diff --git a/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/isolation/PluginUtils.java b/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/isolation/PluginUtils.java
index 9ef7c3a..06e80f3 100644
--- a/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/isolation/PluginUtils.java
+++ b/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/isolation/PluginUtils.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.lang.reflect.Modifier;
 import java.nio.file.DirectoryStream;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.NoSuchFileException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -238,10 +239,14 @@ public class PluginUtils {
                     if (parent == null) {
                         continue;
                     }
-                    Path absolute = parent.resolve(symlink).toRealPath();
-                    if (Files.exists(absolute)) {
-                        adjacent = absolute;
-                    } else {
+                    try {
+                        Path absolute = parent.resolve(symlink).toRealPath();
+                        if (Files.exists(absolute)) {
+                            adjacent = absolute;
+                        } else {
+                            continue;
+                        }
+                    } catch (NoSuchFileException nsfe) {
                         continue;
                     }
                 }