diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/AbstractSearchAsyncAction.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/AbstractSearchAsyncAction.java
index e3a539a58b837..8a2752fde140b 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/AbstractSearchAsyncAction.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/AbstractSearchAsyncAction.java
@@ -251,6 +251,32 @@ private boolean checkMinimumVersion(GroupShardsIterator<SearchShardIterator> sha
         return true;
     }
 
+    private boolean assertExecuteOnStartThread() {
+        // Ensure that the current code has the following stacktrace:
+        // AbstractSearchAsyncAction#start -> AbstractSearchAsyncAction#executePhase -> AbstractSearchAsyncAction#performPhaseOnShard
+        final StackTraceElement[] stackTraceElements = Thread.currentThread().getStackTrace();
+        assert stackTraceElements.length >= 6 : stackTraceElements;
+        int index = 0;
+        assert stackTraceElements[index++].getMethodName().equals("getStackTrace");
+        assert stackTraceElements[index++].getMethodName().equals("assertExecuteOnStartThread");
+        assert stackTraceElements[index++].getMethodName().equals("performPhaseOnShard");
+        if (stackTraceElements[index].getMethodName().equals("performPhaseOnShard")) {
+            assert stackTraceElements[index].getClassName().endsWith("CanMatchPreFilterSearchPhase");
+            index++;
+        }
+        assert stackTraceElements[index].getClassName().endsWith("AbstractSearchAsyncAction");
+        assert stackTraceElements[index++].getMethodName().equals("run");
+
+        assert stackTraceElements[index].getClassName().endsWith("AbstractSearchAsyncAction");
+        assert stackTraceElements[index++].getMethodName().equals("executePhase");
+
+        assert stackTraceElements[index].getClassName().endsWith("AbstractSearchAsyncAction");
+        assert stackTraceElements[index++].getMethodName().equals("start");
+
+        assert stackTraceElements[index].getClassName().endsWith("AbstractSearchAsyncAction") == false;
+        return true;
+    }
+
     protected void performPhaseOnShard(final int shardIndex, final SearchShardIterator shardIt, final SearchShardTarget shard) {
         /*
          * We capture the thread that this phase is starting on. When we are called back after executing the phase, we are either on the
@@ -260,9 +286,10 @@ protected void performPhaseOnShard(final int shardIndex, final SearchShardIterat
          * we can continue (cf. InitialSearchPhase#maybeFork).
          */
         if (shard == null) {
+            assert assertExecuteOnStartThread();
             SearchShardTarget unassignedShard = new SearchShardTarget(null, shardIt.shardId(),
                 shardIt.getClusterAlias(), shardIt.getOriginalIndices());
-            fork(() -> onShardFailure(shardIndex, unassignedShard, shardIt, new NoShardAvailableActionException(shardIt.shardId())));
+            onShardFailure(shardIndex, unassignedShard, shardIt, new NoShardAvailableActionException(shardIt.shardId()));
         } else {
             final PendingExecutions pendingExecutions = throttleConcurrentRequests ?
                 pendingExecutionsPerNode.computeIfAbsent(shard.getNodeId(), n -> new PendingExecutions(maxConcurrentRequestsPerNode))