diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
index 90684267f76..853fe6fc994 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
@@ -1899,7 +1899,7 @@ public class IndexShard extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements IndicesCl
         internalIndexingStats.noopUpdate(type);
     }
 
-    private void checkIndex() throws IOException {
+    void checkIndex() throws IOException {
         if (store.tryIncRef()) {
             try {
                 doCheckIndex();
@@ -1938,29 +1938,25 @@ public class IndexShard extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements IndicesCl
             }
         } else {
             // full checkindex
-            try (CheckIndex checkIndex = new CheckIndex(store.directory())) {
-                checkIndex.setInfoStream(out);
-                CheckIndex.Status status = checkIndex.checkIndex();
-                out.flush();
-
-                if (!status.clean) {
-                    if (state == IndexShardState.CLOSED) {
-                        // ignore if closed....
-                        return;
+            final CheckIndex.Status status = store.checkIndex(out);
+            out.flush();
+            if (!status.clean) {
+                if (state == IndexShardState.CLOSED) {
+                    // ignore if closed....
+                    return;
+                }
+                logger.warn("check index [failure]\n{}", os.bytes().utf8ToString());
+                if ("fix".equals(checkIndexOnStartup)) {
+                    if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+                        logger.debug("fixing index, writing new segments file ...");
                     }
-                    logger.warn("check index [failure]\n{}", os.bytes().utf8ToString());
-                    if ("fix".equals(checkIndexOnStartup)) {
-                        if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
-                            logger.debug("fixing index, writing new segments file ...");
-                        }
-                        checkIndex.exorciseIndex(status);
-                        if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
-                            logger.debug("index fixed, wrote new segments file \"{}\"", status.segmentsFileName);
-                        }
-                    } else {
-                        // only throw a failure if we are not going to fix the index
-                        throw new IllegalStateException("index check failure but can't fix it");
+                    store.exorciseIndex(status);
+                    if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+                        logger.debug("index fixed, wrote new segments file \"{}\"", status.segmentsFileName);
                     }
+                } else {
+                    // only throw a failure if we are not going to fix the index
+                    throw new IllegalStateException("index check failure but can't fix it");
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/Store.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/Store.java
index 693791e66b6..7cc85e59e8d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/Store.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/Store.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.message.ParameterizedMessage;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.util.Supplier;
 import org.apache.lucene.codecs.CodecUtil;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.CheckIndex;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.CorruptIndexException;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexCommit;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexFileNames;
@@ -86,6 +87,7 @@ import java.io.EOFException;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.PrintStream;
 import java.nio.file.AccessDeniedException;
 import java.nio.file.NoSuchFileException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
@@ -341,6 +343,33 @@ public class Store extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Closeable, Ref
 
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Checks and returns the status of the existing index in this store.
+     *
+     * @param out where infoStream messages should go. See {@link CheckIndex#setInfoStream(PrintStream)}
+     */
+    public CheckIndex.Status checkIndex(PrintStream out) throws IOException {
+        metadataLock.writeLock().lock();
+        try (CheckIndex checkIndex = new CheckIndex(directory)) {
+            checkIndex.setInfoStream(out);
+            return checkIndex.checkIndex();
+        } finally {
+            metadataLock.writeLock().unlock();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Repairs the index using the previous returned status from {@link #checkIndex(PrintStream)}.
+     */
+    public void exorciseIndex(CheckIndex.Status status) throws IOException {
+        metadataLock.writeLock().lock();
+        try (CheckIndex checkIndex = new CheckIndex(directory)) {
+            checkIndex.exorciseIndex(status);
+        } finally {
+            metadataLock.writeLock().unlock();
+        }
+    }
+
     public StoreStats stats() throws IOException {
         ensureOpen();
         return statsCache.getOrRefresh();
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
index b0b597f9085..4618d84d4ad 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
@@ -2449,6 +2449,71 @@ public class IndexShardTests extends IndexShardTestCase {
         closeShards(newShard);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Simulates a scenario that happens when we are async fetching snapshot metadata from GatewayService
+     * and checking index concurrently. This should always be possible without any exception.
+     */
+    public void testReadSnapshotAndCheckIndexConcurrently() throws Exception {
+        final boolean isPrimary = randomBoolean();
+        IndexShard indexShard = newStartedShard(isPrimary);
+        final long numDocs = between(10, 100);
+        for (long i = 0; i < numDocs; i++) {
+            indexDoc(indexShard, "doc", Long.toString(i), "{\"foo\" : \"bar\"}");
+            if (randomBoolean()) {
+                indexShard.refresh("test");
+            }
+        }
+        indexShard.flush(new FlushRequest());
+        closeShards(indexShard);
+
+        final ShardRouting shardRouting = ShardRoutingHelper.initWithSameId(indexShard.routingEntry(),
+            isPrimary ? RecoverySource.StoreRecoverySource.EXISTING_STORE_INSTANCE : RecoverySource.PeerRecoverySource.INSTANCE
+        );
+        final IndexMetaData indexMetaData = IndexMetaData.builder(indexShard.indexSettings().getIndexMetaData())
+            .settings(Settings.builder()
+                .put(indexShard.indexSettings.getSettings())
+                .put(IndexSettings.INDEX_CHECK_ON_STARTUP.getKey(), randomFrom("false", "true", "checksum", "fix")))
+            .build();
+        final IndexShard newShard = newShard(shardRouting, indexShard.shardPath(), indexMetaData,
+            null, indexShard.engineFactory, indexShard.getGlobalCheckpointSyncer());
+
+        Store.MetadataSnapshot storeFileMetaDatas = newShard.snapshotStoreMetadata();
+        assertTrue("at least 2 files, commit and data: " + storeFileMetaDatas.toString(), storeFileMetaDatas.size() > 1);
+        AtomicBoolean stop = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+        CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
+        Thread snapshotter = new Thread(() -> {
+            latch.countDown();
+            while (stop.get() == false) {
+                try {
+                    Store.MetadataSnapshot readMeta = newShard.snapshotStoreMetadata();
+                    assertThat(readMeta.getNumDocs(), equalTo(numDocs));
+                    assertThat(storeFileMetaDatas.recoveryDiff(readMeta).different.size(), equalTo(0));
+                    assertThat(storeFileMetaDatas.recoveryDiff(readMeta).missing.size(), equalTo(0));
+                    assertThat(storeFileMetaDatas.recoveryDiff(readMeta).identical.size(), equalTo(storeFileMetaDatas.size()));
+                } catch (IOException e) {
+                    throw new AssertionError(e);
+                }
+            }
+        });
+        snapshotter.start();
+
+        if (isPrimary) {
+            newShard.markAsRecovering("store", new RecoveryState(newShard.routingEntry(),
+                getFakeDiscoNode(newShard.routingEntry().currentNodeId()), null));
+        } else {
+            newShard.markAsRecovering("peer", new RecoveryState(newShard.routingEntry(),
+                getFakeDiscoNode(newShard.routingEntry().currentNodeId()), getFakeDiscoNode(newShard.routingEntry().currentNodeId())));
+        }
+        int iters = iterations(10, 100);
+        latch.await();
+        for (int i = 0; i < iters; i++) {
+            newShard.checkIndex();
+        }
+        assertTrue(stop.compareAndSet(false, true));
+        snapshotter.join();
+        closeShards(newShard);
+    }
+
     class Result {
         private final int localCheckpoint;
         private final int maxSeqNo;
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/CorruptedFileIT.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/CorruptedFileIT.java
index 9bb180c9818..bbfa56a0e55 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/CorruptedFileIT.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/CorruptedFileIT.java
@@ -204,16 +204,13 @@ public class CorruptedFileIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
                         if (!Lucene.indexExists(store.directory()) && indexShard.state() == IndexShardState.STARTED) {
                             return;
                         }
-                        try (CheckIndex checkIndex = new CheckIndex(store.directory())) {
-                            BytesStreamOutput os = new BytesStreamOutput();
-                            PrintStream out = new PrintStream(os, false, StandardCharsets.UTF_8.name());
-                            checkIndex.setInfoStream(out);
-                            out.flush();
-                            CheckIndex.Status status = checkIndex.checkIndex();
-                            if (!status.clean) {
-                                logger.warn("check index [failure]\n{}", os.bytes().utf8ToString());
-                                throw new IOException("index check failure");
-                            }
+                        BytesStreamOutput os = new BytesStreamOutput();
+                        PrintStream out = new PrintStream(os, false, StandardCharsets.UTF_8.name());
+                        CheckIndex.Status status = store.checkIndex(out);
+                        out.flush();
+                        if (!status.clean) {
+                            logger.warn("check index [failure]\n{}", os.bytes().utf8ToString());
+                            throw new IOException("index check failure");
                         }
                     } catch (Exception e) {
                         exception.add(e);
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/StoreTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/StoreTests.java
index 1a164154df2..59189a14af8 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/StoreTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/StoreTests.java
@@ -1070,4 +1070,5 @@ public class StoreTests extends ESTestCase {
         }
         store.close();
     }
+
 }
diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/store/MockFSDirectoryService.java b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/store/MockFSDirectoryService.java
index 5d6fe757aa2..e825031a60f 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/store/MockFSDirectoryService.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/store/MockFSDirectoryService.java
@@ -119,17 +119,14 @@ public class MockFSDirectoryService extends FsDirectoryService {
                 if (!Lucene.indexExists(dir)) {
                     return;
                 }
-                try (CheckIndex checkIndex = new CheckIndex(dir)) {
+                try {
                     BytesStreamOutput os = new BytesStreamOutput();
                     PrintStream out = new PrintStream(os, false, StandardCharsets.UTF_8.name());
-                    checkIndex.setInfoStream(out);
+                    CheckIndex.Status status = store.checkIndex(out);
                     out.flush();
-                    CheckIndex.Status status = checkIndex.checkIndex();
                     if (!status.clean) {
                         ESTestCase.checkIndexFailed = true;
-                        logger.warn("check index [failure] index files={}\n{}",
-                                Arrays.toString(dir.listAll()),
-                                os.bytes().utf8ToString());
+                        logger.warn("check index [failure] index files={}\n{}", Arrays.toString(dir.listAll()), os.bytes().utf8ToString());
                         throw new IOException("index check failure");
                     } else {
                         if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {