diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/BootstrapForTesting.java b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/BootstrapForTesting.java
index 35dac2e99e0..c50e7cf066b 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/BootstrapForTesting.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/BootstrapForTesting.java
@@ -177,8 +177,11 @@ public class BootstrapForTesting {
     private static void addClassCodebase(Map<String, URL> codebases, String name, String classname) {
         try {
             Class<?> clazz = BootstrapForTesting.class.getClassLoader().loadClass(classname);
-            if (codebases.put(name, clazz.getProtectionDomain().getCodeSource().getLocation()) != null) {
-                throw new IllegalStateException("Already added " + name + " codebase for testing");
+            URL location = clazz.getProtectionDomain().getCodeSource().getLocation();
+            if (location.toString().endsWith(".jar") == false) {
+                if (codebases.put(name, location) != null) {
+                    throw new IllegalStateException("Already added " + name + " codebase for testing");
+                }
             }
         } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
             // no class, fall through to not add. this can happen for any tests that do not include