diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/process/MlMemoryTracker.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/process/MlMemoryTracker.java
index afd670a1803..11835cdb8db 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/process/MlMemoryTracker.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/process/MlMemoryTracker.java
@@ -299,7 +299,18 @@ public class MlMemoryTracker implements LocalNodeMasterListener {
                 }
                 fullRefreshCompletionListeners.clear();
             }
-        }, onCompletion::onFailure);
+        },
+        e -> {
+            synchronized (fullRefreshCompletionListeners) {
+                assert fullRefreshCompletionListeners.isEmpty() == false;
+                for (ActionListener<Void> listener : fullRefreshCompletionListeners) {
+                    listener.onFailure(e);
+                }
+                // It's critical that we empty out the current listener list on
+                // error otherwise subsequent retries to refresh will be ignored
+                fullRefreshCompletionListeners.clear();
+            }
+        });
 
         // persistentTasks will be null if there's never been a persistent task created in this cluster
         if (persistentTasks == null) {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/process/MlMemoryTrackerTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/process/MlMemoryTrackerTests.java
index 429575902b0..07314948c04 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/process/MlMemoryTrackerTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/process/MlMemoryTrackerTests.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ml.MlTasks;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ml.action.OpenJobAction;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ml.action.StartDataFrameAnalyticsAction;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ml.dataframe.DataFrameAnalyticsConfig;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ml.job.config.AnalysisLimits;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ml.job.config.Job;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.dataframe.persistence.DataFrameAnalyticsConfigProvider;
@@ -32,11 +33,13 @@ import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 import java.util.function.Consumer;
 
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.instanceOf;
 import static org.mockito.Matchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.Matchers.anyBoolean;
 import static org.mockito.Matchers.eq;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.anyString;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.doAnswer;
@@ -125,6 +128,66 @@ public class MlMemoryTrackerTests extends ESTestCase {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testRefreshAllFailure() {
+
+        Map<String, PersistentTasksCustomMetaData.PersistentTask<?>> tasks = new HashMap<>();
+
+        int numAnomalyDetectorJobTasks = randomIntBetween(2, 5);
+        for (int i = 1; i <= numAnomalyDetectorJobTasks; ++i) {
+            String jobId = "job" + i;
+            PersistentTasksCustomMetaData.PersistentTask<?> task = makeTestAnomalyDetectorTask(jobId);
+            tasks.put(task.getId(), task);
+        }
+
+        int numDataFrameAnalyticsTasks = randomIntBetween(2, 5);
+        for (int i = 1; i <= numDataFrameAnalyticsTasks; ++i) {
+            String id = "analytics" + i;
+            PersistentTasksCustomMetaData.PersistentTask<?> task = makeTestDataFrameAnalyticsTask(id);
+            tasks.put(task.getId(), task);
+        }
+
+        PersistentTasksCustomMetaData persistentTasks =
+            new PersistentTasksCustomMetaData(numAnomalyDetectorJobTasks + numDataFrameAnalyticsTasks, tasks);
+
+        doAnswer(invocation -> {
+            @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+            Consumer<Long> listener = (Consumer<Long>) invocation.getArguments()[3];
+            listener.accept(randomLongBetween(1000, 1000000));
+            return null;
+        }).when(jobResultsProvider).getEstablishedMemoryUsage(anyString(), any(), any(), any(Consumer.class), any());
+
+        // First run a refresh using a component that calls the onFailure method of the listener
+
+        doAnswer(invocation -> {
+            @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+            ActionListener<List<DataFrameAnalyticsConfig>> listener =
+                (ActionListener<List<DataFrameAnalyticsConfig>>) invocation.getArguments()[2];
+            listener.onFailure(new IllegalArgumentException("computer says no"));
+            return null;
+        }).when(configProvider).getMultiple(anyString(), anyBoolean(), any(ActionListener.class));
+
+        AtomicBoolean gotErrorResponse = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+        memoryTracker.refresh(persistentTasks,
+            ActionListener.wrap(aVoid -> fail("Expected error response"), e -> gotErrorResponse.set(true)));
+        assertTrue(gotErrorResponse.get());
+
+        // Now run another refresh using a component that calls the onResponse method of the listener - this
+        // proves that the ML memory tracker has not been permanently blocked up by the previous failure
+
+        doAnswer(invocation -> {
+            @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+            ActionListener<List<DataFrameAnalyticsConfig>> listener =
+                (ActionListener<List<DataFrameAnalyticsConfig>>) invocation.getArguments()[2];
+            listener.onResponse(Collections.emptyList());
+            return null;
+        }).when(configProvider).getMultiple(anyString(), anyBoolean(), any(ActionListener.class));
+
+        AtomicBoolean gotSuccessResponse = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+        memoryTracker.refresh(persistentTasks,
+            ActionListener.wrap(aVoid -> gotSuccessResponse.set(true), e -> fail("Expected success response")));
+        assertTrue(gotSuccessResponse.get());
+    }
+
     public void testRefreshOneAnomalyDetectorJob() {
 
         boolean isMaster = randomBoolean();