diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/TcpTransport.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/TcpTransport.java
index 0617ecd64bb..0feca563c8d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/TcpTransport.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/TcpTransport.java
@@ -570,6 +570,8 @@ public abstract class TcpTransport<Channel> extends AbstractLifecycleComponent i
                 }
             } catch (IOException e) {
                 logger.warn("failed to close channel", e);
+            } finally {
+                onChannelClosed(channel);
             }
         });
     }
@@ -1527,6 +1529,13 @@ public abstract class TcpTransport<Channel> extends AbstractLifecycleComponent i
         pendingHandshakes.put(requestId, handler);
         boolean success = false;
         try {
+            if (isOpen(channel) == false) {
+                // we have to protect ourself here since sendRequestToChannel won't barf if the channel is closed.
+                // it's weird but to change it will cause a lot of impact on the exception handling code all over the codebase.
+                // yet, if we don't check the state here we might have registered a pending handshake handler but the close
+                // listener calling #onChannelClosed might have already run and we are waiting on the latch below unitl we time out.
+                throw new IllegalStateException("handshake failed, channel already closed");
+            }
             // for the request we use the minCompatVersion since we don't know what's the version of the node we talk to
             // we also have no payload on the request but the response will contain the actual version of the node we talk
             // to as the payload.
@@ -1575,7 +1584,7 @@ public abstract class TcpTransport<Channel> extends AbstractLifecycleComponent i
     }
 
     /**
-     * Called by sub-classes for each channel that is closed
+     * Called once the channel is closed for instance due to a disconnect or a closed socket etc.
      */
     protected final void onChannelClosed(Channel channel) {
         Optional<Map.Entry<Long, HandshakeResponseHandler>> first = pendingHandshakes.entrySet().stream()
diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/AbstractSimpleTransportTestCase.java b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/AbstractSimpleTransportTestCase.java
index 1d19e538807..b13bde5d134 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/AbstractSimpleTransportTestCase.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/AbstractSimpleTransportTestCase.java
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.AbstractRunnable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.ConcurrentCollections;
 import org.elasticsearch.node.Node;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
-import org.elasticsearch.test.junit.annotations.TestLogging;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.transport.MockTransportService;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.TestThreadPool;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
@@ -51,6 +50,7 @@ import java.net.InetAddress;
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import java.net.ServerSocket;
 import java.net.Socket;
+import java.nio.channels.ClosedChannelException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -67,11 +67,13 @@ import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 
 import static java.util.Collections.emptyMap;
 import static java.util.Collections.emptySet;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.anyOf;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.empty;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.endsWith;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.instanceOf;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.notNullValue;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.startsWith;
 
 public abstract class AbstractSimpleTransportTestCase extends ESTestCase {
 
@@ -828,15 +830,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractSimpleTransportTestCase extends ESTestCase {
         assertTrue(inFlight.tryAcquire(Integer.MAX_VALUE, 10, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
     }
 
-    @TestLogging(value = "org.elasticsearch.test.transport.tracer:TRACE")
     public void testTracerLog() throws InterruptedException {
-        TransportRequestHandler handler = new TransportRequestHandler<StringMessageRequest>() {
-            @Override
-            public void messageReceived(StringMessageRequest request, TransportChannel channel) throws Exception {
-                channel.sendResponse(new StringMessageResponse(""));
-            }
-        };
-
+        TransportRequestHandler handler = (request, channel) -> channel.sendResponse(new StringMessageResponse(""));
         TransportRequestHandler handlerWithError = new TransportRequestHandler<StringMessageRequest>() {
             @Override
             public void messageReceived(StringMessageRequest request, TransportChannel channel) throws Exception {
@@ -1860,9 +1855,10 @@ public abstract class AbstractSimpleTransportTestCase extends ESTestCase {
             Thread t = new Thread() {
                 @Override
                 public void run() {
-                    try {
-                        Socket accept = socket.accept();
-                        accept.close();
+                    try (Socket accept = socket.accept()) {
+                        if (randomBoolean()) { // sometimes wait until the other side sends the message
+                            accept.getInputStream().read();
+                        }
                     } catch (IOException e) {
                         throw new UncheckedIOException(e);
                     }
@@ -1879,8 +1875,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractSimpleTransportTestCase extends ESTestCase {
             builder.setHandshakeTimeout(TimeValue.timeValueHours(1));
             ConnectTransportException ex = expectThrows(ConnectTransportException.class,
                 () -> serviceA.connectToNode(dummy, builder.build()));
-            assertEquals("[][" + dummy.getAddress() +"] general node connection failure", ex.getMessage());
-            assertEquals("handshake failed", ex.getCause().getMessage());
+            assertEquals(ex.getMessage(), "[][" + dummy.getAddress() +"] general node connection failure");
+            assertThat(ex.getCause().getMessage(), startsWith("handshake failed"));
             t.join();
         }
     }