diff --git a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/OpenApiSecurityRequirement.cs b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/OpenApiSecurityRequirement.cs
index 4a912c0de..766b73f0d 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/OpenApiSecurityRequirement.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.OpenApi/Models/OpenApiSecurityRequirement.cs
@@ -79,11 +79,7 @@ private void SerializeInternal(IOpenApiWriter writer, Action<IOpenApiWriter, Ope
 
             writer.WriteStartObject();
 
-            // Reaching this point means the reference to a specific OpenApiSecurityScheme fails.
-            // We are not able to serialize this SecurityScheme/Scopes key value pair since we do not know what
-            // string to output.
-
-            foreach (var securitySchemeAndScopesValuePair in this.Where(static p => p.Key?.Target is not null))
+            foreach (var securitySchemeAndScopesValuePair in this.Where(static p => CanSerializeSecurityScheme(p.Key)))
             {
                 var securityScheme = securitySchemeAndScopesValuePair.Key;
                 var scopes = securitySchemeAndScopesValuePair.Value;
@@ -103,6 +99,25 @@ private void SerializeInternal(IOpenApiWriter writer, Action<IOpenApiWriter, Ope
             writer.WriteEndObject();
         }
 
+        private static bool CanSerializeSecurityScheme(OpenApiSecuritySchemeReference? securityScheme)
+        {
+            if (securityScheme is null)
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            if (securityScheme.Target is not null)
+            {
+                return true;
+            }
+
+            var schemeId = securityScheme.Reference?.Id;
+            var securitySchemes = securityScheme.Reference?.HostDocument?.Components?.SecuritySchemes;
+            return !string.IsNullOrEmpty(schemeId)
+                && securitySchemes is not null
+                && securitySchemes.ContainsKey(schemeId!);
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Serialize <see cref="OpenApiSecurityRequirement"/> to Open Api v2.0
         /// </summary>
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Tests/Models/OpenApiDocumentTests.cs b/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Tests/Models/OpenApiDocumentTests.cs
index 1acd8ce8c..7a47b8597 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Tests/Models/OpenApiDocumentTests.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Tests/Models/OpenApiDocumentTests.cs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 using System.IO;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Net.Http;
+using System.Text.Json.Nodes;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using VerifyXunit;
 using Xunit;
@@ -2387,6 +2388,56 @@ public async Task SerializeDocumentWithSelfPropertyAsV32Works()
             Assert.Equal(expected.MakeLineBreaksEnvironmentNeutral(), actual.MakeLineBreaksEnvironmentNeutral());
         }
 
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData(OpenApiSpecVersion.OpenApi3_0)]
+        [InlineData(OpenApiSpecVersion.OpenApi3_1)]
+        [InlineData(OpenApiSpecVersion.OpenApi3_2)]
+        public async Task SerializeDocumentWithSecurityRequirementAsJsonWorks(OpenApiSpecVersion openApiSpecVersion)
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var doc = new OpenApiDocument
+            {
+                Info = new OpenApiInfo { Title = "Test", Version = "1.0" },
+                Components = new OpenApiComponents
+                {
+                    SecuritySchemes = new Dictionary<string, IOpenApiSecurityScheme>(StringComparer.Ordinal)
+                    {
+                        ["Bearer"] = new OpenApiSecurityScheme
+                        {
+                            Type = SecuritySchemeType.Http,
+                            Scheme = "Bearer",
+                            BearerFormat = "JWT",
+                        },
+                    },
+                },
+            };
+
+            doc.Security =
+            [
+                new OpenApiSecurityRequirement
+                {
+                    { new OpenApiSecuritySchemeReference("Bearer", doc), [] },
+                },
+            ];
+
+            var expected =
+                """
+                [
+                  {
+                    "Bearer": []
+                  }
+                ]
+                """;
+
+            // Act
+            var actual = await doc.SerializeAsJsonAsync(openApiSpecVersion);
+
+            // Assert
+            var actualSecurity = JsonNode.Parse(actual)?["security"];
+            Assert.NotNull(actualSecurity);
+            Assert.True(JsonNode.DeepEquals(JsonNode.Parse(expected), actualSecurity));
+        }
+
         [Fact]
         public async Task SerializeDocumentWithSelfPropertyAsV31WritesAsExtension()
         {
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Tests/Models/OpenApiSecurityRequirementTests.cs b/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Tests/Models/OpenApiSecurityRequirementTests.cs
index 4ae9aedfd..29f5af3c6 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Tests/Models/OpenApiSecurityRequirementTests.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.OpenApi.Tests/Models/OpenApiSecurityRequirementTests.cs
@@ -130,35 +130,10 @@ public async Task SerializeSecurityRequirementAsV3JsonWorksAsync(bool produceTer
             await Verifier.Verify(outputStringWriter).UseParameters(produceTerseOutput);
         }
 
-        [Fact]
-        public async Task SerializeSecurityRequirementWithReferencedSecuritySchemeAsV3JsonWorks()
-        {
-            // Arrange
-            var expected =
-                """
-                {
-                  "scheme1": [
-                    "scope1",
-                    "scope2",
-                    "scope3"
-                  ],
-                  "scheme2": [
-                    "scope4",
-                    "scope5"
-                  ],
-                  "scheme3": [ ]
-                }
-                """;
-
-            // Act
-            var actual = await SecurityRequirementWithReferencedSecurityScheme.SerializeAsJsonAsync(OpenApiSpecVersion.OpenApi3_0);
-
-            // Assert
-            Assert.True(JsonNode.DeepEquals(JsonNode.Parse(expected), JsonNode.Parse(actual)));
-        }
-
-        [Fact]
-        public async Task SerializeSecurityRequirementWithReferencedSecuritySchemeAsV2JsonWorks()
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData(OpenApiSpecVersion.OpenApi3_0)]
+        [InlineData(OpenApiSpecVersion.OpenApi2_0)]
+        public async Task SerializeSecurityRequirementWithReferencedSecuritySchemeAsJsonWorks(OpenApiSpecVersion openApiSpecVersion)
         {
             // Arrange
             var expected =
@@ -178,37 +153,16 @@ public async Task SerializeSecurityRequirementWithReferencedSecuritySchemeAsV2Js
                 """;
 
             // Act
-            var actual = await SecurityRequirementWithReferencedSecurityScheme.SerializeAsJsonAsync(OpenApiSpecVersion.OpenApi2_0);
+            var actual = await SecurityRequirementWithReferencedSecurityScheme.SerializeAsJsonAsync(openApiSpecVersion);
 
             // Assert
             Assert.True(JsonNode.DeepEquals(JsonNode.Parse(expected), JsonNode.Parse(actual)));
         }
 
-        [Fact]
-        public async Task SerializeSecurityRequirementWithUnreferencedSecuritySchemeAsV3JsonShouldSkipUnserializableKeyValuePair()
-        {
-            // Arrange
-            var expected =
-                """
-                {
-                  "scheme1": [
-                    "scope1",
-                    "scope2",
-                    "scope3"
-                  ],
-                  "scheme3": [ ]
-                }
-                """;
-
-            // Act
-            var actual = await SecurityRequirementWithUnreferencedSecurityScheme.SerializeAsJsonAsync(OpenApiSpecVersion.OpenApi3_0);
-
-            // Assert
-            Assert.True(JsonNode.DeepEquals(JsonNode.Parse(expected), JsonNode.Parse(actual)));
-        }
-
-        [Fact]
-        public async Task SerializeSecurityRequirementWithUnreferencedSecuritySchemeAsV2JsonShouldSkipUnserializableKeyValuePair()
+        [Theory]
+        [InlineData(OpenApiSpecVersion.OpenApi3_0)]
+        [InlineData(OpenApiSpecVersion.OpenApi2_0)]
+        public async Task SerializeSecurityRequirementWithUnreferencedSecuritySchemeAsJsonShouldSkipUnserializableKeyValuePair(OpenApiSpecVersion openApiSpecVersion)
         {
             // Arrange
             var expected =
@@ -224,8 +178,7 @@ public async Task SerializeSecurityRequirementWithUnreferencedSecuritySchemeAsV2
                 """;
 
             // Act
-            var actual =
-                await SecurityRequirementWithUnreferencedSecurityScheme.SerializeAsJsonAsync(OpenApiSpecVersion.OpenApi2_0);
+            var actual = await SecurityRequirementWithUnreferencedSecurityScheme.SerializeAsJsonAsync(openApiSpecVersion);
 
             // Assert
             Assert.True(JsonNode.DeepEquals(JsonNode.Parse(expected), JsonNode.Parse(actual)));