diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveriesCollection.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveriesCollection.java
index 2ed79a8a996..3bee3febf3f 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveriesCollection.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveriesCollection.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchTimeoutException;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNode;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.Callback;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.CancellableThreads;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.AbstractRunnable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.ConcurrentCollections;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.IndexShard;
@@ -106,9 +107,18 @@ public class RecoveriesCollection {
             }
 
             // Closes the current recovery target
-            final RecoveryTarget finalOldRecoveryTarget = oldRecoveryTarget;
             final AtomicBoolean successfulReset = new AtomicBoolean();
-            newRecoveryTarget.CancellableThreads().executeIO(() -> successfulReset.set(finalOldRecoveryTarget.resetRecovery()));
+            try {
+                final RecoveryTarget finalOldRecoveryTarget = oldRecoveryTarget;
+                newRecoveryTarget.CancellableThreads().executeIO(() -> successfulReset.set(finalOldRecoveryTarget.resetRecovery()));
+            } catch (CancellableThreads.ExecutionCancelledException e) {
+                // new recovery target is already cancelled (probably due to shard closing or recovery source changing)
+                assert onGoingRecoveries.containsKey(newRecoveryTarget.recoveryId()) == false;
+                logger.trace("{} recovery reset cancelled, recovery from {}, id [{}], previous id [{}]", newRecoveryTarget.shardId(),
+                    newRecoveryTarget.sourceNode(), newRecoveryTarget.recoveryId(), oldRecoveryTarget.recoveryId());
+                oldRecoveryTarget.cancel("recovery reset cancelled"); // if finalOldRecoveryTarget.resetRecovery did not even get to execute
+                return null;
+            }
             if (successfulReset.get() == false) {
                 cancelRecovery(newRecoveryTarget.recoveryId(), "failed to reset recovery");
                 return null;
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java
index 981a5f3ed8f..4311d3b2ab1 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTarget.java
@@ -184,9 +184,14 @@ public class RecoveryTarget extends AbstractRefCounted implements RecoveryTarget
      */
     boolean resetRecovery() throws InterruptedException, IOException {
         if (finished.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
-            logger.debug("reset of recovery with shard {} and id [{}]", shardId, recoveryId);
-            // release the initial reference. recovery files will be cleaned as soon as ref count goes to zero, potentially now
-            decRef();
+            try {
+                // yes, this is just a logger call in a try-finally block. The reason for this is that resetRecovery is called from
+                // CancellableThreads and we have to make sure that all references to IndexShard are cleaned up before exiting this method
+                logger.debug("reset of recovery with shard {} and id [{}]", shardId, recoveryId);
+            } finally {
+                // release the initial reference. recovery files will be cleaned as soon as ref count goes to zero, potentially now.
+                decRef();
+            }
             closedLatch.await();
             RecoveryState.Stage stage = indexShard.recoveryState().getStage();
             if (indexShard.recoveryState().getPrimary() && (stage == RecoveryState.Stage.FINALIZE || stage == RecoveryState.Stage.DONE)) {