diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/GatewayMetaState.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/GatewayMetaState.java
index df0bcd9728fad..9b137070cb8cd 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/GatewayMetaState.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/GatewayMetaState.java
@@ -205,6 +205,13 @@ public void applyClusterState(ClusterChangedEvent event) {
         }
 
         try {
+            // Hack: This is to ensure that non-master-eligible Zen2 nodes always store a current term
+            // that's higher than the last accepted term.
+            // TODO: can we get rid of this hack?
+            if (event.state().term() > getCurrentTerm()) {
+                innerSetCurrentTerm(event.state().term());
+            }
+
             updateClusterState(event.state(), event.previousState());
             incrementalWrite = true;
         } catch (WriteStateException e) {
@@ -225,17 +232,21 @@ public ClusterState getLastAcceptedState() {
 
     @Override
     public void setCurrentTerm(long currentTerm) {
-        Manifest manifest = new Manifest(currentTerm, previousManifest.getClusterStateVersion(), previousManifest.getGlobalGeneration(),
-                new HashMap<>(previousManifest.getIndexGenerations()));
         try {
-            metaStateService.writeManifestAndCleanup("current term changed", manifest);
-            previousManifest = manifest;
+            innerSetCurrentTerm(currentTerm);
         } catch (WriteStateException e) {
             logger.warn("Exception occurred when setting current term", e);
             //TODO re-throw exception
         }
     }
 
+    private void innerSetCurrentTerm(long currentTerm) throws WriteStateException {
+        Manifest manifest = new Manifest(currentTerm, previousManifest.getClusterStateVersion(), previousManifest.getGlobalGeneration(),
+            new HashMap<>(previousManifest.getIndexGenerations()));
+        metaStateService.writeManifestAndCleanup("current term changed", manifest);
+        previousManifest = manifest;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public void setLastAcceptedState(ClusterState clusterState) {
         try {
diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/discovery/TestZenDiscovery.java b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/discovery/TestZenDiscovery.java
index 815345f7535d1..41007b9e9fd02 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/discovery/TestZenDiscovery.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/discovery/TestZenDiscovery.java
@@ -21,8 +21,11 @@
 
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.coordination.CoordinationState;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.coordination.Coordinator;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.coordination.InMemoryPersistedState;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNode;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.allocation.AllocationService;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.service.ClusterApplier;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.service.ClusterApplierService;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.service.MasterService;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Randomness;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.NamedWriteableRegistry;
@@ -80,6 +83,12 @@ public Map<String, Supplier<Discovery>> getDiscoveryTypes(ThreadPool threadPool,
                 if (USE_ZEN2.get(settings)) {
                     Supplier<CoordinationState.PersistedState> persistedStateSupplier = () -> {
                         gatewayMetaState.applyClusterStateUpdaters();
+                        if (DiscoveryNode.isMasterNode(settings) == false) {
+                            // use Zen1 way of writing cluster state for non-master-eligible nodes
+                            // this avoids concurrent manipulating of IndexMetadata with IndicesStore
+                            ((ClusterApplierService) clusterApplier).addLowPriorityApplier(gatewayMetaState);
+                            return new InMemoryPersistedState(gatewayMetaState.getCurrentTerm(), gatewayMetaState.getLastAcceptedState());
+                        }
                         return gatewayMetaState;
                     };