diff --git a/distribution/src/main/resources/bin/elasticsearch-plugin b/distribution/src/main/resources/bin/elasticsearch-plugin
index f686ed054f2..2730a562907 100755
--- a/distribution/src/main/resources/bin/elasticsearch-plugin
+++ b/distribution/src/main/resources/bin/elasticsearch-plugin
@@ -110,4 +110,4 @@ fi
 HOSTNAME=`hostname | cut -d. -f1`
 export HOSTNAME
 
-eval "\"$JAVA\"" -client -Delasticsearch -Des.path.home="\"$ES_HOME\"" $properties -cp "\"$ES_HOME/lib/*\"" org.elasticsearch.plugins.PluginCli $args
+eval "\"$JAVA\"" "$ES_JAVA_OPTS" -client -Delasticsearch -Des.path.home="\"$ES_HOME\"" $properties -cp "\"$ES_HOME/lib/*\"" org.elasticsearch.plugins.PluginCli $args
diff --git a/distribution/src/main/resources/bin/elasticsearch-plugin.bat b/distribution/src/main/resources/bin/elasticsearch-plugin.bat
index 6c6be019fc6..c4286aa7b1c 100644
--- a/distribution/src/main/resources/bin/elasticsearch-plugin.bat
+++ b/distribution/src/main/resources/bin/elasticsearch-plugin.bat
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ GOTO loop
 
 SET HOSTNAME=%COMPUTERNAME%
 
-"%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java" -client -Des.path.home="%ES_HOME%" !properties! -cp "%ES_HOME%/lib/*;" "org.elasticsearch.plugins.PluginCli" !args!
+"%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java" %ES_JAVA_OPTS% -client -Des.path.home="%ES_HOME%" !properties! -cp "%ES_HOME%/lib/*;" "org.elasticsearch.plugins.PluginCli" !args!
 goto finally
 
 
diff --git a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/module_and_plugin_test_cases.bash b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/module_and_plugin_test_cases.bash
index 382492e245e..85d829718e2 100644
--- a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/module_and_plugin_test_cases.bash
+++ b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/module_and_plugin_test_cases.bash
@@ -476,3 +476,15 @@ fi
     # restore JAVA_HOME
     export JAVA_HOME=$java_home
 }
+
+@test "[$GROUP] test ES_JAVA_OPTS" {
+    # preserve ES_JAVA_OPTS
+    local es_java_opts=$ES_JAVA_OPTS
+
+    export ES_JAVA_OPTS="-XX:+PrintFlagsFinal"
+    # this will fail if ES_JAVA_OPTS is not passed through
+    "$ESHOME/bin/elasticsearch-plugin" list | grep MaxHeapSize
+
+    # restore ES_JAVA_OPTS
+    export ES_JAVA_OPTS=$es_java_opts
+}