diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/publish/PublishClusterStateAction.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/publish/PublishClusterStateAction.java
index acb5f640db0..c4ecc644ea9 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/publish/PublishClusterStateAction.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/publish/PublishClusterStateAction.java
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
@@ -402,6 +403,18 @@ public class PublishClusterStateAction extends AbstractComponent {
         }
 
         ZenDiscovery.validateStateIsFromCurrentMaster(logger, currentNodes, incomingState);
+        if (lastSeenClusterState != null && lastSeenClusterState.supersedes(incomingState)) {
+            final String message = String.format(
+                    Locale.ROOT,
+                    "received older cluster state version [%s] with uuid [%s] than last seen cluster state [%s] with uuid [%s]",
+                    incomingState.version(),
+                    incomingState.stateUUID(),
+                    lastSeenClusterState.version(),
+                    lastSeenClusterState.stateUUID()
+            );
+            logger.warn(message);
+            throw new IllegalStateException(message);
+        }
     }
 
     protected void handleCommitRequest(CommitClusterStateRequest request, final TransportChannel channel) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/publish/PublishClusterStateActionTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/publish/PublishClusterStateActionTests.java
index 7e31f6055de..e1cb66555d1 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/publish/PublishClusterStateActionTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/discovery/zen/publish/PublishClusterStateActionTests.java
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.concurrent.CopyOnWriteArrayList;
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
@@ -72,6 +73,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.emptyIterable;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasToString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.not;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.notNullValue;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.nullValue;
@@ -630,9 +632,19 @@ public class PublishClusterStateActionTests extends ESTestCase {
         }
 
         logger.info("--> testing acceptance of an old cluster state");
-        state = node.clusterState;
+        final ClusterState incomingState = node.clusterState;
         node.clusterState = ClusterState.builder(node.clusterState).incrementVersion().build();
-        node.action.validateIncomingState(state, node.clusterState);
+        final IllegalStateException e =
+                expectThrows(IllegalStateException.class, () -> node.action.validateIncomingState(incomingState, node.clusterState));
+        final String message = String.format(
+                Locale.ROOT,
+                "received older cluster state version [%s] with uuid [%s] than last seen cluster state [%s] with uuid [%s]",
+                incomingState.version(),
+                incomingState.stateUUID(),
+                node.clusterState.version(),
+                node.clusterState.stateUUID()
+        );
+        assertThat(e, hasToString("java.lang.IllegalStateException: " + message));
 
         // an older version from a *new* master is also OK!
         ClusterState previousState = ClusterState.builder(node.clusterState).incrementVersion().build();
@@ -645,12 +657,12 @@ public class PublishClusterStateActionTests extends ESTestCase {
         node.action.validateIncomingState(state, previousState);
     }
 
-    public void testInterleavedPublishCommit() throws Throwable {
+    public void testOutOfOrderCommitMessages() throws Throwable {
         MockNode node = createMockNode("node").setAsMaster();
         final CapturingTransportChannel channel = new CapturingTransportChannel();
 
         List<ClusterState> states = new ArrayList<>();
-        final int numOfStates = scaledRandomIntBetween(3, 10);
+        final int numOfStates = scaledRandomIntBetween(3, 25);
         for (int i = 1; i <= numOfStates; i++) {
             states.add(ClusterState.builder(node.clusterState).version(i).stateUUID(ClusterState.UNKNOWN_UUID).build());
         }
@@ -658,8 +670,17 @@ public class PublishClusterStateActionTests extends ESTestCase {
         final ClusterState finalState = states.get(numOfStates - 1);
         Collections.shuffle(states, random());
 
-        logger.info("--> publishing states");
+        List<ClusterState> orderedSubsequence = new ArrayList<>();
+        long version = 0;
         for (ClusterState state : states) {
+            if (state.version() >= version) {
+                orderedSubsequence.add(state);
+                version = state.version();
+            }
+        }
+
+        logger.info("--> publishing states");
+        for (ClusterState state : orderedSubsequence) {
             node.action.handleIncomingClusterStateRequest(
                     new BytesTransportRequest(PublishClusterStateAction.serializeFullClusterState(state, Version.CURRENT), Version.CURRENT),
                     channel);
@@ -670,8 +691,8 @@ public class PublishClusterStateActionTests extends ESTestCase {
 
         logger.info("--> committing states");
 
-        Randomness.shuffle(states);
-        for (ClusterState state : states) {
+        Randomness.shuffle(orderedSubsequence);
+        for (ClusterState state : orderedSubsequence) {
             node.action.handleCommitRequest(new PublishClusterStateAction.CommitClusterStateRequest(state.stateUUID()), channel);
             assertThat(channel.response.get(), equalTo((TransportResponse) TransportResponse.Empty.INSTANCE));
             if (channel.error.get() != null) {