diff --git a/build-tools-internal/src/main/groovy/elasticsearch.bc-upgrade-test.gradle b/build-tools-internal/src/main/groovy/elasticsearch.bc-upgrade-test.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..94702c840c745
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-tools-internal/src/main/groovy/elasticsearch.bc-upgrade-test.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the "Elastic License
+ * 2.0", the "GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 only", and the "Server Side
+ * Public License v 1"; you may not use this file except in compliance with, at
+ * your election, the "Elastic License 2.0", the "GNU Affero General Public
+ * License v3.0 only", or the "Server Side Public License, v 1".
+ */
+
+import org.elasticsearch.gradle.Version
+import org.elasticsearch.gradle.testclusters.StandaloneRestIntegTestTask
+
+tasks.register("bcUpgradeTest", StandaloneRestIntegTestTask) {
+  // We use a phony version here as the real version is provided via `tests.bwc.main.version` system property
+  usesBwcDistribution(Version.fromString("0.0.0"))
+  systemProperty("tests.old_cluster_version", "0.0.0")
+  onlyIf("tests.bwc.main.version system property exists") { System.getProperty("tests.bwc.main.version") != null }
+}
diff --git a/modules/ingest-geoip/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle b/modules/ingest-geoip/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
index b6613b51ac8fc..5be9c652e3e90 100644
--- a/modules/ingest-geoip/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
+++ b/modules/ingest-geoip/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.gradle.testclusters.StandaloneRestIntegTestTask
 
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-java-rest-test'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bwc-test'
-
+apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bc-upgrade-test'
 
 dependencies {
   javaRestTestImplementation project(':test:fixtures:geoip-fixture')
diff --git a/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle b/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
index d23267bb352fc..16f7abc183421 100644
--- a/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
+++ b/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.gradle.testclusters.StandaloneRestIntegTestTask
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-java-rest-test'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-test-artifact'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bwc-test'
+apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bc-upgrade-test'
 
 buildParams.bwcVersions.withIndexCompatible { bwcVersion, baseName ->
   tasks.register(bwcTaskName(bwcVersion), StandaloneRestIntegTestTask) {
diff --git a/qa/rolling-upgrade/build.gradle b/qa/rolling-upgrade/build.gradle
index 9a2fb22da5e39..aef0ea6cdae0a 100644
--- a/qa/rolling-upgrade/build.gradle
+++ b/qa/rolling-upgrade/build.gradle
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-java-rest-test'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-test-artifact-base'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bwc-test'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.fwc-test'
+apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bc-upgrade-test'
 
 testArtifacts {
   registerTestArtifactFromSourceSet(sourceSets.javaRestTest)
@@ -26,18 +27,6 @@ buildParams.bwcVersions.withWireCompatible { bwcVersion, baseName ->
   }
 }
 
-tasks.register("bcUpgradeTest", StandaloneRestIntegTestTask) {
-  // We use a phony version here as the real version is provided via `tests.bwc.main.version` system property
-  usesBwcDistribution(Version.fromString("0.0.0"))
-  systemProperty("tests.old_cluster_version", "0.0.0")
-  onlyIf("tests.bwc.main.version system property exists") { System.getProperty("tests.bwc.main.version") != null }
-  filter {
-    // filter tests initially for quicker iterations
-    // TODO remove once expanding the test set to other modules
-    includeTestsMatching("org.elasticsearch.upgrades.IndexingIT")
-  }
-}
-
 tasks.withType(Test).configureEach {
   // CI doesn't like it when there's multiple clusters running at once
   maxParallelForks = 1
diff --git a/test/test-clusters/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/cluster/local/LocalClusterSpec.java b/test/test-clusters/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/cluster/local/LocalClusterSpec.java
index cccf2a95234c9..633381cefbbbb 100644
--- a/test/test-clusters/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/cluster/local/LocalClusterSpec.java
+++ b/test/test-clusters/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/cluster/local/LocalClusterSpec.java
@@ -212,7 +212,12 @@ public Path getConfigDir() {
         }
 
         public boolean isSecurityEnabled() {
-            return Boolean.parseBoolean(getSetting("xpack.security.enabled", getVersion().onOrAfter("8.0.0") ? "true" : "false"));
+            return Boolean.parseBoolean(
+                getSetting(
+                    "xpack.security.enabled",
+                    getVersion().equals(Version.fromString("0.0.0")) || getVersion().onOrAfter("8.0.0") ? "true" : "false"
+                )
+            );
         }
 
         public boolean isRemoteClusterServerEnabled() {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ent-search/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/ent-search/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
index 1e1973a118074..ab6d803a8211c 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ent-search/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ent-search/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.gradle.testclusters.StandaloneRestIntegTestTask
 
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-java-rest-test'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bwc-test'
-
+apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bc-upgrade-test'
 
 dependencies {
   javaRestTestImplementation(testArtifact(project(xpackModule('core'))))
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/esql/qa/server/mixed-cluster/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/esql/qa/server/mixed-cluster/build.gradle
index 971eed1c6795d..837817f98e8ff 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/esql/qa/server/mixed-cluster/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/esql/qa/server/mixed-cluster/build.gradle
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-java-rest-test'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-yaml-rest-test'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-test-artifact'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bwc-test'
+apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bc-upgrade-test'
 
 restResources {
   restApi {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/inference/qa/mixed-cluster/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/inference/qa/mixed-cluster/build.gradle
index 0f8c732154e85..eb775bb096b2e 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/inference/qa/mixed-cluster/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/inference/qa/mixed-cluster/build.gradle
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.gradle.testclusters.StandaloneRestIntegTestTask
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-java-rest-test'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-test-artifact-base'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bwc-test'
+apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bc-upgrade-test'
 
 dependencies {
   javaRestTestImplementation(testArtifact(project(xpackModule('core'))))
@@ -37,4 +38,3 @@ buildParams.bwcVersions.withWireCompatible(supportedVersion) { bwcVersion, baseN
     dependsOn javaRestTest
   }
 }
-
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/inference/qa/rolling-upgrade/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/inference/qa/rolling-upgrade/build.gradle
index 214d775b46236..0bdc23c0e8600 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/inference/qa/rolling-upgrade/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/inference/qa/rolling-upgrade/build.gradle
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.gradle.testclusters.StandaloneRestIntegTestTask
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-java-rest-test'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-test-artifact-base'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bwc-test'
-
+apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bc-upgrade-test'
 
 dependencies {
   javaRestTestImplementation(testArtifact(project(xpackModule('core'))))
@@ -26,4 +26,3 @@ buildParams.bwcVersions.withWireCompatible(v -> v.after("8.11.0")) { bwcVersion,
     maxParallelForks = 1
   }
 }
-
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/security/qa/multi-cluster/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/security/qa/multi-cluster/build.gradle
index f4eee4ef46c02..6cbabbabe00ce 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/security/qa/multi-cluster/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/security/qa/multi-cluster/build.gradle
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.gradle.testclusters.StandaloneRestIntegTestTask
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-java-rest-test'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.rest-resources'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bwc-test'
+apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bc-upgrade-test'
 
 dependencies {
   javaRestTestImplementation project(':x-pack:plugin:core')
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/shutdown/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/shutdown/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
index 60b0b372ba14c..d2b4219505901 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/shutdown/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/shutdown/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.gradle.testclusters.StandaloneRestIntegTestTask
 
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-java-rest-test'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bwc-test'
+apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bc-upgrade-test'
 
 dependencies {
   // TODO: Remove core dependency and change tests to not use builders that are part of xpack-core.
diff --git a/x-pack/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle b/x-pack/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
index ee0955c6db082..1a22c1493958f 100644
--- a/x-pack/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/qa/full-cluster-restart/build.gradle
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.gradle.testclusters.StandaloneRestIntegTestTask
 
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.internal-java-rest-test'
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bwc-test'
+apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.bc-upgrade-test'
 
 dependencies {
   // TODO: Remove core dependency and change tests to not use builders that are part of xpack-core.