diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/integration/ldap/AbstractAdLdapRealmTestCase.java b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/integration/ldap/AbstractAdLdapRealmTestCase.java
index ce3b2f1c883..995ce8e7f34 100644
--- a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/integration/ldap/AbstractAdLdapRealmTestCase.java
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/integration/ldap/AbstractAdLdapRealmTestCase.java
@@ -17,10 +17,12 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLoggerFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.MockSecureSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.SecureString;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.set.Sets;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.SecurityIntegTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.SecuritySettingsSource;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.SecurityLifecycleService;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.action.rolemapping.PutRoleMappingRequestBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.action.rolemapping.PutRoleMappingResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.authc.ldap.LdapRealm;
@@ -42,6 +44,7 @@ import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Objects;
+import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.function.Function;
 import java.util.function.Supplier;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
@@ -191,6 +194,13 @@ public abstract class AbstractAdLdapRealmTestCase extends SecurityIntegTestCase
         super.deleteSecurityIndex();
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public Set<String> excludeTemplates() {
+        Set<String> templates = Sets.newHashSet(super.excludeTemplates());
+        templates.add(SecurityLifecycleService.SECURITY_TEMPLATE_NAME); // don't remove the security index template
+        return templates;
+    }
+
     private List<String> getRoleMappingContent(Function<RoleMappingEntry, String> contentFunction) {
         return getRoleMappingContent(contentFunction, AbstractAdLdapRealmTestCase.roleMappings);
     }
diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/NativeRealmIntegTestCase.java b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/NativeRealmIntegTestCase.java
index 96999294ce3..14f8d61c520 100644
--- a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/NativeRealmIntegTestCase.java
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/NativeRealmIntegTestCase.java
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ import org.elasticsearch.client.RestClient;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.network.NetworkModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.SecureString;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.set.Sets;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.SecurityLifecycleService;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.authc.support.UsernamePasswordToken;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.client.SecurityClient;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.user.ElasticUser;
@@ -26,6 +28,7 @@ import org.junit.Before;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Set;
 
 /**
  * Test case with method to handle the starting and stopping the stores for native users and roles
@@ -59,6 +62,13 @@ public abstract class NativeRealmIntegTestCase extends SecurityIntegTestCase {
                 .build();
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public Set<String> excludeTemplates() {
+        Set<String> templates = Sets.newHashSet(super.excludeTemplates());
+        templates.add(SecurityLifecycleService.SECURITY_TEMPLATE_NAME); // don't remove the security index template
+        return templates;
+    }
+
     private SecureString reservedPassword = SecuritySettingsSource.TEST_PASSWORD_SECURE_STRING;
 
     protected SecureString getReservedPassword() {
diff --git a/qa/tribe-tests-with-security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/SecurityTribeTests.java b/qa/tribe-tests-with-security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/SecurityTribeTests.java
index 9339c8ce20e..cdaa94c01bc 100644
--- a/qa/tribe-tests-with-security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/SecurityTribeTests.java
+++ b/qa/tribe-tests-with-security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/SecurityTribeTests.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.SecureString;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.ThreadContext;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.set.Sets;
 import org.elasticsearch.env.Environment;
 import org.elasticsearch.env.NodeEnvironment;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexNotFoundException;
@@ -141,7 +142,7 @@ public class SecurityTribeTests extends NativeRealmIntegTestCase {
     public void tearDownTribeNodeAndWipeCluster() throws Exception {
         if (cluster2 != null) {
             try {
-                cluster2.wipe(Collections.emptySet());
+                cluster2.wipe(Collections.singleton(SecurityLifecycleService.SECURITY_TEMPLATE_NAME));
                 try {
                     // this is a hack to clean up the .security index since only the XPackSecurity user or superusers can delete it
                     final Client cluster2Client = cluster2.client().filterWithHeader(Collections.singletonMap("Authorization",