diff --git a/docs/changelog/131081.yaml b/docs/changelog/131081.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..e0557f17968a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/131081.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+pr: 131081
+summary: Fix knn search error when dimensions are not set
+area: Vector Search
+type: bug
+issues:
+ - 129550
diff --git a/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/40_knn_search.yml b/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/40_knn_search.yml
index 75be8d621608e..cbdb5abba21be 100644
--- a/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/40_knn_search.yml
+++ b/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.vectors/40_knn_search.yml
@@ -630,3 +630,36 @@ setup:
           properties:
             embedding:
               type: dense_vector
+
+
+---
+"Searching with no data dimensions specified":
+  - requires:
+      cluster_features: "search.vectors.no_dimensions_bugfix"
+      reason: "Search with no dimensions bugfix"
+
+  - do:
+      indices.create:
+        index: empty-test
+        body:
+          mappings:
+            properties:
+              vector:
+                type: dense_vector
+                index: true
+
+  - do:
+      search:
+        index: empty-test
+        body:
+          fields: [ "name" ]
+          knn:
+            field: vector
+            query_vector: [ -0.5, 90.0, -10, 14.8, -156.0 ]
+            k: 3
+            num_candidates: 3
+            rescore_vector:
+              oversample: 1.5
+            similarity: 0.1
+
+  - match: { hits.total.value: 0 }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapper.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapper.java
index dd5b4e887f1be..f2b5824fee505 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapper.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapper.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import org.apache.lucene.index.VectorEncoding;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.VectorSimilarityFunction;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.FieldExistsQuery;
+import org.apache.lucene.search.MatchNoDocsQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Query;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.join.BitSetProducer;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.BitUtil;
@@ -2026,6 +2027,9 @@ public Query createKnnQuery(
                     "to perform knn search on field [" + name() + "], its mapping must have [index] set to [true]"
                 );
             }
+            if (dims == null) {
+                return new MatchNoDocsQuery("No data has been indexed for field [" + name() + "]");
+            }
             return switch (getElementType()) {
                 case BYTE -> createKnnByteQuery(queryVector.asByteVector(), k, numCands, filter, similarityThreshold, parentFilter);
                 case FLOAT -> createKnnFloatQuery(
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchFeatures.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchFeatures.java
index 8077da130c34e..a37f68a79ca3a 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchFeatures.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchFeatures.java
@@ -25,9 +25,10 @@ public Set<NodeFeature> getFeatures() {
     }
 
     public static final NodeFeature RETRIEVER_RESCORER_ENABLED = new NodeFeature("search.retriever.rescorer.enabled");
+    public static final NodeFeature SEARCH_WITH_NO_DIMENSIONS_BUGFIX = new NodeFeature("search.vectors.no_dimensions_bugfix");
 
     @Override
     public Set<NodeFeature> getTestFeatures() {
-        return Set.of(RETRIEVER_RESCORER_ENABLED);
+        return Set.of(RETRIEVER_RESCORER_ENABLED, SEARCH_WITH_NO_DIMENSIONS_BUGFIX);
     }
 }