diff --git a/psalm-baseline.xml b/psalm-baseline.xml
index 4a186e5..76d61cd 100644
--- a/psalm-baseline.xml
+++ b/psalm-baseline.xml
@@ -12,9 +12,6 @@
       <code>$class</code>
       <code>$class</code>
     </MissingClosureParamType>
-    <MissingFile occurrences="1">
-      <code>include __DIR__ . '/../../../autoload.php'</code>
-    </MissingFile>
     <MissingReturnType occurrences="1">
       <code>load</code>
     </MissingReturnType>
@@ -31,25 +28,10 @@
     <MixedArrayOffset occurrences="1">
       <code>$loaded[$class]</code>
     </MixedArrayOffset>
-    <MixedInferredReturnType occurrences="1">
-      <code>ClassLoader</code>
-    </MixedInferredReturnType>
     <MixedOperand occurrences="2">
       <code>$namespaces[$check]</code>
       <code>$namespaces[$check]</code>
     </MixedOperand>
-    <MixedReturnStatement occurrences="3">
-      <code>include __DIR__ . '/../../../autoload.php'</code>
-      <code>include __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php'</code>
-      <code>include getenv('COMPOSER_VENDOR_DIR') . '/autoload.php'</code>
-    </MixedReturnStatement>
-    <PossiblyFalseOperand occurrences="2">
-      <code>getenv('COMPOSER_VENDOR_DIR')</code>
-      <code>getenv('COMPOSER_VENDOR_DIR')</code>
-    </PossiblyFalseOperand>
-    <UnresolvableInclude occurrences="1">
-      <code>include getenv('COMPOSER_VENDOR_DIR') . '/autoload.php'</code>
-    </UnresolvableInclude>
   </file>
   <file src="src/ConfigPostProcessor.php">
     <InvalidArgument occurrences="1">
diff --git a/src/Autoloader.php b/src/Autoloader.php
index 261bb88..84f9406 100644
--- a/src/Autoloader.php
+++ b/src/Autoloader.php
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 use function class_exists;
 use function explode;
 use function file_exists;
+use function getenv;
 use function interface_exists;
 use function spl_autoload_register;
 use function strlen;
@@ -23,6 +24,9 @@
  */
 class Autoloader
 {
+    private const UPSTREAM_COMPOSER_VENDOR_DIRECTORY = __DIR__ . '/../../..';
+    private const LOCAL_COMPOSER_VENDOR_DIRECTORY = __DIR__ . '/../vendor';
+
     /**
      * Attach autoloaders for managing legacy ZF artifacts.
      *
@@ -41,10 +45,15 @@ class Autoloader
     public static function load()
     {
         $loaded = new ArrayObject([]);
+        $classLoader = self::getClassLoader();
+
+        if ($classLoader === null) {
+            return;
+        }
 
         spl_autoload_register(self::createPrependAutoloader(
             RewriteRules::namespaceReverse(),
-            self::getClassLoader(),
+            $classLoader,
             $loaded
         ), true, true);
 
@@ -54,25 +63,15 @@ public static function load()
         ));
     }
 
-    /**
-     * @return ClassLoader
-     * @throws RuntimeException
-     */
-    private static function getClassLoader()
+    private static function getClassLoader(): ?ClassLoader
     {
-        if (getenv('COMPOSER_VENDOR_DIR') && file_exists(getenv('COMPOSER_VENDOR_DIR') . '/autoload.php')) {
-            return include getenv('COMPOSER_VENDOR_DIR') . '/autoload.php';
-        }
-
-        if (file_exists(__DIR__ . '/../../../autoload.php')) {
-            return include __DIR__ . '/../../../autoload.php';
-        }
-
-        if (file_exists(__DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php')) {
-            return include __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';
+        $composerVendorDirectory = getenv('COMPOSER_VENDOR_DIR');
+        if (is_string($composerVendorDirectory)) {
+            return self::getClassLoaderFromVendorDirectory($composerVendorDirectory);
         }
 
-        throw new RuntimeException('Cannot detect composer autoload. Please run composer install');
+        return self::getClassLoaderFromVendorDirectory(self::UPSTREAM_COMPOSER_VENDOR_DIRECTORY)
+            ?? self::getClassLoaderFromVendorDirectory(self::LOCAL_COMPOSER_VENDOR_DIRECTORY);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -163,4 +162,20 @@ class_alias($alias, $class);
             }
         };
     }
+
+    private static function getClassLoaderFromVendorDirectory(string $composerVendorDirectory): ?ClassLoader
+    {
+        $filename = rtrim($composerVendorDirectory, '/') . '/autoload.php';
+        if (!file_exists($filename)) {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        /** @psalm-suppress MixedAssignment */
+        $loader = include $filename;
+        if (!$loader instanceof ClassLoader) {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        return $loader;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/test/AutoloaderTest.php b/test/AutoloaderTest.php
index 8292541..ae247d8 100644
--- a/test/AutoloaderTest.php
+++ b/test/AutoloaderTest.php
@@ -3,14 +3,20 @@
 namespace LaminasTest\ZendFrameworkBridge;
 
 use Laminas\LegacyTypeHint;
+use Laminas\ZendFrameworkBridge\Autoloader;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
 
 use function class_exists;
+use function clearstatcache;
+use function file_exists;
 use function get_class;
 use function interface_exists;
+use function rename;
 
 class AutoloaderTest extends TestCase
 {
+    private const PATH_TO_AUTOLOADER = __DIR__ . '/../vendor/autoload.php';
+
     /**
      * @return array[]
      */
@@ -139,4 +145,22 @@ public function testReverseAliasCreated($actual, $legacy)
         self::assertTrue(class_exists($actual));
         self::assertTrue(class_exists($legacy));
     }
+
+    public function testCanHandleNonExistentAutoloadFile(): void
+    {
+        self::assertTrue(file_exists(self::PATH_TO_AUTOLOADER));
+        $pathToAutoloaderBackup = sprintf('%s.bak', self::PATH_TO_AUTOLOADER);
+        rename(self::PATH_TO_AUTOLOADER, $pathToAutoloaderBackup);
+        clearstatcache();
+        self::assertFalse(file_exists(self::PATH_TO_AUTOLOADER));
+
+        try {
+            Autoloader::load();
+        } finally {
+            rename($pathToAutoloaderBackup, self::PATH_TO_AUTOLOADER);
+        }
+
+        clearstatcache();
+        self::assertTrue(file_exists(self::PATH_TO_AUTOLOADER));
+    }
 }