diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncAction.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncAction.java
index 5149dd9246335..cf258c91e3975 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncAction.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncAction.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterState;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.NamedWriteableRegistry;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.SearchPhaseResult;
+import org.elasticsearch.search.SearchService;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.SearchShardTarget;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.dfs.AggregatedDfs;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.internal.AliasFilter;
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ class SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncAction extends AbstractSearchAsyncAction<SearchPh
     private final int trackTotalHitsUpTo;
     private volatile BottomSortValuesCollector bottomSortCollector;
     private final Client client;
+    private final SearchService searchService;
 
     SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncAction(
         Logger logger,
@@ -57,7 +59,8 @@ class SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncAction extends AbstractSearchAsyncAction<SearchPh
         ClusterState clusterState,
         SearchTask task,
         SearchResponse.Clusters clusters,
-        Client client
+        Client client,
+        SearchService searchService
     ) {
         super(
             "query",
@@ -82,7 +85,7 @@ class SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncAction extends AbstractSearchAsyncAction<SearchPh
         this.trackTotalHitsUpTo = request.resolveTrackTotalHitsUpTo();
         this.progressListener = task.getProgressListener();
         this.client = client;
-
+        this.searchService = searchService;
         // don't build the SearchShard list (can be expensive) if the SearchProgressListener won't use it
         if (progressListener != SearchProgressListener.NOOP) {
             notifyListShards(progressListener, clusters, request, shardsIts);
@@ -95,7 +98,13 @@ protected void executePhaseOnShard(
         final SearchActionListener<SearchPhaseResult> listener
     ) {
         ShardSearchRequest request = rewriteShardSearchRequest(super.buildShardSearchRequest(shardIt, listener.requestIndex));
-        getSearchTransport().sendExecuteQuery(connection, request, getTask(), listener);
+        var searchTransport = getSearchTransport();
+        var task = getTask();
+        if (searchTransport.transportService().getLocalNodeConnection() == connection) {
+            searchService.executeQueryPhase(request, task, listener);
+            return;
+        }
+        searchTransport.sendExecuteQuery(connection, request, task, listener);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchTransportService.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchTransportService.java
index 2041754bc2bcc..ccbd3b823da4b 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchTransportService.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchTransportService.java
@@ -122,6 +122,10 @@ public SearchTransportService(
         this.responseWrapper = responseWrapper;
     }
 
+    public TransportService transportService() {
+        return transportService;
+    }
+
     public void sendFreeContext(
         Transport.Connection connection,
         ShardSearchContextId contextId,
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/TransportSearchAction.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/TransportSearchAction.java
index 8e7333155d762..1c48688723624 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/TransportSearchAction.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/TransportSearchAction.java
@@ -1572,7 +1572,8 @@ public void runNewSearchPhase(
                         clusterState,
                         task,
                         clusters,
-                        client
+                        client,
+                        searchService
                     );
                 }
                 success = true;
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java
index 1156cd4b7bdf0..aac836272075b 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java
@@ -603,7 +603,13 @@ private void loadOrExecuteQueryPhase(final ShardSearchRequest request, final Sea
     public void executeQueryPhase(ShardSearchRequest request, CancellableTask task, ActionListener<SearchPhaseResult> listener) {
         assert request.canReturnNullResponseIfMatchNoDocs() == false || request.numberOfShards() > 1
             : "empty responses require more than one shard";
-        final IndexShard shard = getShard(request);
+        final IndexShard shard;
+        try {
+            shard = getShard(request);
+        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+            listener.onFailure(e);
+            return;
+        }
         rewriteAndFetchShardRequest(
             shard,
             request,
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncActionTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncActionTests.java
index 227239481a55a..bc7114109b73e 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncActionTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncActionTests.java
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.InternalAggregationTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.Transport;
+import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService;
 
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -51,6 +52,8 @@
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThanOrEqualTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.instanceOf;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
 public class SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncActionTests extends ESTestCase {
     public void testBottomFieldSort() throws Exception {
@@ -83,7 +86,11 @@ private void testCase(boolean withScroll, boolean withCollapse) throws Exception
         AtomicInteger numWithTopDocs = new AtomicInteger();
         AtomicInteger successfulOps = new AtomicInteger();
         AtomicBoolean canReturnNullResponse = new AtomicBoolean(false);
-        SearchTransportService searchTransportService = new SearchTransportService(null, null, null) {
+        TransportService transportService = mock(TransportService.class);
+        when(transportService.getLocalNodeConnection()).thenReturn(
+            new SearchAsyncActionTests.MockConnection(DiscoveryNodeUtils.create("local"))
+        );
+        SearchTransportService searchTransportService = new SearchTransportService(transportService, null, null) {
             @Override
             public void sendExecuteQuery(
                 Transport.Connection connection,
@@ -201,6 +208,7 @@ public void sendExecuteQuery(
                 new ClusterState.Builder(new ClusterName("test")).build(),
                 task,
                 SearchResponse.Clusters.EMPTY,
+                null,
                 null
             ) {
                 @Override
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/security/qa/security-trial/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/dlsfls/DlsRequestCacheIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/security/qa/security-trial/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/dlsfls/DlsRequestCacheIT.java
index 743700af81fd9..b6b170e9c9d27 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/security/qa/security-trial/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/dlsfls/DlsRequestCacheIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/security/qa/security-trial/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/dlsfls/DlsRequestCacheIT.java
@@ -106,8 +106,7 @@ public void testRequestCacheDisabledForDlsTemplateRoleWithPainless() throws IOEx
                 .addHeader("Authorization", UsernamePasswordToken.basicAuthHeaderValue(DLS_USER, DLS_USER_PASSWORD))
         );
         assertSearchResponse(client.performRequest(searchRequest), Set.of("1"));
-        // Cache should not be used since DLS query uses stored script
-        assertCacheState(0, 0);
+        assertCacheState(0, 1);
     }
 
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/security/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/integration/DlsFlsRequestCacheTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/security/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/integration/DlsFlsRequestCacheTests.java
index 82a10f21debfb..52f0371e8b276 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/security/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/integration/DlsFlsRequestCacheTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/security/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/integration/DlsFlsRequestCacheTests.java
@@ -342,7 +342,7 @@ public void testRequestCacheWithTemplateRoleQuery() {
         // Since the DLS for the alias uses a stored script, this should cause the request cached to be disabled
         assertSearchResponse(client1.prepareSearch(DLS_TEMPLATE_ROLE_QUERY_ALIAS).setRequestCache(true), Set.of("1"), Set.of("username"));
         // No cache should be used
-        assertCacheState(DLS_TEMPLATE_ROLE_QUERY_INDEX, 2, 2);
+        assertCacheState(DLS_TEMPLATE_ROLE_QUERY_INDEX, 3, 2);
     }
 
     private void prepareIndices() {