diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/GatewayAllocator.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/GatewayAllocator.java
index f606f02a47c..272655d5d83 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/GatewayAllocator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/GatewayAllocator.java
@@ -118,8 +118,8 @@ public class GatewayAllocator extends AbstractComponent {
             if (!routingNodes.routingTable().index(shard.index()).shard(shard.id()).primaryAllocatedPostApi()) {
                 continue;
             }
-
-            ObjectLongOpenHashMap<DiscoveryNode> nodesState = buildShardStates(nodes, shard);
+            final String indexUUID = allocation.metaData().index(shard.index()).getUUID();
+            ObjectLongOpenHashMap<DiscoveryNode> nodesState = buildShardStates(nodes, shard, indexUUID);
 
             int numberOfAllocationsFound = 0;
             long highestVersion = -1;
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ public class GatewayAllocator extends AbstractComponent {
         return changed;
     }
 
-    private ObjectLongOpenHashMap<DiscoveryNode> buildShardStates(final DiscoveryNodes nodes, MutableShardRouting shard) {
+    private ObjectLongOpenHashMap<DiscoveryNode> buildShardStates(final DiscoveryNodes nodes, MutableShardRouting shard, String indexUUID) {
         ObjectLongOpenHashMap<DiscoveryNode> shardStates = cachedShardsState.get(shard.shardId());
         ObjectOpenHashSet<String> nodeIds;
         if (shardStates == null) {
@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@ public class GatewayAllocator extends AbstractComponent {
         }
 
         String[] nodesIdsArray = nodeIds.toArray(String.class);
-        TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards.NodesGatewayStartedShards response = listGatewayStartedShards.list(shard.shardId(), nodesIdsArray, listTimeout).actionGet();
+        TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards.NodesGatewayStartedShards response = listGatewayStartedShards.list(shard.shardId(), indexUUID, nodesIdsArray, listTimeout).actionGet();
         logListActionFailures(shard, "state", response.failures());
 
         for (TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards.NodeGatewayStartedShards nodeShardState : response) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards.java
index 26b1de7fb34..96e5748d088 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gateway/TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.action.support.ActionFilters;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.support.nodes.*;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterName;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterService;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNode;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
@@ -41,6 +42,8 @@ import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReferenceArray;
@@ -59,8 +62,8 @@ public class TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards extends TransportNodesOperat
         this.nodeEnv = env;
     }
 
-    public ActionFuture<NodesGatewayStartedShards> list(ShardId shardId, String[] nodesIds, @Nullable TimeValue timeout) {
-        return execute(new Request(shardId, nodesIds).timeout(timeout));
+    public ActionFuture<NodesGatewayStartedShards> list(ShardId shardId, String indexUUID, String[] nodesIds, @Nullable TimeValue timeout) {
+        return execute(new Request(shardId, indexUUID, nodesIds).timeout(timeout));
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -114,13 +117,22 @@ public class TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards extends TransportNodesOperat
     @Override
     protected NodeGatewayStartedShards nodeOperation(NodeRequest request) throws ElasticsearchException {
         try {
-            logger.trace("{} loading local shard state info", request.shardId);
+            final ShardId shardId = request.getShardId();
+            final String indexUUID = request.getIndexUUID();
+            logger.trace("{} loading local shard state info", shardId);
             ShardStateMetaData shardStateMetaData = ShardStateMetaData.load(logger, request.shardId, nodeEnv.shardPaths(request.shardId));
             if (shardStateMetaData != null) {
-                logger.debug("{} shard state info found: [{}]", request.shardId, shardStateMetaData);
-                return new NodeGatewayStartedShards(clusterService.localNode(), shardStateMetaData.version);
+                // old shard metadata doesn't have the actual index UUID so we need to check if the actual uuid in the metadata
+                // is equal to IndexMetaData.INDEX_UUID_NA_VALUE otherwise this shard doesn't belong to the requested index.
+                if (indexUUID.equals(shardStateMetaData.indexUUID) == false
+                        && IndexMetaData.INDEX_UUID_NA_VALUE.equals(shardStateMetaData.indexUUID) == false) {
+                    logger.warn("{} shard state info found but indexUUID didn't match expected [{}] actual [{}]", shardId, indexUUID, shardStateMetaData.indexUUID);
+                } else {
+                    logger.debug("{} shard state info found: [{}]", shardId, shardStateMetaData);
+                    return new NodeGatewayStartedShards(clusterService.localNode(), shardStateMetaData.version);
+                }
             }
-            logger.trace("{} no local shard info found", request.shardId);
+            logger.trace("{} no local shard info found", shardId);
             return new NodeGatewayStartedShards(clusterService.localNode(), -1);
         } catch (Exception e) {
             throw new ElasticsearchException("failed to load started shards", e);
@@ -135,18 +147,15 @@ public class TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards extends TransportNodesOperat
     static class Request extends NodesOperationRequest<Request> {
 
         private ShardId shardId;
+        private String indexUUID;
 
         public Request() {
         }
 
-        public Request(ShardId shardId, Set<String> nodesIds) {
-            super(nodesIds.toArray(new String[nodesIds.size()]));
-            this.shardId = shardId;
-        }
-
-        public Request(ShardId shardId, String... nodesIds) {
+        public Request(ShardId shardId, String indexUUID, String[] nodesIds) {
             super(nodesIds);
             this.shardId = shardId;
+            this.indexUUID = indexUUID;
         }
 
         public ShardId shardId() {
@@ -157,12 +166,18 @@ public class TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards extends TransportNodesOperat
         public void readFrom(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
             super.readFrom(in);
             shardId = ShardId.readShardId(in);
+            indexUUID = in.readString();
         }
 
         @Override
         public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
             super.writeTo(out);
             shardId.writeTo(out);
+            out.writeString(indexUUID);
+        }
+
+        public String getIndexUUID() {
+            return indexUUID;
         }
     }
 
@@ -202,7 +217,8 @@ public class TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards extends TransportNodesOperat
 
     static class NodeRequest extends NodeOperationRequest {
 
-        ShardId shardId;
+        private ShardId shardId;
+        private String indexUUID;
 
         NodeRequest() {
         }
@@ -210,18 +226,29 @@ public class TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards extends TransportNodesOperat
         NodeRequest(String nodeId, TransportNodesListGatewayStartedShards.Request request) {
             super(request, nodeId);
             this.shardId = request.shardId();
+            this.indexUUID = request.getIndexUUID();
         }
 
         @Override
         public void readFrom(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
             super.readFrom(in);
             shardId = ShardId.readShardId(in);
+            indexUUID = in.readString();
         }
 
         @Override
         public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
             super.writeTo(out);
             shardId.writeTo(out);
+            out.writeString(indexUUID);
+        }
+
+        public ShardId getShardId() {
+            return shardId;
+        }
+
+        public String getIndexUUID() {
+            return indexUUID;
         }
     }