diff --git a/extensions/resteasy-classic/resteasy-common/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/resteasy/common/deployment/ResteasyCommonProcessor.java b/extensions/resteasy-classic/resteasy-common/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/resteasy/common/deployment/ResteasyCommonProcessor.java
index d8b1e60e26edc..55a1168d3d995 100644
--- a/extensions/resteasy-classic/resteasy-common/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/resteasy/common/deployment/ResteasyCommonProcessor.java
+++ b/extensions/resteasy-classic/resteasy-common/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/resteasy/common/deployment/ResteasyCommonProcessor.java
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@
 import io.quarkus.deployment.builditem.StaticInitConfigBuilderBuildItem;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.builditem.SystemPropertyBuildItem;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.builditem.nativeimage.ReflectiveClassBuildItem;
+import io.quarkus.deployment.builditem.nativeimage.RuntimeInitializedClassBuildItem;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.builditem.nativeimage.ServiceProviderBuildItem;
 import io.quarkus.deployment.util.ServiceUtil;
 import io.quarkus.resteasy.common.runtime.ResteasyInjectorFactoryRecorder;
@@ -343,6 +344,16 @@ void registerNativeImageResources(BuildProducer<ServiceProviderBuildItem> servic
                 .allProvidersFromClassPath(org.jboss.resteasy.spi.config.ConfigurationFactory.class.getName()));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * ResourceCleaner contains java.lang.ref.Cleaner references which need to get
+     * runtime initialized.
+     */
+    @BuildStep
+    public RuntimeInitializedClassBuildItem runtimeInitResourceCleaner() {
+        return new RuntimeInitializedClassBuildItem(
+                "org.jboss.resteasy.spi.ResourceCleaner");
+    }
+
     private void registerJsonContextResolver(
             DotName jsonImplementation,
             DotName jsonContextResolver,