diff --git a/client/rest/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumer.java b/client/rest/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumer.java
index 61e06132212..da7f5c79721 100644
--- a/client/rest/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumer.java
+++ b/client/rest/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/client/HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumer.java
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ public class HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumer extends AbstractAsyncResponseCons
      * Creates a new instance of this consumer with the provided buffer limit
      */
     public HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumer(int bufferLimit) {
+        if (bufferLimit <= 0) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("bufferLimit must be greater than 0");
+        }
         this.bufferLimit = bufferLimit;
     }
 
diff --git a/client/rest/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumerTests.java b/client/rest/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumerTests.java
index 1d209cd33b3..d30a9e00b53 100644
--- a/client/rest/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumerTests.java
+++ b/client/rest/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumerTests.java
@@ -79,6 +79,16 @@ public class HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumerTests extends RestClientTestCase {
     }
 
     public void testConfiguredBufferLimit() throws Exception {
+        try {
+            new HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumer(randomIntBetween(Integer.MIN_VALUE, 0));
+        } catch(IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            assertEquals("bufferLimit must be greater than 0", e.getMessage());
+        }
+        try {
+            new HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumer(0);
+        } catch(IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            assertEquals("bufferLimit must be greater than 0", e.getMessage());
+        }
         int bufferLimit = randomIntBetween(1, MAX_TEST_BUFFER_SIZE - 100);
         HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumer consumer = new HeapBufferedAsyncResponseConsumer(bufferLimit);
         bufferLimitTest(consumer, bufferLimit);