diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/restheart/plugins/PluginsClassloader.java b/core/src/main/java/org/restheart/plugins/PluginsClassloader.java
index 5de36688a3..ff0e5d0e68 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/restheart/plugins/PluginsClassloader.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/restheart/plugins/PluginsClassloader.java
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
  * in a plugin JAR file, necessitating a comprehensive search to locate and load the class correctly.
  * </p>
  */
-public class PluginsClassloader extends ClassLoader {
+public class PluginsClassloader extends URLClassLoader {
     private static PluginsClassloader SINGLETON = null;
 
     /**
@@ -56,10 +56,8 @@ public static boolean isInitialized() {
         return SINGLETON != null;
     }
 
-    private final URLClassLoader pluginsClassLoader;
-
     private PluginsClassloader(URL[] jars) throws IOException {
-        this.pluginsClassLoader = new URLClassLoader(jars);
+        super(jars);
     }
 
     public static PluginsClassloader getInstance() {
@@ -73,11 +71,11 @@ public static PluginsClassloader getInstance() {
     @Override
     public Class<?> loadClass(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException {
         try {
-            // use the current classloader
-            return this.getClass().getClassLoader().loadClass(name);
+            // first try to load the class with the PluginsScanner's classloader
+            return PluginsScanner.class.getClassLoader().loadClass(name);
         } catch (ClassNotFoundException cnfe) {
-            // look in the plugins jars
-            return this.pluginsClassLoader.loadClass(name);
+            // then use the URLClassLoader to try loading the class from the plugins jars
+            return super.loadClass(name);
         }
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/restheart/plugins/PluginsScanner.java b/core/src/main/java/org/restheart/plugins/PluginsScanner.java
index b1f86a4961..f38f5afd76 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/restheart/plugins/PluginsScanner.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/restheart/plugins/PluginsScanner.java
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.net.URL;
-import java.net.URLClassLoader;
 import java.net.URLDecoder;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.nio.file.DirectoryStream.Filter;
@@ -83,8 +82,6 @@ public class PluginsScanner {
     private static final ArrayList<PluginDescriptor> SERVICES = new ArrayList<>();
     private static final ArrayList<PluginDescriptor> PROVIDERS = new ArrayList<>();
 
-    static URL[] jars = null;
-
     // ClassGraph.scan() at class initialization time to support native image
     // generation with GraalVM
     // see https://github.com/SoftInstigate/classgraph-on-graalvm
@@ -105,7 +102,6 @@ public class PluginsScanner {
         } else {
             rtcg = new RuntimeClassGraph();
             classGraph = rtcg.get();
-            jars = rtcg.jars;
             // apply plugins-scanning-verbose configuration option
             classGraph = classGraph.verbose(Bootstrapper.getConfiguration().coreModule().pluginsScanningVerbose());
             // apply plugins-packages configuration option
@@ -341,19 +337,12 @@ public RuntimeClassGraph() {
             var pdir = getPluginsDirectory();
             this.jars = findPluginsJars(pdir);
 
-            if (jars != null && jars.length != 0) {
-                PluginsClassloader.init(jars);
+            PluginsClassloader.init(jars);
 
-                this.classGraph = new ClassGraph().disableModuleScanning().disableDirScanning()
-                    .disableNestedJarScanning().disableRuntimeInvisibleAnnotations()
-                    .addClassLoader(new URLClassLoader(jars)).addClassLoader(ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader())
-                    .enableAnnotationInfo().enableMethodInfo().enableFieldInfo().ignoreFieldVisibility().initializeLoadedClasses();
-            } else {
-                this.classGraph = new ClassGraph().disableModuleScanning().disableDirScanning()
-                    .disableNestedJarScanning().disableRuntimeInvisibleAnnotations()
-                    .addClassLoader(ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader()).enableAnnotationInfo().ignoreFieldVisibility().enableMethodInfo().enableFieldInfo()
-                    .initializeLoadedClasses();
-            }
+            this.classGraph = new ClassGraph().disableModuleScanning().disableDirScanning()
+                .disableNestedJarScanning().disableRuntimeInvisibleAnnotations()
+                .addClassLoader(PluginsClassloader.getInstance()).addClassLoader(ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader())
+                .enableAnnotationInfo().enableMethodInfo().enableFieldInfo().ignoreFieldVisibility().initializeLoadedClasses();
         }
 
         private long starScanTime = 0;
@@ -445,7 +434,7 @@ private URL[] _findPluginsJars(Path dir, int depth) {
                     for (Path subdir : ds) {
                         if (Files.isReadable(subdir)) {
                             var subjars = _findPluginsJars(subdir, depth + 1);
-                            if (subjars != null) {
+                            if (subjars != null && subjars.length > 0) {
                                 Arrays.stream(subjars).forEach(jar -> urls.add(jar));
                             }
                         } else {
@@ -457,7 +446,7 @@ private URL[] _findPluginsJars(Path dir, int depth) {
                 }
             }
 
-            return urls.isEmpty() ? null : urls.toArray(URL[]::new);
+            return urls.toArray(URL[]::new);
         }
 
         private void checkPluginDirectory(Path pluginsDirectory) {