diff --git a/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.core/src/com/oracle/svm/core/jni/JNILibraryInitializer.java b/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.core/src/com/oracle/svm/core/jni/JNILibraryInitializer.java
index f614dc4b3770..c403d1fd55d2 100644
--- a/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.core/src/com/oracle/svm/core/jni/JNILibraryInitializer.java
+++ b/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.core/src/com/oracle/svm/core/jni/JNILibraryInitializer.java
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ public class JNILibraryInitializer implements NativeLibrarySupport.LibraryInitia
 
     private final EconomicMap<String, CGlobalData<PointerBase>> onLoadCGlobalDataMap = ImageHeapMap.create(Equivalence.IDENTITY);
 
-    public static String getOnLoadName(String libName, boolean isBuiltIn) {
+    private static String getOnLoadName(String libName, boolean isBuiltIn) {
         String name = "JNI_OnLoad";
         if (isBuiltIn) {
             return name + "_" + libName;
@@ -64,21 +64,6 @@ public static String getOnLoadName(String libName, boolean isBuiltIn) {
         return name;
     }
 
-    private static void callOnLoadFunction(String libName, PointerBase onLoadFunction) {
-        if (onLoadFunction.isNonNull()) {
-            JNIOnLoadFunctionPointer onLoad = (JNIOnLoadFunctionPointer) onLoadFunction;
-            int expected = onLoad.invoke(JNIFunctionTables.singleton().getGlobalJavaVM(), WordFactory.nullPointer());
-            checkSupportedJNIVersion(libName, expected);
-        }
-    }
-
-    private static void checkSupportedJNIVersion(String libName, int expected) {
-        if (!JNIVersion.isSupported(expected)) {
-            String message = "Unsupported JNI version 0x" + Integer.toHexString(expected) + ", required by " + libName;
-            throw new UnsatisfiedLinkError(message);
-        }
-    }
-
     public boolean fillCGlobalDataMap(Collection<String> staticLibNames) {
         List<String> libsWithOnLoad = Arrays.asList("net", "java", "nio", "zip", "sunec", "jaas", "sctp", "extnet",
                         "j2gss", "j2pkcs11", "j2pcsc", "prefs", "verify", "awt", "awt_xawt", "awt_headless", "lcms",
@@ -118,17 +103,23 @@ public void initialize(PlatformNativeLibrarySupport.NativeLibrary lib) {
         if (lib.isBuiltin()) {
             onLoadFunction = getOnLoadSymbolAddress(libName);
             if (onLoadFunction.isNull()) {
-                /*
-                 * If pointer for static library not found, try to initialize library as shared
-                 */
                 String symbolName = getOnLoadName(libName, true);
                 onLoadFunction = lib.findSymbol(symbolName);
+                if (onLoadFunction.isNull()) {
+                    throw new UnsatisfiedLinkError("Missing mandatory function for statically linked JNI library: " + symbolName);
+                }
             }
         } else {
             String symbolName = getOnLoadName(libName, false);
             onLoadFunction = lib.findSymbol(symbolName);
         }
-        callOnLoadFunction(libName, onLoadFunction);
+        if (onLoadFunction.isNonNull()) {
+            JNIOnLoadFunctionPointer onLoad = (JNIOnLoadFunctionPointer) onLoadFunction;
+            int expected = onLoad.invoke(JNIFunctionTables.singleton().getGlobalJavaVM(), WordFactory.nullPointer());
+            if (!JNIVersion.isSupported(expected, lib.isBuiltin())) {
+                throw new UnsatisfiedLinkError("Unsupported JNI version 0x" + Integer.toHexString(expected) + ", required by " + libName);
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     private PointerBase getOnLoadSymbolAddress(String libName) {
diff --git a/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.core/src/com/oracle/svm/core/jni/functions/JNIInvocationInterface.java b/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.core/src/com/oracle/svm/core/jni/functions/JNIInvocationInterface.java
index 730742e77080..05f94dc3ab1c 100644
--- a/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.core/src/com/oracle/svm/core/jni/functions/JNIInvocationInterface.java
+++ b/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.core/src/com/oracle/svm/core/jni/functions/JNIInvocationInterface.java
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ static int JNI_CreateJavaVM(@SuppressWarnings("unused") JNIJavaVMPointer vmBuf,
         @Uninterruptible(reason = "No Java context")
         static int JNI_GetDefaultJavaVMInitArgs(JNIJavaVMInitArgs vmArgs) {
             int version = vmArgs.getVersion();
-            if (JNIVersion.isSupported(vmArgs.getVersion()) && version != JNIVersion.JNI_VERSION_1_1()) {
+            if (JNIVersion.isSupported(vmArgs.getVersion(), false) && version != JNIVersion.JNI_VERSION_1_1()) {
                 return JNIErrors.JNI_OK();
             }
             if (version == JNIVersion.JNI_VERSION_1_1()) {
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ static int enter(JNIJavaVM vm, WordPointer env, int version) {
                 if (vm.isNull() || env.isNull()) {
                     return JNIErrors.JNI_ERR();
                 }
-                if (!JNIVersion.isSupported(version)) {
+                if (!JNIVersion.isSupported(version, false)) {
                     env.write(WordFactory.nullPointer());
                     return JNIErrors.JNI_EVERSION();
                 }
diff --git a/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.core/src/com/oracle/svm/core/jni/headers/JNIVersion.java b/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.core/src/com/oracle/svm/core/jni/headers/JNIVersion.java
index 356a74c4beb2..7204a54f5df6 100644
--- a/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.core/src/com/oracle/svm/core/jni/headers/JNIVersion.java
+++ b/substratevm/src/com.oracle.svm.core/src/com/oracle/svm/core/jni/headers/JNIVersion.java
@@ -34,18 +34,18 @@
 @CContext(JNIHeaderDirectives.class)
 public final class JNIVersion {
     @Uninterruptible(reason = "Called from uninterruptible code.", mayBeInlined = true)
-    public static boolean isSupported(int version) {
-        return (JavaVersionUtil.JAVA_SPEC >= 22 && version == JNIVersionJDKLatest.JNI_VERSION_LATEST()) ||
-                        version == JNI_VERSION_21() ||
-                        version == JNI_VERSION_20() ||
-                        version == JNI_VERSION_19() ||
-                        version == JNI_VERSION_10() ||
-                        version == JNI_VERSION_9() ||
-                        version == JNI_VERSION_1_8() ||
-                        version == JNI_VERSION_1_6() ||
-                        version == JNI_VERSION_1_4() ||
-                        version == JNI_VERSION_1_2() ||
-                        version == JNI_VERSION_1_1();
+    public static boolean isSupported(int version, boolean builtInLibrary) {
+        if (JavaVersionUtil.JAVA_SPEC >= 22 && version == JNIVersionJDKLatest.JNI_VERSION_LATEST()) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        if (version == JNI_VERSION_21() || version == JNI_VERSION_20() || version == JNI_VERSION_19() || version == JNI_VERSION_10() || version == JNI_VERSION_9() || version == JNI_VERSION_1_8()) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        if (builtInLibrary) {
+            // Specification requires 1.8 or later for built-in (statically linked) libraries.
+            return false;
+        }
+        return version == JNI_VERSION_1_6() || version == JNI_VERSION_1_4() || version == JNI_VERSION_1_2() || version == JNI_VERSION_1_1();
     }
 
     // Checkstyle: stop