diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/ElasticsearchException.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/ElasticsearchException.java
index 8e95a66867f..ce0e567f08c 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/ElasticsearchException.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/ElasticsearchException.java
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ public class ElasticsearchException extends RuntimeException implements ToXConte
     public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
         out.writeOptionalString(this.getMessage());
         out.writeException(this.getCause());
-        writeStackTraces(this, out);
+        writeStackTraces(this, out, StreamOutput::writeException);
         out.writeMapOfLists(headers, StreamOutput::writeString, StreamOutput::writeString);
         out.writeMapOfLists(metadata, StreamOutput::writeString, StreamOutput::writeString);
     }
@@ -715,7 +715,8 @@ public class ElasticsearchException extends RuntimeException implements ToXConte
     /**
      * Serializes the given exceptions stacktrace elements as well as it's suppressed exceptions to the given output stream.
      */
-    public static <T extends Throwable> T writeStackTraces(T throwable, StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
+    public static <T extends Throwable> T writeStackTraces(T throwable, StreamOutput out,
+                                                           Writer<Throwable> exceptionWriter) throws IOException {
         StackTraceElement[] stackTrace = throwable.getStackTrace();
         out.writeVInt(stackTrace.length);
         for (StackTraceElement element : stackTrace) {
@@ -727,7 +728,7 @@ public class ElasticsearchException extends RuntimeException implements ToXConte
         Throwable[] suppressed = throwable.getSuppressed();
         out.writeVInt(suppressed.length);
         for (Throwable t : suppressed) {
-            out.writeException(t);
+            exceptionWriter.write(out, t);
         }
         return throwable;
     }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/StreamOutput.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/StreamOutput.java
index 64f66b12e5d..b6206a1e1b6 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/StreamOutput.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/StreamOutput.java
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ import java.util.function.IntFunction;
 public abstract class StreamOutput extends OutputStream {
 
     private static final Map<TimeUnit, Byte> TIME_UNIT_BYTE_MAP;
+    private static final int MAX_NESTED_EXCEPTION_LEVEL = 100;
 
     static {
         final Map<TimeUnit, Byte> timeUnitByteMap = new EnumMap<>(TimeUnit.class);
@@ -910,8 +911,15 @@ public abstract class StreamOutput extends OutputStream {
     }
 
     public void writeException(Throwable throwable) throws IOException {
+        writeException(throwable, throwable, 0);
+    }
+
+    private void writeException(Throwable rootException, Throwable throwable, int nestedLevel) throws IOException {
         if (throwable == null) {
             writeBoolean(false);
+        } else if (nestedLevel > MAX_NESTED_EXCEPTION_LEVEL) {
+            assert failOnTooManyNestedExceptions(rootException);
+            writeException(new IllegalStateException("too many nested exceptions"));
         } else {
             writeBoolean(true);
             boolean writeCause = true;
@@ -1020,12 +1028,16 @@ public abstract class StreamOutput extends OutputStream {
                 writeOptionalString(throwable.getMessage());
             }
             if (writeCause) {
-                writeException(throwable.getCause());
+                writeException(rootException, throwable.getCause(), nestedLevel + 1);
             }
-            ElasticsearchException.writeStackTraces(throwable, this);
+            ElasticsearchException.writeStackTraces(throwable, this, (o, t) -> o.writeException(rootException, t, nestedLevel + 1));
         }
     }
 
+    boolean failOnTooManyNestedExceptions(Throwable throwable) {
+        throw new AssertionError("too many nested exceptions", throwable);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Writes a {@link NamedWriteable} to the current stream, by first writing its name and then the object itself
      */
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/BytesStreamsTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/BytesStreamsTests.java
index 94e2801df8c..195abb85939 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/BytesStreamsTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/stream/BytesStreamsTests.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream;
 
+import org.apache.lucene.store.AlreadyClosedException;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.BytesRef;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.Constants;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
@@ -49,12 +50,14 @@ import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import java.util.stream.IntStream;
 
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.closeTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.endsWith;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasSize;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.instanceOf;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.nullValue;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.sameInstance;
 
 /**
  * Tests for {@link BytesStreamOutput} paging behaviour.
@@ -850,4 +853,28 @@ public class BytesStreamsTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertEqualityAfterSerialize(timeValue, 1 + out.bytes().length());
     }
 
+    public void testWriteCircularReferenceException() throws IOException {
+        IOException rootEx = new IOException("disk broken");
+        AlreadyClosedException ace = new AlreadyClosedException("closed", rootEx);
+        rootEx.addSuppressed(ace); // circular reference
+
+        BytesStreamOutput testOut = new BytesStreamOutput();
+        AssertionError error = expectThrows(AssertionError.class, () -> testOut.writeException(rootEx));
+        assertThat(error.getMessage(), containsString("too many nested exceptions"));
+        assertThat(error.getCause(), equalTo(rootEx));
+
+        BytesStreamOutput prodOut = new BytesStreamOutput() {
+            @Override
+            boolean failOnTooManyNestedExceptions(Throwable throwable) {
+                assertThat(throwable, sameInstance(rootEx));
+                return true;
+            }
+        };
+        prodOut.writeException(rootEx);
+        StreamInput in = prodOut.bytes().streamInput();
+        Exception newEx = in.readException();
+        assertThat(newEx, instanceOf(IOException.class));
+        assertThat(newEx.getMessage(), equalTo("disk broken"));
+        assertArrayEquals(newEx.getStackTrace(), rootEx.getStackTrace());
+    }
 }