diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a5d48eeb558..15e948ebb02 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 - Refuse to send data to servers whose certificate was issued by one of the leaked eMudhra intermediates (CVE-2026-111943) ([#6336](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/6336))
 - Stop sending the whole release as `dist` on ANR and app-exit events when the release has no `+versionCode` ([#6450](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/6450))
   - Relay rejected these values (e.g. `invalid character '@'`). `dist` is now left empty unless `options.dist` is set or the release contains a version code.
+- Accept profiling traces directories whose path contains a `.` on the JVM, and keep profiling disabled after its first start rejects the options instead of starting on the next one ([#6334](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/6334))
 
 ### Dependencies
 
diff --git a/sentry-async-profiler/src/main/java/io/sentry/asyncprofiler/profiling/JavaContinuousProfiler.java b/sentry-async-profiler/src/main/java/io/sentry/asyncprofiler/profiling/JavaContinuousProfiler.java
index 09c2ed8b5d2..ced363d4a58 100644
--- a/sentry-async-profiler/src/main/java/io/sentry/asyncprofiler/profiling/JavaContinuousProfiler.java
+++ b/sentry-async-profiler/src/main/java/io/sentry/asyncprofiler/profiling/JavaContinuousProfiler.java
@@ -42,16 +42,15 @@
 public final class JavaContinuousProfiler
     implements IContinuousProfiler, RateLimiter.IRateLimitObserver {
   private static final long MAX_CHUNK_DURATION_MILLIS = 10000;
-  private final List<String> invalidFilenameChars =
-      Arrays.asList(
-          ".", ",", ":", ";", "|", "\\", "=", "%", "&", "[", "]", "(", ")", "<", ">", "{", "}", "!",
-          "*", "?", "~", "\"", "'", "$", "`", "^");
+  // async-profiler splits its arguments on "," and expands "%" patterns in the file name.
+  private final List<String> invalidFilenameChars = Arrays.asList(",", "%");
 
   private final @NotNull ILogger logger;
   private final @Nullable String profilingTracesDirPath;
   private final int profilingTracesHz;
   private final @NotNull ISentryExecutorService executorService;
   private boolean isInitialized = false;
+  private boolean hasValidOptions = false;
   private boolean isRunning = false;
   private @Nullable IScopes scopes;
   private @Nullable Future<?> stopFuture;
@@ -92,7 +91,7 @@ private void initializeProfiler() throws Exception {
 
   private boolean init() {
     if (isInitialized) {
-      return true;
+      return hasValidOptions;
     }
     isInitialized = true;
 
@@ -107,6 +106,7 @@ private boolean init() {
           profilingTracesHz);
       return false;
     }
+    hasValidOptions = true;
     return true;
   }
 
diff --git a/sentry-async-profiler/src/test/java/io/sentry/asyncprofiler/profiling/JavaContinuousProfilerTest.kt b/sentry-async-profiler/src/test/java/io/sentry/asyncprofiler/profiling/JavaContinuousProfilerTest.kt
index 7764249e3eb..745139a20a6 100644
--- a/sentry-async-profiler/src/test/java/io/sentry/asyncprofiler/profiling/JavaContinuousProfilerTest.kt
+++ b/sentry-async-profiler/src/test/java/io/sentry/asyncprofiler/profiling/JavaContinuousProfilerTest.kt
@@ -421,6 +421,31 @@ class JavaContinuousProfilerTest {
       )
   }
 
+  @Test
+  fun `profiler starts when the traces dir path contains a dot`() {
+    val profiler = fixture.getSut {
+      it.profilingTracesDirPath = File("tmp", "sentry.traces").absolutePath
+    }
+    File(fixture.options.profilingTracesDirPath!!).mkdirs()
+
+    profiler.startProfiler(ProfileLifecycle.MANUAL, fixture.mockTracesSampler)
+    assertTrue(profiler.isRunning)
+    profiler.close(true)
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun `profiler stays disabled when the traces dir is created after its first start`() {
+    val tracesDir = File(fixture.options.profilingTracesDirPath!!)
+    tracesDir.deleteRecursively()
+    val profiler = fixture.getSut()
+    profiler.startProfiler(ProfileLifecycle.MANUAL, fixture.mockTracesSampler)
+    assertFalse(profiler.isRunning)
+
+    tracesDir.mkdirs()
+    profiler.startProfiler(ProfileLifecycle.MANUAL, fixture.mockTracesSampler)
+    assertFalse(profiler.isRunning)
+  }
+
   fun withMockScopes(closure: () -> Unit) =
     Mockito.mockStatic(Sentry::class.java).use {
       it.`when`<Any> { Sentry.getCurrentScopes() }.thenReturn(fixture.scopes)