diff --git a/qa/smoke-test-http/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/http/ErrorTraceIT.java b/qa/smoke-test-http/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/http/SearchErrorTraceIT.java
similarity index 75%
rename from qa/smoke-test-http/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/http/ErrorTraceIT.java
rename to qa/smoke-test-http/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/http/SearchErrorTraceIT.java
index 64efa77fffa37..6f9ab8ccdfdec 100644
--- a/qa/smoke-test-http/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/http/ErrorTraceIT.java
+++ b/qa/smoke-test-http/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/http/SearchErrorTraceIT.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportMessageListener;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService;
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentType;
+import org.junit.Before;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
@@ -27,9 +28,10 @@
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders.simpleQueryStringQuery;
 
-public class ErrorTraceIT extends HttpSmokeTestCase {
+public class SearchErrorTraceIT extends HttpSmokeTestCase {
     private AtomicBoolean hasStackTrace;
 
+    @Before
     private void setupMessageListener() {
         internalCluster().getDataNodeInstances(TransportService.class).forEach(ts -> {
             ts.addMessageListener(new TransportMessageListener() {
@@ -60,7 +62,6 @@ private void setupIndexWithDocs() {
 
     public void testSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceDefault() throws IOException {
         hasStackTrace = new AtomicBoolean();
-        setupMessageListener();
         setupIndexWithDocs();
 
         Request searchRequest = new Request("POST", "/_search");
@@ -80,7 +81,6 @@ public void testSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceDefault() throws IOException {
 
     public void testSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceTrue() throws IOException {
         hasStackTrace = new AtomicBoolean();
-        setupMessageListener();
         setupIndexWithDocs();
 
         Request searchRequest = new Request("POST", "/_search");
@@ -101,7 +101,6 @@ public void testSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceTrue() throws IOException {
 
     public void testSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceFalse() throws IOException {
         hasStackTrace = new AtomicBoolean();
-        setupMessageListener();
         setupIndexWithDocs();
 
         Request searchRequest = new Request("POST", "/_search");
@@ -122,7 +121,6 @@ public void testSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceFalse() throws IOException {
 
     public void testMultiSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceDefault() throws IOException {
         hasStackTrace = new AtomicBoolean();
-        setupMessageListener();
         setupIndexWithDocs();
 
         XContentType contentType = XContentType.JSON;
@@ -140,7 +138,6 @@ public void testMultiSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceDefault() throws IOException {
 
     public void testMultiSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceTrue() throws IOException {
         hasStackTrace = new AtomicBoolean();
-        setupMessageListener();
         setupIndexWithDocs();
 
         XContentType contentType = XContentType.JSON;
@@ -159,7 +156,6 @@ public void testMultiSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceTrue() throws IOException {
 
     public void testMultiSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceFalse() throws IOException {
         hasStackTrace = new AtomicBoolean();
-        setupMessageListener();
         setupIndexWithDocs();
 
         XContentType contentType = XContentType.JSON;
@@ -176,66 +172,4 @@ public void testMultiSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceFalse() throws IOException {
 
         assertFalse(hasStackTrace.get());
     }
-
-    public void testAsyncSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceDefault() throws IOException {
-        hasStackTrace = new AtomicBoolean();
-        setupMessageListener();
-        setupIndexWithDocs();
-
-        Request searchRequest = new Request("POST", "/_async_search");
-        searchRequest.setJsonEntity("""
-            {
-                "query": {
-                    "simple_query_string" : {
-                        "query": "foo",
-                        "fields": ["field"]
-                    }
-                }
-            }
-            """);
-        getRestClient().performRequest(searchRequest);
-        assertFalse(hasStackTrace.get());
-    }
-
-    public void testAsyncSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceTrue() throws IOException {
-        hasStackTrace = new AtomicBoolean();
-        setupMessageListener();
-        setupIndexWithDocs();
-
-        Request searchRequest = new Request("POST", "/_async_search");
-        searchRequest.setJsonEntity("""
-            {
-                "query": {
-                    "simple_query_string" : {
-                        "query": "foo",
-                        "fields": ["field"]
-                    }
-                }
-            }
-            """);
-        searchRequest.addParameter("error_trace", "true");
-        getRestClient().performRequest(searchRequest);
-        assertTrue(hasStackTrace.get());
-    }
-
-    public void testAsyncSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceFalse() throws IOException {
-        hasStackTrace = new AtomicBoolean();
-        setupMessageListener();
-        setupIndexWithDocs();
-
-        Request searchRequest = new Request("POST", "/_async_search");
-        searchRequest.setJsonEntity("""
-            {
-                "query": {
-                    "simple_query_string" : {
-                        "query": "foo",
-                        "fields": ["field"]
-                    }
-                }
-            }
-            """);
-        searchRequest.addParameter("error_trace", "false");
-        getRestClient().performRequest(searchRequest);
-        assertFalse(hasStackTrace.get());
-    }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java
index 88a13f8a164d3..d040ed558ce5f 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/SearchService.java
@@ -270,6 +270,7 @@ public class SearchService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent implements IndexEv
 
     public static final int DEFAULT_SIZE = 10;
     public static final int DEFAULT_FROM = 0;
+    private static final StackTraceElement[] EMPTY_STACK_TRACE_ARRAY = new StackTraceElement[0];
 
     private final ThreadPool threadPool;
 
@@ -509,10 +510,8 @@ private <T> ActionListener<T> maybeWrapListenerForStackTrace(ActionListener<T> l
         String header = threadPool.getThreadContext().getHeaderOrDefault("error_trace", "true");
         if (header.equals("false")) {
             return listener.delegateResponse((l, e) -> {
-                // e.setStackTrace(new StackTraceElement[0]);
-                // e.getCause().setStackTrace(new StackTraceElement[0]);
                 ExceptionsHelper.unwrapCausesAndSuppressed(e, err -> {
-                    err.setStackTrace(new StackTraceElement[0]); // use constant
+                    err.setStackTrace(EMPTY_STACK_TRACE_ARRAY);
                     return false;
                 });
                 l.onFailure(e);
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/async-search/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/search/AsyncSearchErrorTraceIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/async-search/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/search/AsyncSearchErrorTraceIT.java
index 39c9eb8d42d6a..06fc7de8ecc2c 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/async-search/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/search/AsyncSearchErrorTraceIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/async-search/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/search/AsyncSearchErrorTraceIT.java
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESIntegTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportMessageListener;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService;
+import org.junit.Before;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Collection;
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@ protected Collection<Class<? extends Plugin>> nodePlugins() {
 
     private AtomicBoolean hasStackTrace;
 
+    @Before
     private void setupMessageListener() {
         internalCluster().getDataNodeInstances(TransportService.class).forEach(ts -> {
             ts.addMessageListener(new TransportMessageListener() {
@@ -64,7 +66,6 @@ private void setupIndexWithDocs() {
 
     public void testAsyncSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceDefault() throws IOException {
         hasStackTrace = new AtomicBoolean();
-        setupMessageListener();
         setupIndexWithDocs();
 
         Request searchRequest = new Request("POST", "/_async_search");
@@ -84,7 +85,6 @@ public void testAsyncSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceDefault() throws IOException {
 
     public void testAsyncSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceTrue() throws IOException {
         hasStackTrace = new AtomicBoolean();
-        setupMessageListener();
         setupIndexWithDocs();
 
         Request searchRequest = new Request("POST", "/_async_search");
@@ -105,7 +105,6 @@ public void testAsyncSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceTrue() throws IOException {
 
     public void testAsyncSearchFailingQueryErrorTraceFalse() throws IOException {
         hasStackTrace = new AtomicBoolean();
-        setupMessageListener();
         setupIndexWithDocs();
 
         Request searchRequest = new Request("POST", "/_async_search");