diff --git a/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/annotations/AnnotationHierarchies.java b/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/annotations/AnnotationHierarchies.java
index 9ffe85805..1d6b7bef8 100644
--- a/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/annotations/AnnotationHierarchies.java
+++ b/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/annotations/AnnotationHierarchies.java
@@ -78,25 +78,7 @@ public abstract class AnnotationHierarchies {
 
 	public static boolean hasTransitiveSuperAnnotationType(ITypeBinding typeBinding, String annotationType) {
 		synchronized(lock) {
-			if (typeBinding != null && annotationType != null) {
-				String qname = typeBinding.getQualifiedName();
-				
-//				log.info("CHECK ANNOTATION TYPE: " + qname + " / " + annotationType);
-				
-				if (annotationType.equals(qname)) {
-					return true;
-				}
-				else {
-					Collection<ITypeBinding> directSuperAnnotations = getDirectSuperAnnotations(typeBinding);
-					for (ITypeBinding superAnnotationBinding : directSuperAnnotations) {
-						if (hasTransitiveSuperAnnotationType(superAnnotationBinding, annotationType)) {
-							return true;
-						}
-					}
-				}
-			}
-			
-			return false;
+			return isMetaAnnotation(typeBinding, annotationType::equals);
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/test/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/annotations/AnnotationHierarchiesTests.java b/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/test/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/annotations/AnnotationHierarchiesTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d700a9b12
--- /dev/null
+++ b/headless-services/spring-boot-language-server/src/test/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/annotations/AnnotationHierarchiesTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2024 Broadcom, Inc.
+ * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
+ * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
+ * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
+ * https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+ *
+ * Contributors:
+ *     Broadcom, Inc. - initial API and implementation
+ *******************************************************************************/
+package org.springframework.ide.vscode.boot.java.annotations;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.eclipse.jdt.core.dom.ASTVisitor;
+import org.eclipse.jdt.core.dom.CompilationUnit;
+import org.eclipse.jdt.core.dom.FileASTRequestor;
+import org.eclipse.jdt.core.dom.IAnnotationBinding;
+import org.eclipse.jdt.core.dom.ITypeBinding;
+import org.eclipse.jdt.core.dom.MarkerAnnotation;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.boot.java.utils.SpringIndexerJava;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.java.IJavaProject;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.project.harness.ProjectsHarness;
+
+public class AnnotationHierarchiesTests {
+	
+	private List<Path> createdFiles = new ArrayList<>();
+	
+	private Path createFile(String projectName, String packageName, String name, String content) throws Exception {
+		Path projectPath = Paths.get(getClass().getResource("/test-projects/" + projectName).toURI());
+		Path filePath = projectPath.resolve("src/main/java").resolve(packageName.replace('.', '/')).resolve(name);
+		Files.createDirectories(filePath.getParent());
+		createdFiles.add(Files.createFile(filePath));
+		Files.write(filePath, content.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+		return filePath;
+	}
+	
+	private void clearTestFiles() {
+		for (Iterator<Path> itr = createdFiles.iterator(); itr.hasNext();) {
+			Path path = itr.next();
+			try {
+				Files.delete(path);
+				itr.remove();
+			} catch (IOException e) {
+				e.printStackTrace();
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	@AfterEach
+	void tearDown() {
+		clearTestFiles();
+	}
+	
+	@Test
+	void circularAnnotations() throws Exception {
+		String projectName = "test-spring-validations";
+		IJavaProject project = ProjectsHarness.INSTANCE.mavenProject(projectName);
+		createFile(projectName, "test", "CustomComponent1.java", """
+		package test;
+		
+		import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
+		
+		@Component
+		@CustomComponent2
+		public @interface CustomComponent1 {
+		
+		}
+		""");
+		createFile(projectName, "test", "CustomComponent2.java", """
+		package test;
+		
+		import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
+		
+		@Component
+		@CustomComponent1
+		public @interface CustomComponent2 {
+		
+		}
+		""");
+		Path file = createFile(projectName, "test", "MyComponent.java", """
+		package test;
+		
+		@CustomComponent1
+		public class MyComponent {
+		
+		}
+		""");
+		
+		SpringIndexerJava.createParser(project, true).createASTs(new String[] { file.toFile().toString() }, null, new String[0], new FileASTRequestor() {
+			@Override
+			public void acceptAST(String sourceFilePath, CompilationUnit cu) {
+				cu.accept(new ASTVisitor() {
+
+					@Override
+					public boolean visit(MarkerAnnotation node) {
+						ITypeBinding binding = node.resolveTypeBinding();
+						assertThat(binding).isNotNull();
+						assertThat(binding.getQualifiedName()).isEqualTo("test.CustomComponent1");
+						
+						assertThat(AnnotationHierarchies.hasTransitiveSuperAnnotationType(binding, "test.CustomComponent2")).isTrue();
+						assertThat(AnnotationHierarchies.hasTransitiveSuperAnnotationType(binding, "org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration")).isFalse();
+						assertThat(AnnotationHierarchies.isMetaAnnotation(binding, "test.CustomComponent2"::equals)).isTrue();
+						assertThat(AnnotationHierarchies.isMetaAnnotation(binding, "org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration"::equals)).isFalse();
+						assertThat(AnnotationHierarchies.getDirectSuperAnnotations(binding).stream().toList().size()).isEqualTo(2);
+						
+						IAnnotationBinding annotationBinding = node.resolveAnnotationBinding();
+						assertThat(annotationBinding).isNotNull();
+						assertThat(AnnotationHierarchies.getDirectSuperAnnotationBindings(annotationBinding).stream().toList().size()).isEqualTo(2);
+						assertThat(AnnotationHierarchies.isSubtypeOf(node, "test.CustomComponent2")).isTrue();
+						assertThat(AnnotationHierarchies.isSubtypeOf(node, "org.springframework.stereotype.Component")).isTrue();
+						assertThat(AnnotationHierarchies.isSubtypeOf(node, "org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration")).isFalse();
+						return super.visit(node);
+					}
+					
+				});
+			}	
+		}, null);
+
+	}
+}