diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/ThirdPartyAuditTask.java b/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/ThirdPartyAuditTask.java
index 7ddec2b887e..4ed1543df1b 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/ThirdPartyAuditTask.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/ThirdPartyAuditTask.java
@@ -18,8 +18,10 @@
  */
 package org.elasticsearch.gradle.precommit;
 
+import de.thetaphi.forbiddenapis.cli.CliMain;
 import org.apache.commons.io.output.NullOutputStream;
 import org.elasticsearch.gradle.JdkJarHellCheck;
+import org.elasticsearch.gradle.OS;
 import org.gradle.api.DefaultTask;
 import org.gradle.api.GradleException;
 import org.gradle.api.JavaVersion;
@@ -51,6 +53,7 @@ import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.TreeSet;
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
@@ -69,6 +72,12 @@ public class ThirdPartyAuditTask extends DefaultTask {
     private static final Pattern VIOLATION_PATTERN = Pattern.compile(
         "\\s\\sin ([a-zA-Z0-9$.]+) \\(.*\\)"
     );
+    private static final int SIG_KILL_EXIT_VALUE = 137;
+    private static final List<Integer> EXPECTED_EXIT_CODES = Arrays.asList(
+        CliMain.EXIT_SUCCESS,
+        CliMain.EXIT_VIOLATION,
+        CliMain.EXIT_UNSUPPORTED_JDK
+    );
 
     private Set<String> missingClassExcludes = new TreeSet<>();
 
@@ -327,7 +336,7 @@ public class ThirdPartyAuditTask extends DefaultTask {
 
     private String runForbiddenAPIsCli() throws IOException {
         ByteArrayOutputStream errorOut = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
-        getProject().javaexec(spec -> {
+        ExecResult result = getProject().javaexec(spec -> {
             if (javaHome != null) {
                 spec.setExecutable(javaHome + "/bin/java");
             }
@@ -336,6 +345,7 @@ public class ThirdPartyAuditTask extends DefaultTask {
                 getRuntimeConfiguration(),
                 getProject().getConfigurations().getByName("compileOnly")
             );
+            spec.jvmArgs("-Xmx1g");
             spec.setMain("de.thetaphi.forbiddenapis.cli.CliMain");
             spec.args(
                 "-f", getSignatureFile().getAbsolutePath(),
@@ -348,10 +358,18 @@ public class ThirdPartyAuditTask extends DefaultTask {
             }
             spec.setIgnoreExitValue(true);
         });
+        if (OS.current().equals(OS.LINUX) && result.getExitValue() == SIG_KILL_EXIT_VALUE) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException(
+                "Third party audit was killed buy SIGKILL, could be a victim of the Linux OOM killer"
+            );
+        }
         final String forbiddenApisOutput;
         try (ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream = errorOut) {
             forbiddenApisOutput = outputStream.toString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8.name());
         }
+        if (EXPECTED_EXIT_CODES.contains(result.getExitValue()) == false) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Forbidden APIs cli failed: " + forbiddenApisOutput);
+        }
         return forbiddenApisOutput;
     }
 
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/ThirdPartyAuditTaskIT.java b/buildSrc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/ThirdPartyAuditTaskIT.java
index b14b3538fc2..a57d6da0365 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/ThirdPartyAuditTaskIT.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/precommit/ThirdPartyAuditTaskIT.java
@@ -48,27 +48,7 @@ public class ThirdPartyAuditTaskIT extends GradleIntegrationTestCase {
                 "-PcompileOnlyGroup=other.gradle:broken-log4j", "-PcompileOnlyVersion=0.0.1",
                 "-PcompileGroup=other.gradle:dummy-io", "-PcompileVersion=0.0.1"
             )
-            .build();
-
-        assertTaskSuccessful(result, ":empty");
-
-        result = getGradleRunner("thirdPartyAudit")
-            .withArguments("empty", "-s",
-                "-PcompileOnlyGroup=other.gradle:broken-log4j", "-PcompileOnlyVersion=0.0.1",
-                "-PcompileGroup=other.gradle:dummy-io", "-PcompileVersion=0.0.1"
-            )
-            .build();
-
-        assertTaskUpToDate(result, ":empty");
-
-        result = getGradleRunner("thirdPartyAudit")
-            .withArguments("empty", "-s",
-                "-PcompileOnlyGroup=other.gradle:broken-log4j", "-PcompileOnlyVersion=0.0.1",
-                "-PcompileGroup=other.gradle:dummy-io", "-PcompileVersion=0.0.2"
-            )
-            .build();
-
-        assertTaskSuccessful(result, ":empty");
+            .buildAndFail();
     }
 
     public void testViolationFoundAndCompileOnlyIgnored() {