diff --git a/core/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/deployment/steps/MainClassBuildStep.java b/core/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/deployment/steps/MainClassBuildStep.java
index 421f1e191f1532..d181e33c5a1f74 100644
--- a/core/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/deployment/steps/MainClassBuildStep.java
+++ b/core/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/deployment/steps/MainClassBuildStep.java
@@ -71,7 +71,6 @@
 import io.quarkus.gizmo.ClassTransformer;
 import io.quarkus.gizmo.FieldCreator;
 import io.quarkus.gizmo.FieldDescriptor;
-import io.quarkus.gizmo.IfThenElse;
 import io.quarkus.gizmo.MethodCreator;
 import io.quarkus.gizmo.MethodDescriptor;
 import io.quarkus.gizmo.ResultHandle;
@@ -89,7 +88,6 @@
 import io.quarkus.runtime.annotations.QuarkusMain;
 import io.quarkus.runtime.appcds.AppCDSUtil;
 import io.quarkus.runtime.configuration.ConfigUtils;
-import io.quarkus.runtime.configuration.ConfigurationException;
 import io.quarkus.runtime.configuration.ProfileManager;
 import io.quarkus.runtime.util.StepTiming;
 
@@ -330,14 +328,7 @@ void build(List<StaticBytecodeRecorderBuildItem> staticInitTasks,
         }
 
         cb.invokeVirtualMethod(ofMethod(StartupContext.class, "close", void.class), startupContext);
-
-        ResultHandle caughtException = cb.getCaughtException();
-
-        IfThenElse ifThenElse = cb.ifThenElse(cb.instanceOf(caughtException, ConfigurationException.class));
-        BytecodeCreator ifThen = ifThenElse.then();
-        ifThen.throwException(caughtException);
-        BytecodeCreator elseThen = ifThenElse.elseThen();
-        elseThen.throwException(RuntimeException.class, "Failed to start quarkus", cb.getCaughtException());
+        cb.throwException(RuntimeException.class, "Failed to start quarkus", cb.getCaughtException());
         mv.returnValue(null);
 
         // Application class: stop method
diff --git a/core/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/runtime/ApplicationLifecycleManager.java b/core/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/runtime/ApplicationLifecycleManager.java
index 8276aacfca38bc..981b7c8497bdf5 100644
--- a/core/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/runtime/ApplicationLifecycleManager.java
+++ b/core/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/runtime/ApplicationLifecycleManager.java
@@ -156,9 +156,11 @@ public static void run(Application application, Class<? extends QuarkusApplicati
                 }
             }
         } catch (Exception e) {
-            // Here it is trying to get rootCause in which when ConfigurationException is thrown
-            // is ConfigValidationException from io.smallrye.config
-            Throwable rootCause = e instanceof ConfigurationException ? e : ExceptionUtil.getRootCause(e);
+            // Here if ConfigurationException is one step up on the chain we want to return it
+            // because it wraps ConfigValidationException from io.smallrye.config
+            Throwable rootCause = e.getCause() instanceof ConfigurationException
+                    ? e.getCause()
+                    : ExceptionUtil.getRootCause(e);
             if (exitCodeHandler == null) {
                 Logger applicationLogger = Logger.getLogger(Application.class);
                 if (rootCause instanceof QuarkusBindException) {
diff --git a/extensions/grpc/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/grpc/auth/SecurityEventsValidationFailureTest.java b/extensions/grpc/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/grpc/auth/SecurityEventsValidationFailureTest.java
index cfa17bb2b2ade1..599d790cb73438 100644
--- a/extensions/grpc/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/grpc/auth/SecurityEventsValidationFailureTest.java
+++ b/extensions/grpc/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/grpc/auth/SecurityEventsValidationFailureTest.java
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 package io.quarkus.grpc.auth;
 
-import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions;
@@ -20,7 +19,7 @@ public class SecurityEventsValidationFailureTest {
                     .addClass(SecurityEventObserver.class)
                     .addPackage(SecuredService.class.getPackage()))
             .assertException(throwable -> {
-                assertEquals(throwable.getClass().getName(), ConfigurationException.class.getName());
+                assertTrue(throwable instanceof ConfigurationException);
                 assertTrue(throwable.getMessage().contains("quarkus.security.events.enabled"));
             });
 
diff --git a/extensions/hibernate-orm/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/config/ConfigEnabledFalseAndActiveTrueTest.java b/extensions/hibernate-orm/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/config/ConfigEnabledFalseAndActiveTrueTest.java
index f6caa3323c6bc7..635243010156eb 100644
--- a/extensions/hibernate-orm/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/config/ConfigEnabledFalseAndActiveTrueTest.java
+++ b/extensions/hibernate-orm/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/hibernate/orm/config/ConfigEnabledFalseAndActiveTrueTest.java
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ public class ConfigEnabledFalseAndActiveTrueTest {
             .overrideConfigKey("quarkus.hibernate-orm.enabled", "false")
             .overrideConfigKey("quarkus.hibernate-orm.active", "true")
             .assertException(throwable -> assertThat(throwable)
-                    .matches(t -> t.getClass().getName().equals(ConfigurationException.class.getName()))
+                    .isInstanceOf(ConfigurationException.class)
                     .hasMessageContaining(
                             "Hibernate ORM activated explicitly for persistence unit '<default>', but the Hibernate ORM extension was disabled at build time",
                             "If you want Hibernate ORM to be active at runtime, you must set 'quarkus.hibernate-orm.enabled' to 'true' at build time",
diff --git a/extensions/narayana-jta/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/narayana/quarkus/TransactionJdbcObjectStoreValidationFailureTest.java b/extensions/narayana-jta/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/narayana/quarkus/TransactionJdbcObjectStoreValidationFailureTest.java
index b3125929dbd6f0..a0515c8128f919 100644
--- a/extensions/narayana-jta/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/narayana/quarkus/TransactionJdbcObjectStoreValidationFailureTest.java
+++ b/extensions/narayana-jta/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/narayana/quarkus/TransactionJdbcObjectStoreValidationFailureTest.java
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ public class TransactionJdbcObjectStoreValidationFailureTest {
             .setForcedDependencies(List.of(Dependency.of("io.quarkus", "quarkus-jdbc-h2", Version.getVersion())))
             .assertException(t -> {
                 Throwable rootCause = ExceptionUtil.getRootCause(t);
-                if (rootCause.getClass().getName().equals(ConfigurationException.class.getName())) {
+                if (rootCause instanceof ConfigurationException) {
                     assertTrue(rootCause.getMessage().contains(
                             "The Narayana JTA extension is configured to use the datasource 'test' but that datasource is not configured."));
                 } else {
diff --git a/extensions/oidc/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/oidc/test/OpaqueTokenVerificationWithUserInfoValidationTest.java b/extensions/oidc/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/oidc/test/OpaqueTokenVerificationWithUserInfoValidationTest.java
index 6ee3d5c8361e05..1c53cc39659047 100644
--- a/extensions/oidc/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/oidc/test/OpaqueTokenVerificationWithUserInfoValidationTest.java
+++ b/extensions/oidc/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/oidc/test/OpaqueTokenVerificationWithUserInfoValidationTest.java
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ public class OpaqueTokenVerificationWithUserInfoValidationTest {
                 Throwable e = t;
                 ConfigurationException te = null;
                 while (e != null) {
-                    if (e.getClass().getName().equals(ConfigurationException.class.getName())) {
+                    if (e instanceof ConfigurationException) {
                         te = (ConfigurationException) e;
                         break;
                     }