diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/action/ReloadAnalyzersResponse.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/action/ReloadAnalyzersResponse.java
index fd84ba2d8df..378aed90eed 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/action/ReloadAnalyzersResponse.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/action/ReloadAnalyzersResponse.java
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ public class ReloadAnalyzersResponse extends BroadcastResponse  {
         }
 
         void merge(ReloadResult other) {
-            assert this.indexName == other.index;
+            assert this.indexName.equals(other.index);
             this.reloadedAnalyzers.addAll(other.reloadedSearchAnalyzers);
             this.reloadedIndicesNodes.add(other.nodeId);
         }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/rest/action/ReloadSynonymAnalyzerIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/rest/action/ReloadSynonymAnalyzerIT.java
index 89a7dc7d6f8..3d1518a0339 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/rest/action/ReloadSynonymAnalyzerIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/rest/action/ReloadSynonymAnalyzerIT.java
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
  */
 package org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.rest.action;
 
-import org.apache.lucene.util.LuceneTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.analyze.AnalyzeAction.AnalyzeToken;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.analyze.AnalyzeAction.Response;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
@@ -40,7 +39,6 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertAcke
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertHitCount;
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertNoFailures;
 
-@LuceneTestCase.AwaitsFix(bugUrl = "https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/53443")
 public class ReloadSynonymAnalyzerIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
 
     @Override
@@ -48,11 +46,24 @@ public class ReloadSynonymAnalyzerIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
         return Settings.builder().put(super.nodeSettings(nodeOrdinal)).put(XPackSettings.SECURITY_ENABLED.getKey(), false).build();
     }
 
+    @Override
+    protected Settings transportClientSettings() {
+        return Settings.builder().put(XPackSettings.SECURITY_ENABLED.getKey(), false).build();
+    }
+
     @Override
     protected Collection<Class<? extends Plugin>> nodePlugins() {
         return Arrays.asList(LocalStateCompositeXPackPlugin.class, CommonAnalysisPlugin.class);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns a collection of plugins that should be loaded when creating a transport client.
+     */
+    @Override
+    protected Collection<Class<? extends Plugin>> transportClientPlugins() {
+        return Arrays.asList(LocalStateCompositeXPackPlugin.class);
+    }
+
     /**
      * This test needs to write to the config directory, this is difficult in an external cluster so we overwrite this to force running with
      * {@link InternalTestCluster}
@@ -66,10 +77,8 @@ public class ReloadSynonymAnalyzerIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
         Path config = internalCluster().getInstance(Environment.class).configFile();
         String synonymsFileName = "synonyms.txt";
         Path synonymsFile = config.resolve(synonymsFileName);
-        Files.createFile(synonymsFile);
-        assertTrue(Files.exists(synonymsFile));
         try (PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(
-                new OutputStreamWriter(Files.newOutputStream(synonymsFile, StandardOpenOption.CREATE), StandardCharsets.UTF_8))) {
+                new OutputStreamWriter(Files.newOutputStream(synonymsFile), StandardCharsets.UTF_8))) {
             out.println("foo, baz");
         }
         assertAcked(client().admin().indices().prepareCreate("test").setSettings(Settings.builder()