diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/RestRequest.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/RestRequest.java
index 54ad500a9144d..068d4879603e0 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/RestRequest.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/RestRequest.java
@@ -329,16 +329,20 @@ public HttpBody.Stream contentStream() {
         return httpRequest.body().asStream();
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Returns reference to the network buffer of HTTP content or throw an exception if the body or content type is missing.
-     * See {@link #content()}.
-     */
-    public ReleasableBytesReference requiredContent() {
+    public void ensureContent() {
         if (hasContent() == false) {
             throw new ElasticsearchParseException("request body is required");
         } else if (xContentType.get() == null) {
             throwValidationException("unknown content type");
         }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns reference to the network buffer of HTTP content or throw an exception if the body or content type is missing.
+     * See {@link #content()}.
+     */
+    public ReleasableBytesReference requiredContent() {
+        ensureContent();
         return content();
     }
 
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/document/RestBulkAction.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/document/RestBulkAction.java
index f638367b85e76..293c8128dc8d9 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/document/RestBulkAction.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/document/RestBulkAction.java
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ public RestChannelConsumer prepareRequest(final RestRequest request, final NodeC
                 client.bulk(bulkRequest, ActionListener.releaseAfter(new RestRefCountedChunkedToXContentListener<>(channel), content));
             };
         } else {
+            request.ensureContent();
             String waitForActiveShards = request.param("wait_for_active_shards");
             TimeValue timeout = request.paramAsTime("timeout", BulkShardRequest.DEFAULT_TIMEOUT);
             String refresh = request.param("refresh");
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/document/RestBulkActionTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/document/RestBulkActionTests.java
index f4d601c7ad3b4..0b3e50974a827 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/document/RestBulkActionTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/document/RestBulkActionTests.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.rest.action.document;
 
 import org.apache.lucene.util.SetOnce;
+import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchParseException;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionListener;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.DocWriteRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkRequest;
@@ -18,12 +19,12 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.action.index.IndexRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.update.UpdateRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.internal.Client;
+import org.elasticsearch.client.internal.node.NodeClient;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.ReleasableBytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.ClusterSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.Releasable;
-import org.elasticsearch.http.HttpBody;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexVersion;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexingPressure;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.RestChannel;
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.telemetry.metric.MeterRegistry;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.client.NoOpNodeClient;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.rest.FakeHttpBodyStream;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.rest.FakeRestChannel;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.rest.FakeRestRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentType;
@@ -201,6 +203,24 @@ public void bulk(BulkRequest request, ActionListener<BulkResponse> listener) {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testIncrementalBulkMissingContent() {
+        assertThrows(
+            ElasticsearchParseException.class,
+            () -> new RestBulkAction(
+                Settings.EMPTY,
+                ClusterSettings.createBuiltInClusterSettings(),
+                new IncrementalBulkService(mock(Client.class), mock(IndexingPressure.class), MeterRegistry.NOOP)
+            ).handleRequest(
+                new FakeRestRequest.Builder(xContentRegistry()).withPath("my_index/_bulk")
+                    .withContentLength(0)
+                    .withBody(new FakeHttpBodyStream())
+                    .build(),
+                mock(RestChannel.class),
+                mock(NodeClient.class)
+            )
+        );
+    }
+
     public void testIncrementalParsing() {
         ArrayList<DocWriteRequest<?>> docs = new ArrayList<>();
         AtomicBoolean isLast = new AtomicBoolean(false);
@@ -208,21 +228,7 @@ public void testIncrementalParsing() {
 
         FakeRestRequest request = new FakeRestRequest.Builder(xContentRegistry()).withPath("my_index/_bulk")
             .withMethod(RestRequest.Method.POST)
-            .withBody(new HttpBody.Stream() {
-                @Override
-                public void close() {}
-
-                @Override
-                public ChunkHandler handler() {
-                    return null;
-                }
-
-                @Override
-                public void addTracingHandler(ChunkHandler chunkHandler) {}
-
-                @Override
-                public void setHandler(ChunkHandler chunkHandler) {}
-
+            .withBody(new FakeHttpBodyStream() {
                 @Override
                 public void next() {
                     next.set(true);
diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/rest/FakeRestRequest.java b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/rest/FakeRestRequest.java
index 3cf9255f19803..e55387a715d97 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/rest/FakeRestRequest.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/rest/FakeRestRequest.java
@@ -117,9 +117,19 @@ public HttpRequest removeHeader(String header) {
             return new FakeHttpRequest(method, uri, body, filteredHeaders, inboundException);
         }
 
+        public int contentLength() {
+            return switch (body) {
+                case HttpBody.Full f -> f.bytes().length();
+                case HttpBody.Stream s -> {
+                    var len = header("Content-Length");
+                    yield len == null ? 0 : Integer.parseInt(len);
+                }
+            };
+        }
+
         @Override
         public boolean hasContent() {
-            return body.isEmpty() == false;
+            return contentLength() > 0;
         }
 
         @Override
@@ -237,6 +247,11 @@ public Builder withBody(HttpBody body) {
             return this;
         }
 
+        public Builder withContentLength(int length) {
+            headers.put("Content-Length", List.of(String.valueOf(length)));
+            return this;
+        }
+
         public Builder withPath(String path) {
             this.path = path;
             return this;