diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/MlConfigVersion.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/MlConfigVersion.java
index 409dde2d06d92..260409db0e653 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/MlConfigVersion.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/MlConfigVersion.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.NavigableMap;
 import java.util.Set;
@@ -280,17 +281,24 @@ public static MlConfigVersion getMaxMlConfigVersion(DiscoveryNodes nodes) {
     public static Tuple<MlConfigVersion, MlConfigVersion> getMinMaxMlConfigVersion(DiscoveryNodes nodes) {
         MlConfigVersion minMlConfigVersion = MlConfigVersion.CURRENT;
         MlConfigVersion maxMlConfigVersion = MlConfigVersion.FIRST_ML_VERSION;
+
+        // many nodes will have the same versions, so de-duplicate versions first so that we only have to parse unique versions
+        final Set<String> versions = new HashSet<>();
         for (DiscoveryNode node : nodes) {
-            try {
-                MlConfigVersion mlConfigVersion = getMlConfigVersionForNode(node);
-                if (mlConfigVersion.before(minMlConfigVersion)) {
-                    minMlConfigVersion = mlConfigVersion;
-                }
-                if (mlConfigVersion.after(maxMlConfigVersion)) {
-                    maxMlConfigVersion = mlConfigVersion;
-                }
-            } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
-                // This means we encountered a node that is after 8.10.0 but has the ML plugin disabled - ignore it
+            String mlConfigVerStr = node.getAttributes().get(ML_CONFIG_VERSION_NODE_ATTR);
+            if (mlConfigVerStr != null) { // ignore nodes that don't have an ML config version
+                versions.add(mlConfigVerStr);
+            }
+        }
+
+        // of the unique versions, find the min and max
+        for (String version : versions) {
+            MlConfigVersion mlConfigVersion = fromString(version);
+            if (mlConfigVersion.before(minMlConfigVersion)) {
+                minMlConfigVersion = mlConfigVersion;
+            }
+            if (mlConfigVersion.after(maxMlConfigVersion)) {
+                maxMlConfigVersion = mlConfigVersion;
             }
         }
         return new Tuple<>(minMlConfigVersion, maxMlConfigVersion);
@@ -302,6 +310,9 @@ public static MlConfigVersion getMlConfigVersionForNode(DiscoveryNode node) {
         return fromString(mlConfigVerStr);
     }
 
+    // supports fromString below
+    private static final Pattern ML_VERSION_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("^(\\d+)\\.(\\d+)\\.(\\d+)(?:-\\w+)?$");
+
     // Parse an MlConfigVersion from a string.
     // Note that version "8.10.x" and "8.11.0" are silently converted to "10.0.0".
     // This is to support upgrade scenarios in pre-prod QA environments.
@@ -317,7 +328,7 @@ public static MlConfigVersion fromString(String str) {
         if (str.startsWith("8.10.") || str.equals("8.11.0")) {
             return V_10;
         }
-        Matcher matcher = Pattern.compile("^(\\d+)\\.(\\d+)\\.(\\d+)(?:-\\w+)?$").matcher(str);
+        Matcher matcher = ML_VERSION_PATTERN.matcher(str);
         if (matcher.matches() == false) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("ML config version [" + str + "] not valid");
         }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/action/GetTrainedModelsStatsAction.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/action/GetTrainedModelsStatsAction.java
index 333e11dc32afe..3dce7b465bc76 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/action/GetTrainedModelsStatsAction.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ml/action/GetTrainedModelsStatsAction.java
@@ -89,12 +89,6 @@ public static class TrainedModelStats implements ToXContentObject, Writeable {
             private final AssignmentStats deploymentStats;
             private final int pipelineCount;
 
-            private static final IngestStats EMPTY_INGEST_STATS = new IngestStats(
-                IngestStats.Stats.IDENTITY,
-                Collections.emptyList(),
-                Collections.emptyMap()
-            );
-
             public TrainedModelStats(
                 String modelId,
                 TrainedModelSizeStats modelSizeStats,
@@ -105,7 +99,7 @@ public TrainedModelStats(
             ) {
                 this.modelId = Objects.requireNonNull(modelId);
                 this.modelSizeStats = modelSizeStats;
-                this.ingestStats = ingestStats == null ? EMPTY_INGEST_STATS : ingestStats;
+                this.ingestStats = ingestStats == null ? IngestStats.IDENTITY : ingestStats;
                 if (pipelineCount < 0) {
                     throw new ElasticsearchException("[{}] must be a greater than or equal to 0", PIPELINE_COUNT.getPreferredName());
                 }