diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunner.java b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunner.java
index 2f7947bb517..ef22d2c8401 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunner.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunner.java
@@ -42,13 +42,17 @@ import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.Step.StepKey;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.TerminalPolicyStep;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.function.LongSupplier;
 
+import static org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchException.REST_EXCEPTION_SKIP_STACK_TRACE;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.LifecycleExecutionState.ILM_CUSTOM_METADATA_KEY;
 
 public class IndexLifecycleRunner {
     private static final Logger logger = LogManager.getLogger(IndexLifecycleRunner.class);
+    private static final ToXContent.Params STACKTRACE_PARAMS =
+        new ToXContent.MapParams(Collections.singletonMap(REST_EXCEPTION_SKIP_STACK_TRACE, "false"));
     private PolicyStepsRegistry stepRegistry;
     private ClusterService clusterService;
     private LongSupplier nowSupplier;
@@ -323,7 +327,7 @@ public class IndexLifecycleRunner {
             .get(LifecycleSettings.LIFECYCLE_NAME_SETTING.get(idxMeta.getSettings()));
         XContentBuilder causeXContentBuilder = JsonXContent.contentBuilder();
         causeXContentBuilder.startObject();
-        ElasticsearchException.generateThrowableXContent(causeXContentBuilder, ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS, cause);
+        ElasticsearchException.generateThrowableXContent(causeXContentBuilder, STACKTRACE_PARAMS, cause);
         causeXContentBuilder.endObject();
         LifecycleExecutionState nextStepState = moveExecutionStateToNextStep(policyMetadata,
             LifecycleExecutionState.fromIndexMetadata(idxMeta), currentStep, new StepKey(currentStep.getPhase(),
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/ExecuteStepsUpdateTaskTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/ExecuteStepsUpdateTaskTests.java
index 21f2b0e7093..4611618b2cd 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/ExecuteStepsUpdateTaskTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/ExecuteStepsUpdateTaskTests.java
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ import java.util.Map;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.LifecycleExecutionState.ILM_CUSTOM_METADATA_KEY;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.LifecyclePolicyTestsUtils.newTestLifecyclePolicy;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.nullValue;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.sameInstance;
@@ -270,7 +271,8 @@ public class ExecuteStepsUpdateTaskTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertThat(task.getNextStepKey(), equalTo(secondStep.getKey()));
         assertThat(lifecycleState.getPhaseTime(), nullValue());
         assertThat(lifecycleState.getActionTime(), nullValue());
-        assertThat(lifecycleState.getStepInfo(), equalTo("{\"type\":\"runtime_exception\",\"reason\":\"error\"}"));
+        assertThat(lifecycleState.getStepInfo(),
+            containsString("{\"type\":\"runtime_exception\",\"reason\":\"error\",\"stack_trace\":\""));
     }
 
     public void testClusterWaitStepThrowsException() throws IOException {
@@ -289,7 +291,8 @@ public class ExecuteStepsUpdateTaskTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertThat(task.getNextStepKey(), equalTo(thirdStepKey));
         assertThat(lifecycleState.getPhaseTime(), nullValue());
         assertThat(lifecycleState.getActionTime(), nullValue());
-        assertThat(lifecycleState.getStepInfo(), equalTo("{\"type\":\"runtime_exception\",\"reason\":\"error\"}"));
+        assertThat(lifecycleState.getStepInfo(),
+            containsString("{\"type\":\"runtime_exception\",\"reason\":\"error\",\"stack_trace\":\""));
     }
 
     private void setStateToKey(StepKey stepKey) throws IOException {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunnerTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunnerTests.java
index 8117207f2be..63ee9349043 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunnerTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleRunnerTests.java
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.LifecycleExecutionState.ILM_CUSTOM_METADATA_KEY;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.LifecyclePolicyTestsUtils.newTestLifecyclePolicy;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 
@@ -853,12 +854,12 @@ public class IndexLifecycleRunnerTests extends ESTestCase {
 
         ClusterState newClusterState = IndexLifecycleRunner.moveClusterStateToErrorStep(index, clusterState, currentStep, cause, () -> now);
         assertClusterStateOnErrorStep(clusterState, index, currentStep, newClusterState, now,
-            "{\"type\":\"exception\",\"reason\":\"THIS IS AN EXPECTED CAUSE\"}");
+            "{\"type\":\"exception\",\"reason\":\"THIS IS AN EXPECTED CAUSE\"");
 
         cause = new IllegalArgumentException("non elasticsearch-exception");
         newClusterState = IndexLifecycleRunner.moveClusterStateToErrorStep(index, clusterState, currentStep, cause, () -> now);
         assertClusterStateOnErrorStep(clusterState, index, currentStep, newClusterState, now,
-            "{\"type\":\"illegal_argument_exception\",\"reason\":\"non elasticsearch-exception\"}");
+            "{\"type\":\"illegal_argument_exception\",\"reason\":\"non elasticsearch-exception\",\"stack_trace\":\"");
     }
 
     public void testMoveClusterStateToFailedStep() {
@@ -1267,7 +1268,7 @@ public class IndexLifecycleRunnerTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertEquals(currentStep.getAction(), newLifecycleState.getAction());
         assertEquals(ErrorStep.NAME, newLifecycleState.getStep());
         assertEquals(currentStep.getName(), newLifecycleState.getFailedStep());
-        assertEquals(expectedCauseValue, newLifecycleState.getStepInfo());
+        assertThat(newLifecycleState.getStepInfo(), containsString(expectedCauseValue));
         assertEquals(oldLifecycleState.getPhaseTime(), newLifecycleState.getPhaseTime());
         assertEquals(oldLifecycleState.getActionTime(), newLifecycleState.getActionTime());
         assertEquals(now, newLifecycleState.getStepTime().longValue());
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/MoveToErrorStepUpdateTaskTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/MoveToErrorStepUpdateTaskTests.java
index dc3a6602f39..3ad3f27ebdf 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/MoveToErrorStepUpdateTaskTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/MoveToErrorStepUpdateTaskTests.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Collections;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.LifecycleExecutionState.ILM_CUSTOM_METADATA_KEY;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.nullValue;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.sameInstance;
@@ -86,7 +87,8 @@ public class MoveToErrorStepUpdateTaskTests extends ESTestCase {
         ElasticsearchException.generateThrowableXContent(causeXContentBuilder, ToXContent.EMPTY_PARAMS, cause);
         causeXContentBuilder.endObject();
         String expectedCauseValue = BytesReference.bytes(causeXContentBuilder).utf8ToString();
-        assertThat(lifecycleState.getStepInfo(), equalTo(expectedCauseValue));
+        assertThat(lifecycleState.getStepInfo(),
+            containsString("{\"type\":\"exception\",\"reason\":\"THIS IS AN EXPECTED CAUSE\",\"stack_trace\":\""));
     }
 
     public void testExecuteNoopDifferentStep() throws IOException {