diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index 9a71bd499a2..261ca5b8a9d 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -330,6 +330,9 @@ Bug Fixes
 * SOLR-7989: After a new leader is elected it should change it's state to ACTIVE even
   if the last published state is something else (Ishan Chattopadhyaya, Mark Miller via noble )
 
+* SOLR-8223: Avoid accidentally swallowing OutOfMemoryError (in LeaderInitiatedRecoveryThread.java
+  or CoreContainer.java) (Mike Drob via Christine Poerschke)
+
 Optimizations
 ----------------------
 
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/LeaderInitiatedRecoveryThread.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/LeaderInitiatedRecoveryThread.java
index 1321adb6d0b..e9751d2b942 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/LeaderInitiatedRecoveryThread.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/LeaderInitiatedRecoveryThread.java
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ public class LeaderInitiatedRecoveryThread extends Thread {
               " command to core={} coreNodeName={} on " + recoveryUrl, coreNeedingRecovery, replicaCoreNodeName);
           
           continueTrying = false; // succeeded, so stop looping
-        } catch (Throwable t) {
+        } catch (Exception t) {
           Throwable rootCause = SolrException.getRootCause(t);
           boolean wasCommError =
               (rootCause instanceof ConnectException ||
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/CoreContainer.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/CoreContainer.java
index 3a80bd8a671..9d20e1ed6a8 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/CoreContainer.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/CoreContainer.java
@@ -454,8 +454,8 @@ public class CoreContainer {
               }
               try {
                 zkSys.registerInZk(core, true);
-              } catch (Throwable t) {
-                SolrException.log(log, "Error registering SolrCore", t);
+              } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+                SolrException.log(log, "Error registering SolrCore", e);
               }
               return core;
             }