diff --git a/tests/test_linter.py b/tests/test_linter.py
index 686068b3..a6a21517 100644
--- a/tests/test_linter.py
+++ b/tests/test_linter.py
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ def test_run_on_non_ascii_chars(self):
         linter.run(s, self.fake_config())
         linter.run(s.encode('utf-8'), self.fake_config())
 
+    def test_run_on_ansible_vault(self):
+        linter.run('$ANSIBLE_VAULT;1.1;AES256\n1643039736532396535663733313\n',
+                   self.fake_config())
+
     def test_linter_problem_repr_without_rule(self):
         problem = linter.LintProblem(1, 2, 'problem')
 
diff --git a/yamllint/linter.py b/yamllint/linter.py
index 39849707..ae35588c 100644
--- a/yamllint/linter.py
+++ b/yamllint/linter.py
@@ -188,6 +188,9 @@ def _run(buffer, conf, filepath):
     first_line = next(parser.line_generator(buffer)).content
     if re.match(r'^#\s*yamllint disable-file\s*$', first_line):
         return
+    elif first_line.startswith('$ANSIBLE_VAULT;'):
+        # We ignore Ansible vaults.
+        return
 
     # If the document contains a syntax error, save it and yield it at the
     # right line