diff --git a/ChangeLog-11.5.md b/ChangeLog-11.5.md
index 043c25e621..56d934acb2 100644
--- a/ChangeLog-11.5.md
+++ b/ChangeLog-11.5.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ All notable changes of the PHPUnit 11.5 release series are documented in this fi
 ### Fixed
 
 * [#6103](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/6103): Output from test run in separate process is printed twice
+* [#6109](https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/6109): Skipping a test in a before-class method crashes JUnit XML logger
 
 ## [11.5.3] - 2025-01-13
 
diff --git a/src/Logging/JUnit/JunitXmlLogger.php b/src/Logging/JUnit/JunitXmlLogger.php
index 8ba3a57c6b..5a5884f498 100644
--- a/src/Logging/JUnit/JunitXmlLogger.php
+++ b/src/Logging/JUnit/JunitXmlLogger.php
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ final class JunitXmlLogger
     private ?HRTime $time                = null;
     private bool $prepared               = false;
     private bool $preparationFailed      = false;
+    private ?string $unexpectedOutput    = null;
 
     /**
      * @throws EventFacadeIsSealedException
@@ -197,14 +198,7 @@ public function testPrepared(): void
 
     public function testPrintedUnexpectedOutput(PrintedUnexpectedOutput $event): void
     {
-        assert($this->currentTestCase !== null);
-
-        $systemOut = $this->document->createElement(
-            'system-out',
-            Xml::prepareString($event->output()),
-        );
-
-        $this->currentTestCase->appendChild($systemOut);
+        $this->unexpectedOutput = $event->output();
     }
 
     /**
@@ -277,6 +271,15 @@ private function handleFinish(Info $telemetryInfo, int $numberOfAssertionsPerfor
             sprintf('%F', $time),
         );
 
+        if ($this->unexpectedOutput !== null) {
+            $systemOut = $this->document->createElement(
+                'system-out',
+                Xml::prepareString($this->unexpectedOutput),
+            );
+
+            $this->currentTestCase->appendChild($systemOut);
+        }
+
         $this->testSuites[$this->testSuiteLevel]->appendChild(
             $this->currentTestCase,
         );
@@ -284,9 +287,10 @@ private function handleFinish(Info $telemetryInfo, int $numberOfAssertionsPerfor
         $this->testSuiteTests[$this->testSuiteLevel]++;
         $this->testSuiteTimes[$this->testSuiteLevel] += $time;
 
-        $this->currentTestCase = null;
-        $this->time            = null;
-        $this->prepared        = false;
+        $this->currentTestCase  = null;
+        $this->time             = null;
+        $this->prepared         = false;
+        $this->unexpectedOutput = null;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tests/end-to-end/regression/6109.phpt b/tests/end-to-end/regression/6109.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..090d73c970
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/end-to-end/regression/6109.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+--TEST--
+https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit/issues/6109
+--FILE--
+<?php declare(strict_types=1);
+$_SERVER['argv'][] = '--do-not-cache-result';
+$_SERVER['argv'][] = '--no-configuration';
+$_SERVER['argv'][] = '--no-output';
+$_SERVER['argv'][] = '--log-junit';
+$_SERVER['argv'][] = 'php://stdout';
+$_SERVER['argv'][] = __DIR__ . '/6109/Issue6109Test.php';
+
+require_once __DIR__ . '/../../bootstrap.php';
+
+(new PHPUnit\TextUI\Application)->run($_SERVER['argv']);
+--EXPECTF--
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<testsuites>
+  <testsuite name="PHPUnit\TestFixture\Issue6109\Issue6109Test" file="%sIssue6109Test.php" tests="1" assertions="0" errors="0" failures="0" skipped="1" time="%s">
+    <testcase name="testOne" file="%sIssue6109Test.php" line="23" class="PHPUnit\TestFixture\Issue6109\Issue6109Test" classname="PHPUnit.TestFixture.Issue6109.Issue6109Test" assertions="0" time="%s">
+      <skipped/>
+    </testcase>
+  </testsuite>
+</testsuites>
diff --git a/tests/end-to-end/regression/6109/Issue6109Test.php b/tests/end-to-end/regression/6109/Issue6109Test.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..131ab6bdb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/end-to-end/regression/6109/Issue6109Test.php
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+<?php declare(strict_types=1);
+/*
+ * This file is part of PHPUnit.
+ *
+ * (c) Sebastian Bergmann <sebastian@phpunit.de>
+ *
+ * For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE
+ * file that was distributed with this source code.
+ */
+namespace PHPUnit\TestFixture\Issue6109;
+
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+
+final class Issue6109Test extends TestCase
+{
+    protected function setUp(): void
+    {
+        print '*';
+
+        $this->markTestSkipped('message');
+    }
+
+    public function testOne(): void
+    {
+        $this->assertTrue(true);
+    }
+}