diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/service/MasterService.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/service/MasterService.java
index 7d4c7fc410c87..2ea5e14639b29 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/service/MasterService.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/service/MasterService.java
@@ -1607,13 +1607,7 @@ public void submitTask(String source, T task, @Nullable TimeValue timeout) {
                 } catch (Exception e) {
                     assert e instanceof EsRejectedExecutionException esre && esre.isExecutorShutdown() : e;
                     task.onFailure(
-                        new FailedToCommitClusterStateException(
-                            "could not schedule timeout handler for [%s][%s] on queue [%s]",
-                            e,
-                            source,
-                            task,
-                            name
-                        )
+                        new NotMasterException("could not schedule timeout handler for [%s][%s] on queue [%s]", e, source, task, name)
                     );
                     return;
                 }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/service/MasterServiceTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/service/MasterServiceTests.java
index da8c013ef44c3..5badfd38654a7 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/service/MasterServiceTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/service/MasterServiceTests.java
@@ -2249,7 +2249,7 @@ public void testTimeoutRejectionBehaviourAtSubmission() {
             ).submitTask(source, new ClusterStateTaskListener() {
                 @Override
                 public void onFailure(Exception e) {
-                    if (e instanceof FailedToCommitClusterStateException
+                    if (e instanceof NotMasterException
                         && e.getMessage().startsWith("could not schedule timeout handler")
                         && e.getCause() instanceof EsRejectedExecutionException esre
                         && esre.isExecutorShutdown()