diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gradle/OpenSearchTestBasePlugin.java b/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gradle/OpenSearchTestBasePlugin.java
index d0cb2da9c1dd3..30adebc9ebcae 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gradle/OpenSearchTestBasePlugin.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gradle/OpenSearchTestBasePlugin.java
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ public void execute(Task t) {
                     put("tests.gradle", "true");
                     put("tests.artifact", project.getName());
                     put("tests.task", test.getPath());
-                    put("tests.security.manager", "true");
+                    put("tests.security.manager", "false");
                     put("jna.nosys", "true");
                 }
             };
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/BootstrapChecks.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/BootstrapChecks.java
index 8285f361ee220..8c3e7a58b2678 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/BootstrapChecks.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/BootstrapChecks.java
@@ -721,7 +721,9 @@ public final BootstrapCheckResult check(BootstrapContext context) {
         @SuppressWarnings("removal")
         boolean isAllPermissionGranted() {
             final SecurityManager sm = System.getSecurityManager();
-            assert sm != null;
+            if (sm == null) {
+                return true;
+            }
             try {
                 sm.checkPermission(new AllPermission());
             } catch (final SecurityException e) {
diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/BootstrapForTesting.java b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/BootstrapForTesting.java
index 76c7ce0628aac..32b758570192f 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/BootstrapForTesting.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/BootstrapForTesting.java
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ public class BootstrapForTesting {
         IfConfig.logIfNecessary();
 
         // install security manager if requested
-        if (systemPropertyAsBoolean("tests.security.manager", true)) {
+        if (systemPropertyAsBoolean("tests.security.manager", false)) {
             try {
                 // initialize paths the same exact way as bootstrap
                 Permissions perms = new Permissions();