diff --git a/src/v/cloud_storage/recursive_directory_walker.cc b/src/v/cloud_storage/recursive_directory_walker.cc
index 1e7752ed6791f..d3078a384176d 100644
--- a/src/v/cloud_storage/recursive_directory_walker.cc
+++ b/src/v/cloud_storage/recursive_directory_walker.cc
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ ss::future<walk_result> recursive_directory_walker::walk(
     // Object to accumulate data as we walk directories
     walk_accumulator state(start_dir, tracker, std::move(collect_filter));
 
-    std::vector<ss::sstring> empty_dirs;
+    fragmented_vector<ss::sstring> empty_dirs;
 
     while (!state.empty()) {
         auto target = state.pop();
diff --git a/src/v/cloud_storage/recursive_directory_walker.h b/src/v/cloud_storage/recursive_directory_walker.h
index bcaea8f038d47..3a16bee87399b 100644
--- a/src/v/cloud_storage/recursive_directory_walker.h
+++ b/src/v/cloud_storage/recursive_directory_walker.h
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ struct walk_result {
     uint64_t cache_size{0};
     size_t filtered_out_files{0};
     fragmented_vector<file_list_item> regular_files;
-    std::vector<ss::sstring> empty_dirs;
+    fragmented_vector<ss::sstring> empty_dirs;
 };
 
 class recursive_directory_walker {