diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/package.json b/packages/kbn-optimizer/package.json
index d32c7489641a0..b648004760d7c 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-optimizer/package.json
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/package.json
@@ -14,9 +14,12 @@
     "@kbn/babel-preset": "1.0.0",
     "@kbn/dev-utils": "1.0.0",
     "@kbn/ui-shared-deps": "1.0.0",
+    "@types/estree": "^0.0.44",
     "@types/loader-utils": "^1.1.3",
     "@types/watchpack": "^1.1.5",
     "@types/webpack": "^4.41.3",
+    "acorn": "^7.1.1",
+    "acorn-walk": "^7.1.1",
     "autoprefixer": "^9.7.4",
     "babel-loader": "^8.0.6",
     "clean-webpack-plugin": "^3.0.0",
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/__snapshots__/parse_path.test.ts.snap b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/__snapshots__/parse_path.test.ts.snap
similarity index 64%
rename from packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/__snapshots__/parse_path.test.ts.snap
rename to packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/__snapshots__/parse_path.test.ts.snap
index 2973ac116d6bd..f537674c3fff7 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/__snapshots__/parse_path.test.ts.snap
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/__snapshots__/parse_path.test.ts.snap
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ exports[`parseDirPath() parses / 1`] = `
 Object {
   "dirs": Array [],
   "filename": undefined,
+  "query": undefined,
   "root": "/",
 }
 `;
@@ -14,6 +15,7 @@ Object {
     "foo",
   ],
   "filename": undefined,
+  "query": undefined,
   "root": "/",
 }
 `;
@@ -26,6 +28,7 @@ Object {
     "baz",
   ],
   "filename": undefined,
+  "query": undefined,
   "root": "/",
 }
 `;
@@ -38,6 +41,7 @@ Object {
     "baz",
   ],
   "filename": undefined,
+  "query": undefined,
   "root": "/",
 }
 `;
@@ -46,6 +50,7 @@ exports[`parseDirPath() parses c:\\ 1`] = `
 Object {
   "dirs": Array [],
   "filename": undefined,
+  "query": undefined,
   "root": "c:",
 }
 `;
@@ -56,6 +61,7 @@ Object {
     "foo",
   ],
   "filename": undefined,
+  "query": undefined,
   "root": "c:",
 }
 `;
@@ -68,6 +74,7 @@ Object {
     "baz",
   ],
   "filename": undefined,
+  "query": undefined,
   "root": "c:",
 }
 `;
@@ -80,6 +87,7 @@ Object {
     "baz",
   ],
   "filename": undefined,
+  "query": undefined,
   "root": "c:",
 }
 `;
@@ -88,6 +96,7 @@ exports[`parseFilePath() parses /foo 1`] = `
 Object {
   "dirs": Array [],
   "filename": "foo",
+  "query": undefined,
   "root": "/",
 }
 `;
@@ -99,6 +108,7 @@ Object {
     "bar",
   ],
   "filename": "baz",
+  "query": undefined,
   "root": "/",
 }
 `;
@@ -110,6 +120,36 @@ Object {
     "bar",
   ],
   "filename": "baz.json",
+  "query": undefined,
+  "root": "/",
+}
+`;
+
+exports[`parseFilePath() parses /foo/bar/baz.json?light 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "dirs": Array [
+    "foo",
+    "bar",
+  ],
+  "filename": "baz.json",
+  "query": Object {
+    "light": "",
+  },
+  "root": "/",
+}
+`;
+
+exports[`parseFilePath() parses /foo/bar/baz.json?light=true&dark=false 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "dirs": Array [
+    "foo",
+    "bar",
+  ],
+  "filename": "baz.json",
+  "query": Object {
+    "dark": "false",
+    "light": "true",
+  },
   "root": "/",
 }
 `;
@@ -121,6 +161,7 @@ Object {
     "bar",
   ],
   "filename": "baz.json",
+  "query": undefined,
   "root": "c:",
 }
 `;
@@ -129,6 +170,7 @@ exports[`parseFilePath() parses c:\\foo 1`] = `
 Object {
   "dirs": Array [],
   "filename": "foo",
+  "query": undefined,
   "root": "c:",
 }
 `;
@@ -140,6 +182,7 @@ Object {
     "bar",
   ],
   "filename": "baz",
+  "query": undefined,
   "root": "c:",
 }
 `;
@@ -151,6 +194,36 @@ Object {
     "bar",
   ],
   "filename": "baz.json",
+  "query": undefined,
+  "root": "c:",
+}
+`;
+
+exports[`parseFilePath() parses c:\\foo\\bar\\baz.json?dark 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "dirs": Array [
+    "foo",
+    "bar",
+  ],
+  "filename": "baz.json",
+  "query": Object {
+    "dark": "",
+  },
+  "root": "c:",
+}
+`;
+
+exports[`parseFilePath() parses c:\\foo\\bar\\baz.json?dark=true&light=false 1`] = `
+Object {
+  "dirs": Array [
+    "foo",
+    "bar",
+  ],
+  "filename": "baz.json",
+  "query": Object {
+    "dark": "true",
+    "light": "false",
+  },
   "root": "c:",
 }
 `;
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/disallowed_syntax_plugin/disallowed_syntax.ts b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/disallowed_syntax_plugin/disallowed_syntax.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..ba19bdc9c3be7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/disallowed_syntax_plugin/disallowed_syntax.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,194 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+import estree from 'estree';
+
+export interface DisallowedSyntaxCheck {
+  name: string;
+  nodeType: estree.Node['type'] | Array<estree.Node['type']>;
+  test?: (n: any) => boolean | void;
+}
+
+export const checks: DisallowedSyntaxCheck[] = [
+  /**
+   * es2015
+   */
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2015.md#functions
+  {
+    name: '[es2015] generator function',
+    nodeType: ['FunctionDeclaration', 'FunctionExpression'],
+    test: (n: estree.FunctionDeclaration | estree.FunctionExpression) => !!n.generator,
+  },
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2015.md#forofstatement
+  {
+    name: '[es2015] for-of statement',
+    nodeType: 'ForOfStatement',
+  },
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2015.md#variabledeclaration
+  {
+    name: '[es2015] let/const variable declaration',
+    nodeType: 'VariableDeclaration',
+    test: (n: estree.VariableDeclaration) => n.kind === 'let' || n.kind === 'const',
+  },
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2015.md#expressions
+  {
+    name: '[es2015] `super`',
+    nodeType: 'Super',
+  },
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2015.md#expressions
+  {
+    name: '[es2015] ...spread',
+    nodeType: 'SpreadElement',
+  },
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2015.md#arrowfunctionexpression
+  {
+    name: '[es2015] arrow function expression',
+    nodeType: 'ArrowFunctionExpression',
+  },
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2015.md#yieldexpression
+  {
+    name: '[es2015] `yield` expression',
+    nodeType: 'YieldExpression',
+  },
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2015.md#templateliteral
+  {
+    name: '[es2015] template literal',
+    nodeType: 'TemplateLiteral',
+  },
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2015.md#patterns
+  {
+    name: '[es2015] destructuring',
+    nodeType: ['ObjectPattern', 'ArrayPattern', 'AssignmentPattern'],
+  },
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2015.md#classes
+  {
+    name: '[es2015] class',
+    nodeType: [
+      'ClassDeclaration',
+      'ClassExpression',
+      'ClassBody',
+      'MethodDefinition',
+      'MetaProperty',
+    ],
+  },
+
+  /**
+   * es2016
+   */
+  {
+    name: '[es2016] exponent operator',
+    nodeType: 'BinaryExpression',
+    test: (n: estree.BinaryExpression) => n.operator === '**',
+  },
+  {
+    name: '[es2016] exponent assignment',
+    nodeType: 'AssignmentExpression',
+    test: (n: estree.AssignmentExpression) => n.operator === '**=',
+  },
+
+  /**
+   * es2017
+   */
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2017.md#function
+  {
+    name: '[es2017] async function',
+    nodeType: ['FunctionDeclaration', 'FunctionExpression'],
+    test: (n: estree.FunctionDeclaration | estree.FunctionExpression) => n.async,
+  },
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2017.md#awaitexpression
+  {
+    name: '[es2017] await expression',
+    nodeType: 'AwaitExpression',
+  },
+
+  /**
+   * es2018
+   */
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2018.md#statements
+  {
+    name: '[es2018] for-await-of statements',
+    nodeType: 'ForOfStatement',
+    test: (n: estree.ForOfStatement) => n.await,
+  },
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2018.md#expressions
+  {
+    name: '[es2018] object spread properties',
+    nodeType: 'ObjectExpression',
+    test: (n: estree.ObjectExpression) => n.properties.some(p => p.type === 'SpreadElement'),
+  },
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2018.md#template-literals
+  {
+    name: '[es2018] tagged template literal with invalid escape',
+    nodeType: 'TemplateElement',
+    test: (n: estree.TemplateElement) => n.value.cooked === null,
+  },
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2018.md#patterns
+  {
+    name: '[es2018] rest properties',
+    nodeType: 'ObjectPattern',
+    test: (n: estree.ObjectPattern) => n.properties.some(p => p.type === 'RestElement'),
+  },
+
+  /**
+   * es2019
+   */
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2019.md#catchclause
+  {
+    name: '[es2019] catch clause without a binding',
+    nodeType: 'CatchClause',
+    test: (n: estree.CatchClause) => !n.param,
+  },
+
+  /**
+   * es2020
+   */
+  // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2020.md#bigintliteral
+  {
+    name: '[es2020] bigint literal',
+    nodeType: 'Literal',
+    test: (n: estree.Literal) => typeof n.value === 'bigint',
+  },
+
+  /**
+   * webpack transforms import/export in order to support tree shaking and async imports
+   *
+   * // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2020.md#importexpression
+   * {
+   *   name: '[es2020] import expression',
+   *   nodeType: 'ImportExpression',
+   * },
+   * // https://github.com/estree/estree/blob/master/es2020.md#exportalldeclaration
+   * {
+   *   name: '[es2020] export all declaration',
+   *   nodeType: 'ExportAllDeclaration',
+   * },
+   *
+   */
+];
+
+export const checksByNodeType = new Map<estree.Node['type'], DisallowedSyntaxCheck[]>();
+for (const check of checks) {
+  const nodeTypes = Array.isArray(check.nodeType) ? check.nodeType : [check.nodeType];
+  for (const nodeType of nodeTypes) {
+    if (!checksByNodeType.has(nodeType)) {
+      checksByNodeType.set(nodeType, []);
+    }
+    checksByNodeType.get(nodeType)!.push(check);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/disallowed_syntax_plugin/disallowed_syntax_plugin.ts b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/disallowed_syntax_plugin/disallowed_syntax_plugin.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..7377462eb267b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/disallowed_syntax_plugin/disallowed_syntax_plugin.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+import webpack from 'webpack';
+import acorn from 'acorn';
+import * as AcornWalk from 'acorn-walk';
+
+import { checksByNodeType, DisallowedSyntaxCheck } from './disallowed_syntax';
+import { parseFilePath } from '../parse_path';
+
+export class DisallowedSyntaxPlugin {
+  apply(compiler: webpack.Compiler) {
+    compiler.hooks.normalModuleFactory.tap(DisallowedSyntaxPlugin.name, factory => {
+      factory.hooks.parser.for('javascript/auto').tap(DisallowedSyntaxPlugin.name, parser => {
+        parser.hooks.program.tap(DisallowedSyntaxPlugin.name, (program: acorn.Node) => {
+          const module = parser.state?.current;
+          if (!module || !module.resource) {
+            return;
+          }
+
+          const resource: string = module.resource;
+          const { dirs } = parseFilePath(resource);
+
+          if (!dirs.includes('node_modules')) {
+            return;
+          }
+
+          const failedChecks = new Set<DisallowedSyntaxCheck>();
+
+          AcornWalk.full(program, node => {
+            const checks = checksByNodeType.get(node.type as any);
+            if (!checks) {
+              return;
+            }
+
+            for (const check of checks) {
+              if (!check.test || check.test(node)) {
+                failedChecks.add(check);
+              }
+            }
+          });
+
+          if (!failedChecks.size) {
+            return;
+          }
+
+          // throw an error to trigger a parse failure, causing this module to be reported as invalid
+          throw new Error(
+            `disallowed syntax found in file ${resource}:\n  - ${Array.from(failedChecks)
+              .map(c => c.name)
+              .join('\n  - ')}`
+          );
+        });
+      });
+    });
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/disallowed_syntax_plugin/index.ts b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/disallowed_syntax_plugin/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..ca5ba1b90fe95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/disallowed_syntax_plugin/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+export * from './disallowed_syntax_plugin';
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/index.ts b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/index.ts
index ea0560f132153..c51905be04565 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/index.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/index.ts
@@ -26,3 +26,5 @@ export * from './ts_helpers';
 export * from './rxjs_helpers';
 export * from './array_helpers';
 export * from './event_stream_helpers';
+export * from './disallowed_syntax_plugin';
+export * from './parse_path';
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/parse_path.test.ts b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/parse_path.test.ts
similarity index 83%
rename from packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/parse_path.test.ts
rename to packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/parse_path.test.ts
index 72197e8c8fb07..61be44348cfae 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/parse_path.test.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/parse_path.test.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,15 @@ import { parseFilePath, parseDirPath } from './parse_path';
 
 const DIRS = ['/', '/foo/bar/baz/', 'c:\\', 'c:\\foo\\bar\\baz\\'];
 const AMBIGUOUS = ['/foo', '/foo/bar/baz', 'c:\\foo', 'c:\\foo\\bar\\baz'];
-const FILES = ['/foo/bar/baz.json', 'c:/foo/bar/baz.json', 'c:\\foo\\bar\\baz.json'];
+const FILES = [
+  '/foo/bar/baz.json',
+  'c:/foo/bar/baz.json',
+  'c:\\foo\\bar\\baz.json',
+  '/foo/bar/baz.json?light',
+  '/foo/bar/baz.json?light=true&dark=false',
+  'c:\\foo\\bar\\baz.json?dark',
+  'c:\\foo\\bar\\baz.json?dark=true&light=false',
+];
 
 describe('parseFilePath()', () => {
   it.each([...FILES, ...AMBIGUOUS])('parses %s', path => {
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/parse_path.ts b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/parse_path.ts
similarity index 83%
rename from packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/parse_path.ts
rename to packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/parse_path.ts
index 88152df55b84f..4c96417800252 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/parse_path.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/common/parse_path.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
  */
 
 import normalizePath from 'normalize-path';
+import Qs from 'querystring';
 
 /**
  * Parse an absolute path, supporting normalized paths from webpack,
@@ -33,11 +34,19 @@ export function parseDirPath(path: string) {
 }
 
 export function parseFilePath(path: string) {
-  const normalized = normalizePath(path);
+  let normalized = normalizePath(path);
+  let query;
+  const queryIndex = normalized.indexOf('?');
+  if (queryIndex !== -1) {
+    query = Qs.parse(normalized.slice(queryIndex + 1));
+    normalized = normalized.slice(0, queryIndex);
+  }
+
   const [root, ...others] = normalized.split('/');
   return {
     root: root === '' ? '/' : root,
     dirs: others.slice(0, -1),
+    query,
     filename: others[others.length - 1] || undefined,
   };
 }
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/index.ts b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/index.ts
index 48777f1d54aaf..8026cf39db73d 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/index.ts
@@ -20,3 +20,4 @@
 export { OptimizerConfig } from './optimizer';
 export * from './run_optimizer';
 export * from './log_optimizer_state';
+export * from './common/disallowed_syntax_plugin';
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/run_compilers.ts b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/run_compilers.ts
index e87ddc7d0185c..0dfce4b5addba 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/run_compilers.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/run_compilers.ts
@@ -27,10 +27,17 @@ import webpack, { Stats } from 'webpack';
 import * as Rx from 'rxjs';
 import { mergeMap, map, mapTo, takeUntil } from 'rxjs/operators';
 
-import { CompilerMsgs, CompilerMsg, maybeMap, Bundle, WorkerConfig, ascending } from '../common';
+import {
+  CompilerMsgs,
+  CompilerMsg,
+  maybeMap,
+  Bundle,
+  WorkerConfig,
+  ascending,
+  parseFilePath,
+} from '../common';
 import { getWebpackConfig } from './webpack.config';
 import { isFailureStats, failedStatsToErrorMessage } from './webpack_helpers';
-import { parseFilePath } from './parse_path';
 import {
   isExternalModule,
   isNormalModule,
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/webpack.config.ts b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/webpack.config.ts
index dabfed7f9725c..9337daf419bfa 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/webpack.config.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/webpack.config.ts
@@ -29,8 +29,7 @@ import webpackMerge from 'webpack-merge';
 import { CleanWebpackPlugin } from 'clean-webpack-plugin';
 import * as SharedDeps from '@kbn/ui-shared-deps';
 
-import { Bundle, WorkerConfig } from '../common';
-import { parseDirPath } from './parse_path';
+import { Bundle, WorkerConfig, parseDirPath, DisallowedSyntaxPlugin } from '../common';
 
 const IS_CODE_COVERAGE = !!process.env.CODE_COVERAGE;
 const ISTANBUL_PRESET_PATH = require.resolve('@kbn/babel-preset/istanbul_preset');
@@ -77,7 +76,7 @@ export function getWebpackConfig(bundle: Bundle, worker: WorkerConfig) {
       ...SharedDeps.externals,
     },
 
-    plugins: [new CleanWebpackPlugin()],
+    plugins: [new CleanWebpackPlugin(), new DisallowedSyntaxPlugin()],
 
     module: {
       // no parse rules for a few known large packages which have no require() statements
diff --git a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/webpack_helpers.ts b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/webpack_helpers.ts
index a11c85c64198e..e30920b960144 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/webpack_helpers.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-optimizer/src/worker/webpack_helpers.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
  */
 
 import webpack from 'webpack';
-import { defaults } from 'lodash';
 // @ts-ignore
 import Stats from 'webpack/lib/Stats';
 
@@ -55,12 +54,14 @@ const STATS_WARNINGS_FILTER = new RegExp(
 );
 
 export function failedStatsToErrorMessage(stats: webpack.Stats) {
-  const details = stats.toString(
-    defaults(
-      { colors: true, warningsFilter: STATS_WARNINGS_FILTER },
-      Stats.presetToOptions('minimal')
-    )
-  );
+  const details = stats.toString({
+    ...Stats.presetToOptions('minimal'),
+    colors: true,
+    warningsFilter: STATS_WARNINGS_FILTER,
+    errors: true,
+    errorDetails: true,
+    moduleTrace: true,
+  });
 
   return `Optimizations failure.\n${details.split('\n').join('\n    ')}`;
 }
diff --git a/renovate.json5 b/renovate.json5
index 57f175d1afc8e..ffa006264873d 100644
--- a/renovate.json5
+++ b/renovate.json5
@@ -265,6 +265,14 @@
           '(\\b|_)eslint(\\b|_)',
         ],
       },
+      {
+        groupSlug: 'estree',
+        groupName: 'estree related packages',
+        packageNames: [
+          'estree',
+          '@types/estree',
+        ],
+      },
       {
         groupSlug: 'fancy-log',
         groupName: 'fancy-log related packages',
diff --git a/src/legacy/server/config/schema.js b/src/legacy/server/config/schema.js
index 4b7618712cdd8..a66d3b24732f0 100644
--- a/src/legacy/server/config/schema.js
+++ b/src/legacy/server/config/schema.js
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ export default () =>
       }),
       workers: Joi.number().min(1),
       profile: Joi.boolean().default(false),
+      validateSyntaxOfNodeModules: Joi.boolean().default(true),
     }).default(),
     status: Joi.object({
       allowAnonymous: Joi.boolean().default(false),
diff --git a/src/legacy/ui/ui_bundles/ui_bundles_controller.js b/src/legacy/ui/ui_bundles/ui_bundles_controller.js
index 1a78569e874f2..7afa283af83e0 100644
--- a/src/legacy/ui/ui_bundles/ui_bundles_controller.js
+++ b/src/legacy/ui/ui_bundles/ui_bundles_controller.js
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ export class UiBundlesController {
 
     this._workingDir = config.get('optimize.bundleDir');
     this._env = config.get('env.name');
+    this._validateSyntaxOfNodeModules = config.get('optimize.validateSyntaxOfNodeModules');
     this._context = {
       env: config.get('env.name'),
       sourceMaps: config.get('optimize.sourceMaps'),
@@ -135,6 +136,10 @@ export class UiBundlesController {
     return this._env === 'development';
   }
 
+  shouldValidateSyntaxOfNodeModules() {
+    return !!this._validateSyntaxOfNodeModules;
+  }
+
   getWebpackPluginProviders() {
     return this._webpackPluginProviders || [];
   }
diff --git a/src/optimize/dynamic_dll_plugin/dll_config_model.js b/src/optimize/dynamic_dll_plugin/dll_config_model.js
index 9ca6071b8f515..eec369b194fef 100644
--- a/src/optimize/dynamic_dll_plugin/dll_config_model.js
+++ b/src/optimize/dynamic_dll_plugin/dll_config_model.js
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import * as UiSharedDeps from '@kbn/ui-shared-deps';
 function generateDLL(config) {
   const {
     dllAlias,
+    dllValidateSyntax,
     dllNoParseRules,
     dllContext,
     dllEntry,
@@ -44,6 +45,22 @@ function generateDLL(config) {
   const BABEL_PRESET_PATH = require.resolve('@kbn/babel-preset/webpack_preset');
   const BABEL_EXCLUDE_RE = [/[\/\\](webpackShims|node_modules|bower_components)[\/\\]/];
 
+  /**
+   * Wrap plugin loading in a function so that we can require
+   * `@kbn/optimizer` only when absolutely necessary since we
+   * don't ship this package in the distributable but this code
+   * is still shipped, though it's not used.
+   */
+  const getValidateSyntaxPlugins = () => {
+    if (!dllValidateSyntax) {
+      return [];
+    }
+
+    // only require @kbn/optimizer
+    const { DisallowedSyntaxPlugin } = require('@kbn/optimizer');
+    return [new DisallowedSyntaxPlugin()];
+  };
+
   return {
     entry: dllEntry,
     context: dllContext,
@@ -140,6 +157,7 @@ function generateDLL(config) {
       new MiniCssExtractPlugin({
         filename: dllStyleFilename,
       }),
+      ...getValidateSyntaxPlugins(),
     ],
     // Single runtime for the dll bundles which assures that common transient dependencies won't be evaluated twice.
     // The module cache will be shared, even when module code may be duplicated across chunks.
@@ -163,6 +181,7 @@ function generateDLL(config) {
 function extendRawConfig(rawConfig) {
   // Build all extended configs from raw config
   const dllAlias = rawConfig.uiBundles.getAliases();
+  const dllValidateSyntax = rawConfig.uiBundles.shouldValidateSyntaxOfNodeModules();
   const dllNoParseRules = rawConfig.uiBundles.getWebpackNoParseRules();
   const dllDevMode = rawConfig.uiBundles.isDevMode();
   const dllContext = rawConfig.context;
@@ -195,6 +214,7 @@ function extendRawConfig(rawConfig) {
   // Export dll config map
   return {
     dllAlias,
+    dllValidateSyntax,
     dllNoParseRules,
     dllDevMode,
     dllContext,
diff --git a/tasks/config/run.js b/tasks/config/run.js
index 50417ebd8333d..dca0f69c35668 100644
--- a/tasks/config/run.js
+++ b/tasks/config/run.js
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
     '--env.name=development',
     '--plugins.initialize=false',
     '--optimize.bundleFilter=tests',
+    '--optimize.validateSyntaxOfNodeModules=false',
     '--server.port=5610',
     '--migrations.skip=true',
   ];
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 2e57d6d475f39..b3c2aa94d07d1 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -3821,6 +3821,11 @@
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/estree/-/estree-0.0.39.tgz#e177e699ee1b8c22d23174caaa7422644389509f"
   integrity sha512-EYNwp3bU+98cpU4lAWYYL7Zz+2gryWH1qbdDTidVd6hkiR6weksdbMadyXKXNPEkQFhXM+hVO9ZygomHXp+AIw==
 
+"@types/estree@^0.0.44":
+  version "0.0.44"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/estree/-/estree-0.0.44.tgz#980cc5a29a3ef3bea6ff1f7d021047d7ea575e21"
+  integrity sha512-iaIVzr+w2ZJ5HkidlZ3EJM8VTZb2MJLCjw3V+505yVts0gRC4UMvjw0d1HPtGqI/HQC/KdsYtayfzl+AXY2R8g==
+
 "@types/events@*":
   version "1.2.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/events/-/events-1.2.0.tgz#81a6731ce4df43619e5c8c945383b3e62a89ea86"
@@ -5312,6 +5317,11 @@ acorn-walk@^7.0.0:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/acorn-walk/-/acorn-walk-7.0.0.tgz#c8ba6f0f1aac4b0a9e32d1f0af12be769528f36b"
   integrity sha512-7Bv1We7ZGuU79zZbb6rRqcpxo3OY+zrdtloZWoyD8fmGX+FeXRjE+iuGkZjSXLVovLzrsvMGMy0EkwA0E0umxg==
 
+acorn-walk@^7.1.1:
+  version "7.1.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/acorn-walk/-/acorn-walk-7.1.1.tgz#345f0dffad5c735e7373d2fec9a1023e6a44b83e"
+  integrity sha512-wdlPY2tm/9XBr7QkKlq0WQVgiuGTX6YWPyRyBviSoScBuLfTVQhvwg6wJ369GJ/1nPfTLMfnrFIfjqVg6d+jQQ==
+
 acorn@5.X, acorn@^5.0.0, acorn@^5.0.3, acorn@^5.1.2, acorn@^5.5.0:
   version "5.7.4"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/acorn/-/acorn-5.7.4.tgz#3e8d8a9947d0599a1796d10225d7432f4a4acf5e"
@@ -5332,7 +5342,7 @@ acorn@^6.0.1, acorn@^6.2.1:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/acorn/-/acorn-6.4.1.tgz#531e58ba3f51b9dacb9a6646ca4debf5b14ca474"
   integrity sha512-ZVA9k326Nwrj3Cj9jlh3wGFutC2ZornPNARZwsNYqQYgN0EsV2d53w5RN/co65Ohn4sUAUtb1rSUAOD6XN9idA==
 
-acorn@^7.0.0, acorn@^7.1.0:
+acorn@^7.0.0, acorn@^7.1.0, acorn@^7.1.1:
   version "7.1.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/acorn/-/acorn-7.1.1.tgz#e35668de0b402f359de515c5482a1ab9f89a69bf"
   integrity sha512-add7dgA5ppRPxCFJoAGfMDi7PIBXq1RtGo7BhbLaxwrXPOmw8gq48Y9ozT01hUKy9byMjlR20EJhu5zlkErEkg==