diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java
index 59af043e0cf..4bf5e03b8a7 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java
@@ -806,7 +806,7 @@ public class SearchService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent implements IndexEv
                 throw new SearchContextException(context, "failed to create SearchContextHighlighter", e);
             }
         }
-        if (source.scriptFields() != null) {
+        if (source.scriptFields() != null && source.size() != 0) {
             int maxAllowedScriptFields = context.mapperService().getIndexSettings().getMaxScriptFields();
             if (source.scriptFields().size() > maxAllowedScriptFields) {
                 throw new IllegalArgumentException(
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchServiceTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchServiceTests.java
index c58a158fc67..2562683466a 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchServiceTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchServiceTests.java
@@ -345,6 +345,23 @@ public class SearchServiceTests extends ESSingleNodeTestCase {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testIgnoreScriptfieldIfSizeZero() throws IOException {
+        createIndex("index");
+        final SearchService service = getInstanceFromNode(SearchService.class);
+        final IndicesService indicesService = getInstanceFromNode(IndicesService.class);
+        final IndexService indexService = indicesService.indexServiceSafe(resolveIndex("index"));
+        final IndexShard indexShard = indexService.getShard(0);
+
+        SearchSourceBuilder searchSourceBuilder = new SearchSourceBuilder();
+        searchSourceBuilder.scriptField("field" + 0,
+                new Script(ScriptType.INLINE, MockScriptEngine.NAME, CustomScriptPlugin.DUMMY_SCRIPT, Collections.emptyMap()));
+        searchSourceBuilder.size(0);
+        try (SearchContext context = service.createContext(new ShardSearchLocalRequest(indexShard.shardId(), 1, SearchType.DEFAULT,
+                searchSourceBuilder, new String[0], false, new AliasFilter(null, Strings.EMPTY_ARRAY), 1.0f, true, null, null))) {
+                assertEquals(0, context.scriptFields().fields().size());
+        }
+    }
+
     public static class FailOnRewriteQueryPlugin extends Plugin implements SearchPlugin {
         @Override
         public List<QuerySpec<?>> getQueries() {