diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/support/RestActions.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/support/RestActions.java
index 9446163b425..4c642355742 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/support/RestActions.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/support/RestActions.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.index.query.json.JsonQueryBuilders;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.json.QueryStringJsonQueryBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.RestRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.util.Strings;
+import org.elasticsearch.util.Unicode;
 import org.elasticsearch.util.json.JsonBuilder;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -67,6 +68,10 @@ public class RestActions {
         if (request.hasContent()) {
             return request.contentAsBytes();
         }
+        String source = request.param("source");
+        if (source != null) {
+            return Unicode.fromStringAsBytes(source);
+        }
         String queryString = request.param("q");
         if (queryString == null) {
             throw new ElasticSearchIllegalArgumentException("No query to execute, not in body, and not bounded to 'q' parameter");