diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
index 881f4602be1c7..36d34ffc3d938 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
@@ -3950,8 +3950,8 @@ ReplicationTracker getReplicationTracker() {
     /**
      * Executes a scheduled refresh if necessary. Completes the listener with true if a refresh was performed otherwise false.
      */
-    public void scheduledRefresh(ActionListener<Boolean> listener) {
-        ActionListener.run(listener, l -> {
+    public boolean scheduledRefresh(ActionListener<Boolean> listener) {
+        try {
             verifyNotClosed();
             boolean listenerNeedsRefresh = refreshListeners.refreshNeeded();
             final Engine engine = getEngine();
@@ -3967,18 +3967,22 @@ && isSearchIdle()
                     logger.trace("scheduledRefresh: search-idle, skipping refresh");
                     engine.maybePruneDeletes(); // try to prune the deletes in the engine if we accumulated some
                     setRefreshPending(engine);
-                    l.onResponse(false);
-                    return;
+                    listener.onResponse(false);
+                    return false;
                 } else {
                     logger.trace("scheduledRefresh: refresh with source [schedule]");
-                    engine.maybeRefresh("schedule", l.map(Engine.RefreshResult::refreshed));
-                    return;
+                    engine.maybeRefresh("schedule", listener.map(Engine.RefreshResult::refreshed));
+                    return true;
                 }
             }
             logger.trace("scheduledRefresh: no refresh needed");
             engine.maybePruneDeletes(); // try to prune the deletes in the engine if we accumulated some
-            l.onResponse(false);
-        });
+            listener.onResponse(false);
+            return false;
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            listener.onFailure(e);
+            return false;
+        }
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
index d002ada47f742..85ff509067ff2 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
@@ -3926,11 +3926,7 @@ public void testScheduledRefresh() throws Exception {
         assertTrue(primary.searchIdleTime() >= TimeValue.ZERO.millis());
         primary.flushOnIdle(0);
         logger.info("--> scheduledRefresh(future5)");
-        assertBusy(() -> {
-            PlainActionFuture<Boolean> future5 = new PlainActionFuture<>();
-            primary.scheduledRefresh(future5);
-            assertTrue(future5.actionGet()); // make sure we refresh once the shard is inactive
-        });
+        assertTrue(primary.scheduledRefresh(ActionListener.noop())); // make sure we refresh once the shard is inactive
         try (Engine.Searcher searcher = primary.acquireSearcher("test")) {
             assertEquals(3, searcher.getIndexReader().numDocs());
         }