diff --git a/src/node_modules.cc b/src/node_modules.cc
index 38d2c65c7f3282..2841c5815240e6 100644
--- a/src/node_modules.cc
+++ b/src/node_modules.cc
@@ -100,10 +100,18 @@ const BindingData::PackageConfig* BindingData::GetPackageJSON(
     return &cache_entry->second;
   }
 
+  if (binding_data->missing_package_configs_.contains(std::string(path))) {
+    return nullptr;
+  }
+
   PackageConfig package_config{};
   package_config.file_path = path;
   // No need to exclude BOM since simdjson will skip it.
   if (ReadFileSync(&package_config.raw_json, path.data()) < 0) {
+    // Cache the failed read so that other queries in the same folder don't
+    // keep probing the file system
+    binding_data->missing_package_configs_.insert(
+      std::string(path));
     return nullptr;
   }
   // In some systems, std::string is annotated to generate an
diff --git a/src/node_modules.h b/src/node_modules.h
index 17909b2270454b..f70cefb1850996 100644
--- a/src/node_modules.h
+++ b/src/node_modules.h
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ class BindingData : public SnapshotableObject {
 
  private:
   std::unordered_map<std::string, PackageConfig> package_configs_;
+  std::unordered_set<std::string> missing_package_configs_;
   simdjson::ondemand::parser json_parser;
   // returns null on error
   static const PackageConfig* GetPackageJSON(