diff --git a/bom/application/pom.xml b/bom/application/pom.xml
index 979e277bfcb8b..4bf6fa5fa4c13 100644
--- a/bom/application/pom.xml
+++ b/bom/application/pom.xml
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@
         <sshd-common.version>2.18.0</sshd-common.version>
         <mime4j.version>0.8.12</mime4j.version>
         <mutiny-zero.version>1.2.1</mutiny-zero.version>
-        <pulsar-client.version>4.2.1</pulsar-client.version>
+        <pulsar-client.version>4.2.3</pulsar-client.version>
         <async-http-client.version>2.15.0</async-http-client.version>
         <!-- keep in-sync, if possible, with Micrometer registry Prometheus -->
         <prometheus.version>0.16.0</prometheus.version>
diff --git a/extensions/smallrye-reactive-messaging-pulsar/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/reactivemessaging/pulsar/deployment/SmallRyeReactiveMessagingPulsarProcessor.java b/extensions/smallrye-reactive-messaging-pulsar/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/reactivemessaging/pulsar/deployment/SmallRyeReactiveMessagingPulsarProcessor.java
index fbe2e163bcc14..581806fc90926 100644
--- a/extensions/smallrye-reactive-messaging-pulsar/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/reactivemessaging/pulsar/deployment/SmallRyeReactiveMessagingPulsarProcessor.java
+++ b/extensions/smallrye-reactive-messaging-pulsar/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/smallrye/reactivemessaging/pulsar/deployment/SmallRyeReactiveMessagingPulsarProcessor.java
@@ -169,25 +169,32 @@ public NativeImageConfigBuildItem pulsarRuntimeInitialized(
         // ReflectiveChannelFactory against the platform SocketChannel returned by
         // EventLoopUtil. quarkus-netty registers only the NIO variants; register
         // Epoll/KQueue/IOUring here so native image can find their no-arg
-        // constructors at runtime. Revisit when bumping pulsar-client — if Pulsar
-        // moves to non-reflective ChannelFactory factories, these can be removed.
-        reflectiveClass.produce(ReflectiveClassBuildItem
-                .builder("io.netty.channel.epoll.EpollSocketChannel",
-                        "io.netty.channel.epoll.EpollDatagramChannel",
-                        "io.netty.channel.kqueue.KQueueSocketChannel",
-                        "io.netty.channel.kqueue.KQueueDatagramChannel",
-                        "io.netty.incubator.channel.uring.IOUringSocketChannel",
-                        "io.netty.incubator.channel.uring.IOUringDatagramChannel")
-                .constructors().build());
+        // constructors at runtime. These native transports are platform-specific
+        // and optional, so only register the ones actually on the classpath.
+        // Revisit when bumping pulsar-client — if Pulsar moves to non-reflective
+        // ChannelFactory factories, these can be removed.
+        String[] nettyTransportChannels = {
+                "io.netty.channel.epoll.EpollSocketChannel",
+                "io.netty.channel.epoll.EpollDatagramChannel",
+                "io.netty.channel.kqueue.KQueueSocketChannel",
+                "io.netty.channel.kqueue.KQueueDatagramChannel",
+                "io.netty.incubator.channel.uring.IOUringSocketChannel",
+                "io.netty.incubator.channel.uring.IOUringDatagramChannel"
+        };
+        for (String channel : nettyTransportChannels) {
+            if (QuarkusClassLoader.isClassPresentAtRuntime(channel)) {
+                reflectiveClass.produce(ReflectiveClassBuildItem.builder(channel).constructors().build());
+            }
+        }
 
         Collection<ClassInfo> authPluginClasses = combinedIndex.getIndex()
-                .getAllKnownImplementations(DotNames.PULSAR_AUTHENTICATION);
+                .getAllKnownImplementors(DotNames.PULSAR_AUTHENTICATION);
         for (ClassInfo authPluginClass : authPluginClasses) {
             reflectiveClass.produce(ReflectiveClassBuildItem.builder(authPluginClass.name().toString())
                     .constructors().build());
         }
         Collection<ClassInfo> sslFactoryClasses = combinedIndex.getIndex()
-                .getAllKnownImplementations(DotNames.PULSAR_SSL_FACTORY);
+                .getAllKnownImplementors(DotNames.PULSAR_SSL_FACTORY);
         for (ClassInfo sslFactoryClass : sslFactoryClasses) {
             reflectiveClass.produce(ReflectiveClassBuildItem.builder(sslFactoryClass.name().toString())
                     .constructors().build());