diff --git a/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/newvfs/impl/VirtualDirectoryImpl.java b/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/newvfs/impl/VirtualDirectoryImpl.java
index 43b5d6af5a90..51f42abcf271 100644
--- a/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/newvfs/impl/VirtualDirectoryImpl.java
+++ b/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/newvfs/impl/VirtualDirectoryImpl.java
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ public class VirtualDirectoryImpl extends VirtualFileSystemEntry {
       return null;
     }
     if (!isValid()) {
-      throw new InvalidVirtualFileAccessException(this);
+      return handleInvalidDirectory();
     }
 
     VirtualFileSystemEntry found = doFindChildInArray(name, caseSensitive);
@@ -170,6 +170,15 @@ public class VirtualDirectoryImpl extends VirtualFileSystemEntry {
     return child;
   }
 
+  private VirtualFileSystemEntry handleInvalidDirectory() {
+    if (!ApplicationManager.getApplication().isReadAccessAllowed()) {
+      // We can be inside refreshAndFindFileByPath, which must be called outside read action, and
+      // throwing an exception doesn't seem a good idea when the callers can't do anything about it
+      return null;
+    }
+    throw new InvalidVirtualFileAccessException(this);
+  }
+
   // removes forward/back slashes from start/end and return trimmed name or null if there are slashes in the middle or it's empty
   private static String deSlash(@NotNull String name) {
     int startTrimmed = -1;