diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/JarHell.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/JarHell.java
index 2884da4fe1c..40edc695689 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/JarHell.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/JarHell.java
@@ -41,21 +41,29 @@ import java.util.jar.JarFile;
 import java.util.jar.Manifest;
 
 /** Simple check for duplicate class files across the classpath */
-class JarHell {
+public class JarHell {
 
     /**
      * Checks the current classloader for duplicate classes
      * @throws IllegalStateException if jar hell was found
      */
-    @SuppressForbidden(reason = "needs JarFile for speed, just reading entries")
-    static void checkJarHell() throws Exception {
+    public static void checkJarHell() throws Exception {
         ClassLoader loader = JarHell.class.getClassLoader();
         if (loader instanceof URLClassLoader == false) {
            return;
         }
+        checkJarHell(((URLClassLoader)loader).getURLs());
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Checks the set of URLs for duplicate classes
+     * @throws IllegalStateException if jar hell was found
+     */
+    @SuppressForbidden(reason = "needs JarFile for speed, just reading entries")
+    public static void checkJarHell(URL urls[]) throws Exception {
         final Map<String,URL> clazzes = new HashMap<>(32768);
         Set<String> seenJars = new HashSet<>();
-        for (final URL url : ((URLClassLoader)loader).getURLs()) {
+        for (final URL url : urls) {
             String path = URLDecoder.decode(url.getPath(), "UTF-8");
             if (path.endsWith(".jar")) {
                 if (!seenJars.add(path)) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginManager.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginManager.java
index de16aeb5691..9413e05df16 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginManager.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginManager.java
@@ -22,8 +22,10 @@ package org.elasticsearch.plugins;
 import com.google.common.base.Strings;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterators;
+
 import org.apache.lucene.util.IOUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.*;
+import org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.JarHell;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.SuppressForbidden;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.cli.Terminal;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.Tuple;
@@ -35,14 +37,18 @@ import org.elasticsearch.env.Environment;
 import org.elasticsearch.node.internal.InternalSettingsPreparer;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.io.PrintStream;
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.net.URLClassLoader;
 import java.nio.file.*;
 import java.nio.file.attribute.BasicFileAttributes;
 import java.nio.file.attribute.PosixFileAttributeView;
 import java.nio.file.attribute.PosixFilePermission;
 import java.util.*;
+import java.util.zip.ZipEntry;
+import java.util.zip.ZipInputStream;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.common.Strings.hasLength;
 import static org.elasticsearch.common.io.FileSystemUtils.moveFilesWithoutOverwriting;
@@ -147,6 +153,41 @@ public class PluginManager {
         if (!downloaded) {
             throw new IOException("failed to download out of all possible locations..., use --verbose to get detailed information");
         }
+
+        // unzip plugin to a temp dir
+        Path tmp = unzipToTemporary(pluginFile);
+
+        // create list of current jars in classpath
+        final List<URL> jars = new ArrayList<>();
+        ClassLoader loader = PluginManager.class.getClassLoader();
+        if (loader instanceof URLClassLoader) {
+            for (URL url : ((URLClassLoader) loader).getURLs()) {
+                jars.add(url);
+            }
+        }
+
+        // add any jars we find in the plugin to the list
+        Files.walkFileTree(tmp, new SimpleFileVisitor<Path>() {
+            @Override
+            public FileVisitResult visitFile(Path file, BasicFileAttributes attrs) throws IOException {
+                if (file.toString().endsWith(".jar")) {
+                    jars.add(file.toUri().toURL());
+                }
+                return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
+            }
+        });
+
+        // check combined (current classpath + new jars to-be-added)
+        try {
+            JarHell.checkJarHell(jars.toArray(new URL[0]));
+        } catch (Exception ex) {
+            throw new RuntimeException(ex);
+        }
+
+        // cleanup
+        IOUtils.rm(tmp);
+
+        // TODO: we have a tmpdir made above, so avoid zipfilesystem
         try (FileSystem zipFile = FileSystems.newFileSystem(pluginFile, null)) {
             for (final Path root : zipFile.getRootDirectories() ) {
                 final Path[] topLevelFiles = FileSystemUtils.files(root);
@@ -260,6 +301,33 @@ public class PluginManager {
         }
     }
 
+    private Path unzipToTemporary(Path zip) throws IOException {
+        Path tmp = Files.createTempDirectory(environment.tmpFile(), null);
+
+        try (ZipInputStream zipInput = new ZipInputStream(Files.newInputStream(zip))) {
+            ZipEntry entry;
+            byte[] buffer = new byte[8192];
+            while ((entry = zipInput.getNextEntry()) != null) {
+                Path targetFile = tmp.resolve(entry.getName());
+
+                // be on the safe side: do not rely on that directories are always extracted
+                // before their children (although this makes sense, but is it guaranteed?)
+                Files.createDirectories(targetFile.getParent());
+                if (!entry.isDirectory()) {
+                    OutputStream out = Files.newOutputStream(targetFile);
+                    int len;
+                    while((len = zipInput.read(buffer)) >= 0) {
+                        out.write(buffer, 0, len);
+                    }
+                    out.close();
+                }
+                zipInput.closeEntry();
+            }
+        }
+
+        return tmp;
+    }
+
     public void removePlugin(String name) throws IOException {
         if (name == null) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("plugin name must be supplied with --remove [name].");