diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowTasksExecutor.java b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowTasksExecutor.java
index 6e55d7b0c3050..dd014c87c4fee 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowTasksExecutor.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowTasksExecutor.java
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.SettingsModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.EsRejectedExecutionException;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.ThreadContext;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.Index;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexNotFoundException;
@@ -544,7 +545,12 @@ protected void nodeOperation(final AllocatedPersistentTask task, final ShardFoll
             if (ShardFollowNodeTask.shouldRetry(e)) {
                 logger.debug(new ParameterizedMessage("failed to fetch follow shard global {} checkpoint and max sequence number",
                     shardFollowNodeTask), e);
-                threadPool.schedule(() -> nodeOperation(task, params, state), params.getMaxRetryDelay(), Ccr.CCR_THREAD_POOL_NAME);
+                try {
+                    threadPool.schedule(() -> nodeOperation(task, params, state), params.getMaxRetryDelay(), Ccr.CCR_THREAD_POOL_NAME);
+                } catch (EsRejectedExecutionException rex) {
+                    rex.addSuppressed(e);
+                    shardFollowNodeTask.onFatalFailure(rex);
+                }
             } else {
                 shardFollowNodeTask.onFatalFailure(e);
             }