diff --git a/extensions/vault/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/vault/runtime/config/VaultConfigSource.java b/extensions/vault/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/vault/runtime/config/VaultConfigSource.java
index 439f467bb6161..745067cd0e71d 100644
--- a/extensions/vault/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/vault/runtime/config/VaultConfigSource.java
+++ b/extensions/vault/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/vault/runtime/config/VaultConfigSource.java
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 import static java.util.Collections.emptyMap;
 import static java.util.stream.Collectors.toMap;
 
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -14,6 +15,7 @@
 
 import io.quarkus.arc.Arc;
 import io.quarkus.vault.VaultKVSecretEngine;
+import io.smallrye.mutiny.infrastructure.Infrastructure;
 
 public class VaultConfigSource implements ConfigSource {
 
@@ -58,6 +60,11 @@ private Map<String, String> getSecretConfig() {
             return cacheEntry.getValue();
         }
 
+        if (!Infrastructure.canCallerThreadBeBlocked()) {
+            // running in a non blocking thread, best effort to return cached values if any
+            return cacheEntry != null ? cacheEntry.getValue() : Collections.emptyMap();
+        }
+
         Map<String, String> properties = new HashMap<>();
 
         try {