diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/Node.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/Node.java
index 2508872eed1..103add62809 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/Node.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/Node.java
@@ -523,15 +523,21 @@ public class Node implements Closeable {
 
         boolean clean = true;
         for (final String defaultPathData : Environment.DEFAULT_PATH_DATA_SETTING.get(settings)) {
-            final Path nodeDirectory = NodeEnvironment.resolveNodePath(getPath(defaultPathData), nodeEnv.getNodeLockId());
-            if (Files.exists(nodeDirectory) == false) {
+            final Path defaultNodeDirectory = NodeEnvironment.resolveNodePath(getPath(defaultPathData), nodeEnv.getNodeLockId());
+            if (Files.exists(defaultNodeDirectory) == false) {
                 continue;
             }
-            final NodeEnvironment.NodePath nodePath = new NodeEnvironment.NodePath(nodeDirectory);
+
+            if (isDefaultPathDataInPathData(nodeEnv, defaultNodeDirectory)) {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            final NodeEnvironment.NodePath nodePath = new NodeEnvironment.NodePath(defaultNodeDirectory);
             final Set<String> availableIndexFolders = nodeEnv.availableIndexFoldersForPath(nodePath);
             if (availableIndexFolders.isEmpty()) {
                 continue;
             }
+
             clean = false;
             logger.error("detected index data in default.path.data [{}] where there should not be any", nodePath.indicesPath);
             for (final String availableIndexFolder : availableIndexFolders) {
@@ -554,6 +560,15 @@ public class Node implements Closeable {
         throw new IllegalStateException(message);
     }
 
+    private static boolean isDefaultPathDataInPathData(final NodeEnvironment nodeEnv, final Path defaultNodeDirectory) throws IOException {
+        for (final NodeEnvironment.NodePath dataPath : nodeEnv.nodePaths()) {
+            if (Files.isSameFile(dataPath.path, defaultNodeDirectory)) {
+                return true;
+            }
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
     @SuppressForbidden(reason = "read path that is not configured in environment")
     private static Path getPath(final String path) {
         return PathUtils.get(path);
diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/NodeTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/node/NodeTests.java
similarity index 100%
rename from test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/NodeTests.java
rename to core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/node/NodeTests.java
diff --git a/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/node/EvilNodeTests.java b/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/node/EvilNodeTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ac29902627d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/node/EvilNodeTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.elasticsearch.node;
+
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.UUIDs;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.env.Environment;
+import org.elasticsearch.env.NodeEnvironment;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyNoMoreInteractions;
+
+public class EvilNodeTests extends ESTestCase {
+
+    public void testDefaultPathDataIncludedInPathData() throws IOException {
+        final Path zero = createTempDir().toAbsolutePath();
+        final Path one = createTempDir().toAbsolutePath();
+        final int random = randomIntBetween(0, 2);
+        final Path defaultPathData;
+        final Path choice = randomFrom(zero, one);
+        switch (random) {
+            case 0:
+                defaultPathData = choice;
+                break;
+            case 1:
+                defaultPathData = createTempDir().toAbsolutePath().resolve("link");
+                Files.createSymbolicLink(defaultPathData, choice);
+                break;
+            case 2:
+                defaultPathData = createTempDir().toAbsolutePath().resolve("link");
+                Files.createLink(defaultPathData, choice);
+                break;
+            default:
+                throw new AssertionError(Integer.toString(random));
+        }
+        final Settings settings = Settings.builder()
+                .put("path.home", createTempDir().toAbsolutePath())
+                .put("path.data.0", zero)
+                .put("path.data.1", one)
+                .put("default.path.data", defaultPathData)
+                .build();
+        try (NodeEnvironment nodeEnv = new NodeEnvironment(settings, new Environment(settings))) {
+            final Path defaultPathDataWithNodesAndId = defaultPathData.resolve("nodes/0");
+            Files.createDirectories(defaultPathDataWithNodesAndId);
+            final NodeEnvironment.NodePath defaultNodePath = new NodeEnvironment.NodePath(defaultPathDataWithNodesAndId);
+            Files.createDirectories(defaultNodePath.indicesPath.resolve(UUIDs.randomBase64UUID()));
+            final Logger mock = mock(Logger.class);
+            // nothing should happen here
+            Node.checkForIndexDataInDefaultPathData(settings, nodeEnv, mock);
+            verifyNoMoreInteractions(mock);
+        }
+    }
+
+}