diff --git a/docs/changelog/124527.yaml b/docs/changelog/124527.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..5606683cca95a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/124527.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+pr: 124527
+summary: Avoid potentially throwing calls to Task#getDescription in model download
+area: Machine Learning
+type: bug
+issues: []
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml-package-loader/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/packageloader/action/TransportLoadTrainedModelPackage.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml-package-loader/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/packageloader/action/TransportLoadTrainedModelPackage.java
index 4d40ec7880fb3..90233d7a343bc 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml-package-loader/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/packageloader/action/TransportLoadTrainedModelPackage.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml-package-loader/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/packageloader/action/TransportLoadTrainedModelPackage.java
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ synchronized boolean handleDownloadInProgress(
 
         ModelDownloadTask inProgress = null;
         for (var task : tasks) {
-            if (description.equals(task.getDescription()) && task instanceof ModelDownloadTask downloadTask) {
+            if (task instanceof ModelDownloadTask downloadTask && (description.equals(downloadTask.getDescription()))) {
                 inProgress = downloadTask;
                 break;
             }