diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
index dcc67662ec7..d89aee833e6 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.NotXContentException;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.Streams;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.BytesStreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.lease.Releasable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.Lucene;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.store.InputStreamIndexInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.metrics.CounterMetric;
@@ -1701,10 +1702,9 @@ public abstract class BlobStoreRepository extends AbstractLifecycleComponent imp
             // in the commit with files already in the repository
             if (filesFromSegmentInfos == null) {
                 indexCommitPointFiles = new ArrayList<>();
-                store.incRef();
                 final Collection<String> fileNames;
                 final Store.MetadataSnapshot metadataFromStore;
-                try {
+                try (Releasable ignored = incrementStoreRef(store, snapshotStatus, shardId)) {
                     // TODO apparently we don't use the MetadataSnapshot#.recoveryDiff(...) here but we should
                     try {
                         logger.trace(
@@ -1714,8 +1714,6 @@ public abstract class BlobStoreRepository extends AbstractLifecycleComponent imp
                     } catch (IOException e) {
                         throw new IndexShardSnapshotFailedException(shardId, "Failed to get store file metadata", e);
                     }
-                } finally {
-                    store.decRef();
                 }
                 for (String fileName : fileNames) {
                     if (snapshotStatus.isAborted()) {
@@ -1840,14 +1838,11 @@ public abstract class BlobStoreRepository extends AbstractLifecycleComponent imp
                 executor.execute(ActionRunnable.run(filesListener, () -> {
                     BlobStoreIndexShardSnapshot.FileInfo snapshotFileInfo = filesToSnapshot.poll(0L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
                     if (snapshotFileInfo != null) {
-                        store.incRef();
-                        try {
+                        try (Releasable ignored = incrementStoreRef(store, snapshotStatus, shardId)) {
                             do {
                                 snapshotFile(snapshotFileInfo, indexId, shardId, snapshotId, snapshotStatus, store);
                                 snapshotFileInfo = filesToSnapshot.poll(0L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
                             } while (snapshotFileInfo != null);
-                        } finally {
-                            store.decRef();
                         }
                     }
                 }));
@@ -1857,6 +1852,18 @@ public abstract class BlobStoreRepository extends AbstractLifecycleComponent imp
         }
     }
 
+    private static Releasable incrementStoreRef(Store store, IndexShardSnapshotStatus snapshotStatus, ShardId shardId) {
+        if (store.tryIncRef() == false) {
+            if (snapshotStatus.isAborted()) {
+                throw new IndexShardSnapshotFailedException(shardId, "Aborted");
+            } else {
+                assert false : "Store should not be closed concurrently unless snapshot is aborted";
+                throw new IndexShardSnapshotFailedException(shardId, "Store got closed concurrently");
+            }
+        }
+        return store::decRef;
+    }
+
     private static boolean assertFileContentsMatchHash(BlobStoreIndexShardSnapshot.FileInfo fileInfo, Store store) {
         try (IndexInput indexInput = store.openVerifyingInput(fileInfo.physicalName(), IOContext.READONCE, fileInfo.metadata())) {
             final byte[] tmp = new byte[Math.toIntExact(fileInfo.metadata().length())];