will write at most max_input_size
diff --git a/workloads/eclair/Dockerfile b/workloads/eclair/Dockerfile
index 90f9186..4b0fd33 100644
--- a/workloads/eclair/Dockerfile
+++ b/workloads/eclair/Dockerfile
@@ -109,15 +109,6 @@ COPY --from=builder /smite/target/release/eclair_${SCENARIO} /eclair-scenario
 # Default to the local crash handler; init.sh overrides with the Nyx version.
 ENV SMITE_CRASH_HANDLER=/jvm-crash-handler.so
 
-# Install a java wrapper that LD_PRELOADs the crash handler on the JVM only.
-# eclair-node.sh runs shell commands (ls, grep, awk) that would inherit
-# LD_PRELOAD and trigger false crash reports when they exit(0). The wrapper
-# ensures only the JVM process gets the crash handler.
-RUN mv "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java" "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java.real" && \
-    printf '#!/bin/sh\nLD_PRELOAD=$SMITE_CRASH_HANDLER exec %s/bin/java.real "$@"\n' \
-        "$JAVA_HOME" > "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java" && \
-    chmod +x "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java"
-
 # Copy init script
 COPY workloads/eclair/init.sh /init.sh
 RUN chmod +x /init.sh /eclair-scenario