diff --git a/pkg/client/client.go b/pkg/client/client.go
index e44f9e0..77d01b8 100644
--- a/pkg/client/client.go
+++ b/pkg/client/client.go
@@ -26,6 +26,11 @@ const (
 	VaultToken           = "VAULT_TOKEN"
 	VaultNamespace       = "VAULT_NAMESPACE"
 	VaultSkipTLSVerify   = "VAULT_SKIP_VERIFY"
+	VaultCACert          = "VAULT_CACERT"
+	VaultCAPath          = "VAULT_CAPATH"
+	VaultClientCert      = "VAULT_CLIENT_CERT"
+	VaultClientKey       = "VAULT_CLIENT_KEY"
+	VaultTLSServerName   = "VAULT_TLS_SERVER_NAME"
 	VaultHeaderToken     = "X-Vault-Token"
 	VaultHeaderNamespace = "X-Vault-Namespace"
 )
@@ -49,10 +54,32 @@ func NewVaultClient(sessionId string, vaultAddress string, vaultSkipTLSVerify bo
 	config := api.DefaultConfig()
 	config.Address = vaultAddress
 
-	tr := &http.Transport{
-		TLSClientConfig: &tls.Config{InsecureSkipVerify: vaultSkipTLSVerify},
+	// Honor the standard Vault TLS environment variables so a private or
+	// self-signed CA can be trusted without modifying the host trust store.
+	// ConfigureTLS updates the existing transport's TLSClientConfig in place
+	// (RootCAs, client certificate, ServerName) instead of replacing it with a
+	// bare tls.Config, which previously discarded the configured RootCAs.
+	if err := config.ConfigureTLS(&api.TLSConfig{
+		CACert:        getEnv(VaultCACert, ""),
+		CAPath:        getEnv(VaultCAPath, ""),
+		ClientCert:    getEnv(VaultClientCert, ""),
+		ClientKey:     getEnv(VaultClientKey, ""),
+		TLSServerName: getEnv(VaultTLSServerName, ""),
+	}); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to configure Vault TLS: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	// Apply the caller-resolved skip-verify decision explicitly. ConfigureTLS
+	// and ReadEnvironment (invoked by DefaultConfig) only ever set
+	// InsecureSkipVerify to true and never clear it, so set it directly here to
+	// preserve the context/env precedence resolved by the caller in both
+	// directions.
+	if tr, ok := config.HttpClient.Transport.(*http.Transport); ok {
+		if tr.TLSClientConfig == nil {
+			tr.TLSClientConfig = &tls.Config{}
+		}
+		tr.TLSClientConfig.InsecureSkipVerify = vaultSkipTLSVerify
 	}
-	config.HttpClient = &http.Client{Transport: tr}
 
 	client, err := api.NewClient(config)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -151,7 +178,7 @@ func CreateVaultClientForSession(ctx context.Context, session server.ClientSessi
 			logger.WithFields(log.Fields{
 				"session_id": session.SessionID(),
 				"value":      envVal,
-		}).Warn("Invalid boolean value for VAULT_SKIP_VERIFY; using default value false")
+			}).Warn("Invalid boolean value for VAULT_SKIP_VERIFY; using default value false")
 		} else {
 			vaultSkipTLSVerify = parsed
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/client/client_cacert_test.go b/pkg/client/client_cacert_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f0c948
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/client/client_cacert_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+// Copyright IBM Corp. 2025, 2026
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
+
+package client
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/pem"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// writeServerCACert PEM-encodes the test server's certificate to a temp file so
+// it can be used as a CA bundle via VAULT_CACERT.
+func writeServerCACert(t *testing.T, srv *httptest.Server) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	caFile := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "ca.pem")
+	pemBytes := pem.EncodeToMemory(&pem.Block{Type: "CERTIFICATE", Bytes: srv.Certificate().Raw})
+	if err := os.WriteFile(caFile, pemBytes, 0o600); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("write CA cert: %v", err)
+	}
+	return caFile
+}
+
+// TestNewVaultClientHonorsCACert verifies that VAULT_CACERT lets the client
+// verify a Vault listener presenting a private/self-signed certificate, and
+// that without it verification still fails (i.e. we did not silently disable it).
+func TestNewVaultClientHonorsCACert(t *testing.T) {
+	srv := httptest.NewTLSServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+	}))
+	defer srv.Close()
+
+	caFile := writeServerCACert(t, srv)
+
+	// Keep the test fast: no retry backoff on the expected TLS failure.
+	t.Setenv("VAULT_MAX_RETRIES", "0")
+
+	doRequest := func(sessionId string) error {
+		c, err := NewVaultClient(sessionId, srv.URL, false, "test-token", "")
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("NewVaultClient: %v", err)
+		}
+		req := c.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, "/v1/sys/health")
+		resp, err := c.RawRequestWithContext(context.Background(), req)
+		if resp != nil {
+			_ = resp.Body.Close()
+		}
+		return err
+	}
+
+	t.Run("without CA cert verification fails", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Setenv(VaultCACert, "")
+		if err := doRequest("no-ca"); err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("expected TLS verification error against self-signed cert, got nil")
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("with CA cert verification succeeds", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Setenv(VaultCACert, caFile)
+		if err := doRequest("with-ca"); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("expected success with VAULT_CACERT set, got: %v", err)
+		}
+	})
+}