diff --git a/src/hotspot/share/jvmci/jvmciCompilerToVM.cpp b/src/hotspot/share/jvmci/jvmciCompilerToVM.cpp
index 6f26c5cdff8..1a1e0ba7fd6 100644
--- a/src/hotspot/share/jvmci/jvmciCompilerToVM.cpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/jvmci/jvmciCompilerToVM.cpp
@@ -3037,6 +3037,13 @@ C2V_VMENTRY_0(jboolean, addFailedSpeculation, (JNIEnv* env, jobject, jlong faile
 C2V_END
 
 C2V_VMENTRY(void, callSystemExit, (JNIEnv* env, jobject, jint status))
+  if (!JVMCIENV->is_hotspot()) {
+    // It's generally not safe to call Java code before the module system is initialized
+    if (!Universe::is_module_initialized()) {
+      JVMCI_event_1("callSystemExit(%d) before Universe::is_module_initialized() -> direct VM exit", status);
+      vm_exit_during_initialization();
+    }
+  }
   CompilerThreadCanCallJava canCallJava(thread, true);
   JavaValue result(T_VOID);
   JavaCallArguments jargs(1);
diff --git a/test/hotspot/jtreg/compiler/jvmci/TestInvalidJVMCIOption.java b/test/hotspot/jtreg/compiler/jvmci/TestInvalidJVMCIOption.java
index 1fec1eeb278..77d5e7e91fa 100644
--- a/test/hotspot/jtreg/compiler/jvmci/TestInvalidJVMCIOption.java
+++ b/test/hotspot/jtreg/compiler/jvmci/TestInvalidJVMCIOption.java
@@ -48,9 +48,13 @@ public class TestInvalidJVMCIOption {
             "Error parsing JVMCI options: Could not find option jvmci.XXXXXXXXX%n" +
             "Error: A fatal exception has occurred. Program will exit.%n");
 
-        Asserts.assertEQ(expectStdout, output.getStdout());
-        output.stderrShouldBeEmpty();
+        // Test for containment instead of equality as -XX:+EagerJVMCI means
+        // the main thread and one or more libjvmci compiler threads
+        // may initialize libjvmci at the same time and thus the error
+        // message can appear multiple times.
+        output.stdoutShouldContain(expectStdout);
 
+        output.stderrShouldBeEmpty();
         output.shouldHaveExitValue(1);
     }
 }