diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/LocalIndexFollowingIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/LocalIndexFollowingIT.java
index 0368ea90f5e..918a8f4181f 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/LocalIndexFollowingIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/LocalIndexFollowingIT.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.xpack.ccr;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.ExceptionsHelper;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexingPressure;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
@@ -33,7 +34,9 @@ import java.util.stream.StreamSupport;
 import static java.util.Collections.singletonMap;
 import static org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory.jsonBuilder;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertAcked;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasSize;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.nullValue;
 
 public class LocalIndexFollowingIT extends CcrSingleNodeTestCase {
@@ -204,6 +207,50 @@ public class LocalIndexFollowingIT extends CcrSingleNodeTestCase {
         });
     }
 
+    public void testChangeLeaderIndex() throws Exception {
+        final String settings = getIndexSettings(1, 0, singletonMap(IndexSettings.INDEX_SOFT_DELETES_SETTING.getKey(), "true"));
+
+        // First, let index-1 is writable and index-2 follows index-1
+        assertAcked(client().admin().indices().prepareCreate("index-1").setSource(settings, XContentType.JSON));
+        ensureGreen("index-1");
+        int numDocs = between(1, 100);
+        for (int i = 0; i < numDocs; i++) {
+            client().prepareIndex("index-1", "_doc").setSource("{}", XContentType.JSON).get();
+        }
+        client().execute(PutFollowAction.INSTANCE, getPutFollowRequest("index-1", "index-2")).get();
+        assertBusy(() -> assertThat(client().prepareSearch("index-2").get().getHits().getTotalHits().value, equalTo((long) numDocs)));
+
+        // Then switch index-1 to be a follower of index-0
+        assertAcked(client().admin().indices().prepareCreate("index-0").setSource(settings, XContentType.JSON));
+        final int newDocs;
+        if (randomBoolean()) {
+            newDocs = randomIntBetween(0, numDocs);
+        } else {
+            newDocs = numDocs + randomIntBetween(1, 100);
+        }
+        for (int i = 0; i < newDocs; i++) {
+            client().prepareIndex("index-0", "_doc").setSource("{}", XContentType.JSON).get();
+        }
+        if (randomBoolean()) {
+            client().admin().indices().prepareFlush("index-0").get();
+        }
+        assertAcked(client().admin().indices().prepareClose("index-1"));
+        client().execute(PutFollowAction.INSTANCE, getPutFollowRequest("index-0", "index-1")).get();
+
+        // index-2 should detect that the leader index has changed
+        assertBusy(() -> {
+            FollowStatsAction.StatsRequest statsRequest = new FollowStatsAction.StatsRequest();
+            statsRequest.setIndices(new String[]{"index-2"});
+            FollowStatsAction.StatsResponses resp = client().execute(FollowStatsAction.INSTANCE, statsRequest).actionGet();
+            assertThat(resp.getStatsResponses(), hasSize(1));
+            FollowStatsAction.StatsResponse stats = resp.getStatsResponses().get(0);
+            assertNotNull(stats.status().getFatalException());
+            Throwable unwrapped = ExceptionsHelper.unwrap(stats.status().getFatalException(), IllegalStateException.class);
+            assertNotNull(unwrapped);
+            assertThat(unwrapped.getMessage(), containsString("unexpected history uuid"));
+        });
+    }
+
     public static String getIndexSettings(final int numberOfShards,
                                           final int numberOfReplicas,
                                           final Map<String, String> additionalIndexSettings) throws IOException {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardChangesAction.java b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardChangesAction.java
index 2b2d7a35367..ea563baa7f8 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardChangesAction.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardChangesAction.java
@@ -447,7 +447,7 @@ public class ShardChangesAction extends ActionType<ShardChangesAction.Response>
                         listener.onFailure(new IndexNotFoundException(shardId.getIndex()));
                         return;
                     }
-
+                    checkHistoryUUID(indexShard, request.expectedHistoryUUID);
                     final long mappingVersion = indexMetadata.getMappingVersion();
                     final long settingsVersion = indexMetadata.getSettingsVersion();
                     final long aliasesVersion = indexMetadata.getAliasesVersion();
@@ -493,6 +493,14 @@ public class ShardChangesAction extends ActionType<ShardChangesAction.Response>
 
     static final Translog.Operation[] EMPTY_OPERATIONS_ARRAY = new Translog.Operation[0];
 
+    private static void checkHistoryUUID(IndexShard indexShard, String expectedHistoryUUID) {
+        final String historyUUID = indexShard.getHistoryUUID();
+        if (historyUUID.equals(expectedHistoryUUID) == false) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException(
+                "unexpected history uuid, expected [" + expectedHistoryUUID + "], actual [" + historyUUID + "]");
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Returns at most the specified maximum number of operations from the specified from sequence number. This method will never return
      * operations above the specified global checkpoint.
@@ -519,11 +527,7 @@ public class ShardChangesAction extends ActionType<ShardChangesAction.Response>
         if (indexShard.state() != IndexShardState.STARTED) {
             throw new IndexShardNotStartedException(indexShard.shardId(), indexShard.state());
         }
-        final String historyUUID = indexShard.getHistoryUUID();
-        if (historyUUID.equals(expectedHistoryUUID) == false) {
-            throw new IllegalStateException("unexpected history uuid, expected [" + expectedHistoryUUID + "], actual [" +
-                historyUUID + "]");
-        }
+        checkHistoryUUID(indexShard, expectedHistoryUUID);
         if (fromSeqNo > globalCheckpoint) {
             throw new IllegalStateException(
                     "not exposing operations from [" + fromSeqNo + "] greater than the global checkpoint [" + globalCheckpoint + "]");