diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
index 2ff8c37db3b..ad0d64766d0 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.Booleans;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.BytesStreamOutput;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.lease.Releasable;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.lease.Releasables;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLogger;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.support.LoggerMessageFormat;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.Lucene;
@@ -717,11 +719,20 @@ public class IndexShard extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements IndexSett
 
     public Engine.Searcher acquireSearcher(String source) {
         readAllowed();
-        Engine engine = getEngine();
+        final Engine engine = getEngine();
+        final Engine.Searcher searcher = engine.acquireSearcher(source);
+        boolean success = false;
         try {
-            return searcherWrapper == null ? engine.acquireSearcher(source) : searcherWrapper.wrap(engineConfig, engine.acquireSearcher(source));
+            final Engine.Searcher wrappedSearcher = searcherWrapper == null ? searcher : searcherWrapper.wrap(engineConfig, searcher);
+            assert wrappedSearcher != null;
+            success = true;
+            return wrappedSearcher;
         } catch (IOException ex) {
             throw new ElasticsearchException("failed to wrap searcher", ex);
+        } finally {
+            if (success == false) {
+                Releasables.close(success, searcher);
+            }
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
index f7b14192b49..baf4ee60775 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.BrokenBarrierException;
 import java.util.concurrent.CyclicBarrier;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData.*;
 import static org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings.settingsBuilder;
@@ -911,10 +912,6 @@ public class IndexShardTests extends ESSingleNodeTestCase {
             search = searcher.searcher().search(new TermQuery(new Term("foobar", "bar")), 10);
             assertEquals(search.totalHits, 1);
         }
-
-        ShardRouting routing = new ShardRouting(shard.routingEntry());
-        shard.close("simon says", true);
-        IndexServicesProvider indexServices = indexService.getIndexServices();
         IndexSearcherWrapper wrapper = new IndexSearcherWrapper() {
             @Override
             public DirectoryReader wrap(DirectoryReader reader) throws IOException {
@@ -927,16 +924,8 @@ public class IndexShardTests extends ESSingleNodeTestCase {
             }
         };
 
-        IndexServicesProvider newProvider = new IndexServicesProvider(indexServices.getIndicesLifecycle(), indexServices.getThreadPool(), indexServices.getMapperService(), indexServices.getQueryParserService(), indexServices.getIndexCache(), indexServices.getIndicesQueryCache(), indexServices.getCodecService(), indexServices.getTermVectorsService(), indexServices.getIndexFieldDataService(), indexServices.getWarmer(), indexServices.getSimilarityService(), indexServices.getFactory(), indexServices.getBigArrays(), wrapper, indexServices.getIndexingMemoryController());
-        IndexShard newShard = new IndexShard(shard.shardId(), shard.indexSettings, shard.shardPath(), shard.store(), newProvider);
+        IndexShard newShard = reinitWithWrapper(indexService, shard, wrapper);
         try {
-            ShardRoutingHelper.reinit(routing);
-            newShard.updateRoutingEntry(routing, false);
-            DiscoveryNode localNode = new DiscoveryNode("foo", DummyTransportAddress.INSTANCE, Version.CURRENT);
-            assertTrue(newShard.recoverFromStore(routing, localNode));
-            routing = new ShardRouting(routing);
-            ShardRoutingHelper.moveToStarted(routing);
-            newShard.updateRoutingEntry(routing, true);
             try (Engine.Searcher searcher = newShard.acquireSearcher("test")) {
                 TopDocs search = searcher.searcher().search(new TermQuery(new Term("foo", "bar")), 10);
                 assertEquals(search.totalHits, 0);
@@ -948,7 +937,34 @@ public class IndexShardTests extends ESSingleNodeTestCase {
             assertNotNull(getResult.searcher()); // make sure get uses the wrapped reader
             assertTrue(getResult.searcher().reader() instanceof FieldMaskingReader);
             getResult.release();
+        } finally {
+            newShard.close("just do it", randomBoolean());
+        }
+    }
 
+    public void testSearcherWrapperWorksWithGlobaOrdinals() throws IOException {
+        createIndex("test");
+        ensureGreen();
+        IndicesService indicesService = getInstanceFromNode(IndicesService.class);
+        IndexService indexService = indicesService.indexService("test");
+        IndexShard shard = indexService.getShardOrNull(0);
+        client().prepareIndex("test", "test", "0").setSource("{\"foo\" : \"bar\"}").setRefresh(true).get();
+        client().prepareIndex("test", "test", "1").setSource("{\"foobar\" : \"bar\"}").setRefresh(true).get();
+
+        IndexSearcherWrapper wrapper = new IndexSearcherWrapper() {
+            @Override
+            public DirectoryReader wrap(DirectoryReader reader) throws IOException {
+                return new FieldMaskingReader("foo", reader);
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public IndexSearcher wrap(EngineConfig engineConfig, IndexSearcher searcher) throws EngineException {
+                return searcher;
+            }
+        };
+
+        IndexShard newShard = reinitWithWrapper(indexService, shard, wrapper);
+        try {
             // test global ordinals are evicted
             MappedFieldType foo = newShard.mapperService().indexName("foo");
             IndexFieldData.Global ifd = shard.indexFieldDataService().getForField(foo);
@@ -970,7 +986,53 @@ public class IndexShardTests extends ESSingleNodeTestCase {
         } finally {
             newShard.close("just do it", randomBoolean());
         }
+    }
 
+    public void testSearchIsReleaseIfWrapperFails() throws IOException {
+        createIndex("test");
+        ensureGreen();
+        IndicesService indicesService = getInstanceFromNode(IndicesService.class);
+        IndexService indexService = indicesService.indexService("test");
+        IndexShard shard = indexService.getShardOrNull(0);
+        client().prepareIndex("test", "test", "0").setSource("{\"foo\" : \"bar\"}").setRefresh(true).get();
+        IndexSearcherWrapper wrapper = new IndexSearcherWrapper() {
+            @Override
+            public DirectoryReader wrap(DirectoryReader reader) throws IOException {
+                throw new RuntimeException("boom");
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public IndexSearcher wrap(EngineConfig engineConfig, IndexSearcher searcher) throws EngineException {
+                return searcher;
+            }
+        };
+
+        IndexShard newShard = reinitWithWrapper(indexService, shard, wrapper);
+        try {
+            newShard.acquireSearcher("test");
+            fail("exception expected");
+        } catch (RuntimeException ex) {
+            //
+        } finally {
+            newShard.close("just do it", randomBoolean());
+        }
+        // test will fail due to unclosed searchers if the searcher is not released
+    }
+
+    private final IndexShard reinitWithWrapper(IndexService indexService, IndexShard shard, IndexSearcherWrapper wrapper) throws IOException {
+        ShardRouting routing = new ShardRouting(shard.routingEntry());
+        shard.close("simon says", true);
+        IndexServicesProvider indexServices = indexService.getIndexServices();
+        IndexServicesProvider newProvider = new IndexServicesProvider(indexServices.getIndicesLifecycle(), indexServices.getThreadPool(), indexServices.getMapperService(), indexServices.getQueryParserService(), indexServices.getIndexCache(), indexServices.getIndicesQueryCache(), indexServices.getCodecService(), indexServices.getTermVectorsService(), indexServices.getIndexFieldDataService(), indexServices.getWarmer(), indexServices.getSimilarityService(), indexServices.getFactory(), indexServices.getBigArrays(), wrapper, indexServices.getIndexingMemoryController());
+        IndexShard newShard = new IndexShard(shard.shardId(), shard.indexSettings, shard.shardPath(), shard.store(), newProvider);
+        ShardRoutingHelper.reinit(routing);
+        newShard.updateRoutingEntry(routing, false);
+        DiscoveryNode localNode = new DiscoveryNode("foo", DummyTransportAddress.INSTANCE, Version.CURRENT);
+        assertTrue(newShard.recoverFromStore(routing, localNode));
+        routing = new ShardRouting(routing);
+        ShardRoutingHelper.moveToStarted(routing);
+        newShard.updateRoutingEntry(routing, true);
+        return newShard;
     }
 
     private static class FieldMaskingReader extends FilterDirectoryReader {