diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/script/ScriptService.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/script/ScriptService.java
index 9883d62c987..58014c180fc 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/script/ScriptService.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/script/ScriptService.java
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ public class ScriptService extends AbstractComponent implements Closeable {
 
     public static final String DEFAULT_SCRIPTING_LANGUAGE_SETTING = "script.default_lang";
     public static final Setting<Integer> SCRIPT_CACHE_SIZE_SETTING = Setting.intSetting("script.cache.max_size", 100, 0, false, Setting.Scope.CLUSTER);
-    public static final String SCRIPT_CACHE_EXPIRE_SETTING = "script.cache.expire";
+    public static final Setting<TimeValue> SCRIPT_CACHE_EXPIRE_SETTING = Setting.positiveTimeSetting("script.cache.expire", TimeValue.timeValueMillis(0), false, Setting.Scope.CLUSTER);
     public static final String SCRIPT_INDEX = ".scripts";
     public static final String DEFAULT_LANG = "groovy";
     public static final String SCRIPT_AUTO_RELOAD_ENABLED_SETTING = "script.auto_reload_enabled";
@@ -149,8 +149,6 @@ public class ScriptService extends AbstractComponent implements Closeable {
         this.scriptEngines = scriptEngines;
         this.scriptContextRegistry = scriptContextRegistry;
         int cacheMaxSize = SCRIPT_CACHE_SIZE_SETTING.get(settings);
-        TimeValue cacheExpire = settings.getAsTime(SCRIPT_CACHE_EXPIRE_SETTING, null);
-        logger.debug("using script cache with max_size [{}], expire [{}]", cacheMaxSize, cacheExpire);
 
         this.defaultLang = settings.get(DEFAULT_SCRIPTING_LANGUAGE_SETTING, DEFAULT_LANG);
 
@@ -158,9 +156,13 @@ public class ScriptService extends AbstractComponent implements Closeable {
         if (cacheMaxSize >= 0) {
             cacheBuilder.setMaximumWeight(cacheMaxSize);
         }
-        if (cacheExpire != null) {
+
+        TimeValue cacheExpire = SCRIPT_CACHE_EXPIRE_SETTING.get(settings);
+        if (cacheExpire.getNanos() != 0) {
             cacheBuilder.setExpireAfterAccess(cacheExpire.nanos());
         }
+
+        logger.debug("using script cache with max_size [{}], expire [{}]", cacheMaxSize, cacheExpire);
         this.cache = cacheBuilder.removalListener(new ScriptCacheRemovalListener()).build();
 
         Map<String, ScriptEngineService> enginesByLangBuilder = new HashMap<>();
diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/InternalTestCluster.java b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/InternalTestCluster.java
index fad6f09f17f..ec6499156ae 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/InternalTestCluster.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/InternalTestCluster.java
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@ public final class InternalTestCluster extends TestCluster {
             builder.put(ScriptService.SCRIPT_CACHE_SIZE_SETTING.getKey(), RandomInts.randomIntBetween(random, 0, 2000));
         }
         if (random.nextBoolean()) {
-            builder.put(ScriptService.SCRIPT_CACHE_EXPIRE_SETTING, TimeValue.timeValueMillis(RandomInts.randomIntBetween(random, 750, 10000000)));
+            builder.put(ScriptService.SCRIPT_CACHE_EXPIRE_SETTING.getKey(), TimeValue.timeValueMillis(RandomInts.randomIntBetween(random, 750, 10000000)));
         }
 
         // always default delayed allocation to 0 to make sure we have tests are not delayed