diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/boot/beanvalidation/HibernateTraversableResolver.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/boot/beanvalidation/HibernateTraversableResolver.java
index 333819b5d056..84c0e871be15 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/boot/beanvalidation/HibernateTraversableResolver.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/boot/beanvalidation/HibernateTraversableResolver.java
@@ -99,6 +99,10 @@ public boolean isCascadable(Object traversableObject,
 			Class<?> rootBeanType,
 			Path pathToTraversableObject,
 			ElementType elementType) {
-		return !associationsPerEntityClass.getOrDefault( rootBeanType, Set.of() ).contains( getStringBasedPath( traversableProperty, pathToTraversableObject ) );
+		Set<String> associations = associationsPerEntityClass.get( rootBeanType);
+		if ( associations == null ) {
+			return false;
+		}
+		return !associations.contains( getStringBasedPath( traversableProperty, pathToTraversableObject ) );
 	}
 }