diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
index ba65a1026ae..818e2b08122 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ import org.apache.lucene.store.MockDirectoryWrapper;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.TestUtil;
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchException;
+import org.elasticsearch.ExceptionsHelper;
 import org.elasticsearch.Version;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.support.TransportActions;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
@@ -1728,9 +1729,11 @@ public class InternalEngineTests extends ESTestCase {
                     engine = createEngine(store, primaryTranslogDir);
                     started = true;
                     break;
-                } catch (EngineCreationFailureException | AssertionError ex) {
-                    // IndexWriter can throw AssertionError on init (if asserts are enabled) if we throw FNFE/NSFE when it asserts that all
-                    // referenced files in the current commit point do exist
+                } catch (EngineCreationFailureException ex) {
+                } catch (AssertionError ex) {
+                    // IndexWriter can throw AssertionError on init (if asserts are enabled) if our directory randomly throws FNFE/NSFE when
+                    // it asserts that all referenced files in the current commit point do exist
+                    assertTrue(ExceptionsHelper.stackTrace(ex).contains("org.apache.lucene.index.IndexWriter.filesExist"));
                 }
             }