diff --git a/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/Netty4Plugin.java b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/Netty4Plugin.java
index 08f87a2779e..32170a7d499 100644
--- a/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/Netty4Plugin.java
+++ b/modules/transport-netty4/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/transport/Netty4Plugin.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.plugins.NetworkPlugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.Plugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.netty4.Netty4Transport;
+import org.elasticsearch.transport.netty4.Netty4Utils;
 
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
@@ -41,6 +42,10 @@ import java.util.function.Supplier;
 
 public class Netty4Plugin extends Plugin implements NetworkPlugin {
 
+    static {
+        Netty4Utils.setup();
+    }
+
     public static final String NETTY_TRANSPORT_NAME = "netty4";
     public static final String NETTY_HTTP_TRANSPORT_NAME = "netty4";