diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index 5db3af3b5a6..85649b466a1 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -307,6 +307,8 @@ Bug Fixes
 * SOLR-10879: DELETEREPLICA and DELETENODE commands should prevent data loss when
   replicationFactor is 1. (ab)
 
+* SOLR-10983: Fix DOWNNODE -> queue-work explosion (Scott Blum, Joshua Humphries)
+
 Optimizations
 ----------------------
 
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/DistributedQueue.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/DistributedQueue.java
index 64120ed2421..cfd31445b63 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/DistributedQueue.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/DistributedQueue.java
@@ -228,11 +228,8 @@ public class DistributedQueue {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Inserts data into queue.  Successfully calling this method does NOT guarantee
-   * that the element will be immediately available in the in-memory queue. In particular,
-   * calling this method on an empty queue will not necessarily cause {@link #poll()} to
-   * return the offered element.  Use a blocking method if you must wait for the offered
-   * element to become visible.
+   * Inserts data into queue.  If there are no other queue consumers, the offered element
+   * will be immediately visible when this method returns.
    */
   public void offer(byte[] data) throws KeeperException, InterruptedException {
     Timer.Context time = stats.time(dir + "_offer");
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java
index 7e1f8c40e38..05fce30a68e 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java
@@ -196,7 +196,9 @@ public class Overseer implements Closeable {
             log.error("Exception in Overseer main queue loop", e);
           }
           try {
+            boolean[] itemWasMoved = new boolean[1];
             while (head != null) {
+              itemWasMoved[0] = false;
               byte[] data = head;
               final ZkNodeProps message = ZkNodeProps.load(data);
               log.debug("processMessage: queueSize: {}, message = {} current state version: {}", stateUpdateQueue.getStats().getQueueLength(), message, clusterState.getZkClusterStateVersion());
@@ -204,7 +206,11 @@ public class Overseer implements Closeable {
               clusterState = processQueueItem(message, clusterState, zkStateWriter, true, new ZkStateWriter.ZkWriteCallback() {
                 @Override
                 public void onEnqueue() throws Exception {
-                  workQueue.offer(data);
+                  if (!itemWasMoved[0]) {
+                    stateUpdateQueue.poll();
+                    itemWasMoved[0] = true;
+                    workQueue.offer(data);
+                  }
                 }
 
                 @Override
@@ -214,9 +220,10 @@ public class Overseer implements Closeable {
                 }
               });
 
-              // it is safer to keep this poll here because an invalid message might never be queued
-              // and therefore we can't rely on the ZkWriteCallback to remove the item
-              stateUpdateQueue.poll();
+              // If the ZkWriteCallback never fired, just dump the item, it might be an invalid message.
+              if (!itemWasMoved[0]) {
+                stateUpdateQueue.poll();
+              }
 
               if (isClosed) break;
               // if an event comes in the next 100ms batch it together