diff --git a/quarkus/runtime/src/main/java/org/keycloak/quarkus/runtime/cli/Picocli.java b/quarkus/runtime/src/main/java/org/keycloak/quarkus/runtime/cli/Picocli.java
index cbf026e57ac3..bdf7f06080fe 100644
--- a/quarkus/runtime/src/main/java/org/keycloak/quarkus/runtime/cli/Picocli.java
+++ b/quarkus/runtime/src/main/java/org/keycloak/quarkus/runtime/cli/Picocli.java
@@ -101,16 +101,11 @@ private static class IncludeOptions {
     }
 
     private ExecutionExceptionHandler errorHandler = new ExecutionExceptionHandler();
+    private List<String> uncrecognizedArgs = new ArrayList<>();
 
     public void parseAndRun(List<String> cliArgs) {
         // perform two passes over the cli args. First without option validation to determine the current command, then with option validation enabled
-        CommandLine cmd = createCommandLine(spec -> spec
-                .addUnmatchedArgsBinding(CommandLine.Model.UnmatchedArgsBinding.forStringArrayConsumer(new ISetter() {
-                    @Override
-                    public <T> T set(T value) throws Exception {
-                        return null; // just ignore
-                    }
-                })));
+        CommandLine cmd = createCommandLine(spec -> {}).setUnmatchedArgumentsAllowed(true);
         String[] argArray = cliArgs.toArray(new String[0]);
 
         try {
@@ -157,6 +152,16 @@ private CommandLine createCommandLineForCommand(List<String> cliArgs, List<Comma
 
                 currentSpec = subCommand.getCommandSpec();
 
+                currentSpec.addUnmatchedArgsBinding(CommandLine.Model.UnmatchedArgsBinding.forStringArrayConsumer(new ISetter() {
+                    @Override
+                    public <T> T set(T value) {
+                        if (value != null) {
+                            uncrecognizedArgs.addAll(Arrays.asList((String[]) value));
+                        }
+                        return null; // doesn't matter
+                    }
+                }));
+
                 addHelp(currentSpec);
             }
 
@@ -324,6 +329,10 @@ private static boolean wasBuildEverRun() {
      * @param abstractCommand
      */
     public void validateConfig(List<String> cliArgs, AbstractCommand abstractCommand) {
+        if (!uncrecognizedArgs.isEmpty()) {
+            throw new KcUnmatchedArgumentException(abstractCommand.getCommandLine().orElseThrow(), uncrecognizedArgs);
+        }
+
         if (cliArgs.contains(OPTIMIZED_BUILD_OPTION_LONG) && !wasBuildEverRun()) {
             throw new PropertyException(Messages.optimizedUsedForFirstStartup());
         }