diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicy.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicy.java
index 2a0d89cb1e2a2..f1940c70447f8 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicy.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicy.java
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ public final class CombinedDeletionPolicy extends IndexDeletionPolicy {
     private final LongSupplier globalCheckpointSupplier;
     private final IndexCommit startingCommit;
     private final ObjectIntHashMap<IndexCommit> snapshottedCommits; // Number of snapshots held against each commit point.
+    private volatile int pendingSnapshots;
     private volatile IndexCommit safeCommit; // the most recent safe commit point - its max_seqno at most the persisted global checkpoint.
     private volatile IndexCommit lastCommit; // the most recent commit point
 
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@ public final class CombinedDeletionPolicy extends IndexDeletionPolicy {
         this.globalCheckpointSupplier = globalCheckpointSupplier;
         this.startingCommit = startingCommit;
         this.snapshottedCommits = new ObjectIntHashMap<>();
+        this.pendingSnapshots = 0;
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -163,6 +165,7 @@ synchronized IndexCommit acquireIndexCommit(boolean acquiringSafeCommit) {
         assert lastCommit != null : "Last commit is not initialized yet";
         final IndexCommit snapshotting = acquiringSafeCommit ? safeCommit : lastCommit;
         snapshottedCommits.addTo(snapshotting, 1); // increase refCount
+        pendingSnapshots++;
         return new SnapshotIndexCommit(snapshotting);
     }
 
@@ -178,6 +181,7 @@ synchronized void releaseCommit(final IndexCommit snapshotCommit) {
         if (refCount == 0) {
             snapshottedCommits.remove(releasingCommit);
         }
+        pendingSnapshots--;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -235,7 +239,7 @@ private static int indexOfKeptCommits(List<? extends IndexCommit> commits, long
      */
     boolean hasUnreferencedCommits() throws IOException {
         final IndexCommit lastCommit = this.lastCommit;
-        if (safeCommit != lastCommit) { // Race condition can happen but harmless
+        if (safeCommit != lastCommit && pendingSnapshots == 0) { // Race condition can happen but harmless
             if (lastCommit.getUserData().containsKey(SequenceNumbers.MAX_SEQ_NO)) {
                 final long maxSeqNoFromLastCommit = Long.parseLong(lastCommit.getUserData().get(SequenceNumbers.MAX_SEQ_NO));
                 // We can clean up the current safe commit if the last commit is safe
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicyTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicyTests.java
index f663504da9fa7..1aa81a0765162 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicyTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicyTests.java
@@ -277,6 +277,9 @@ public void testCheckUnreferencedCommits() throws Exception {
             assertThat(indexPolicy.hasUnreferencedCommits(), equalTo(false));
             // Advanced enough
             globalCheckpoint.set(randomLongBetween(lastMaxSeqNo, Long.MAX_VALUE));
+            final IndexCommit snapshot = indexPolicy.acquireIndexCommit(randomBoolean());
+            assertThat(indexPolicy.hasUnreferencedCommits(), equalTo(false)); // Having snapshot -> false.
+            indexPolicy.releaseCommit(snapshot);
             assertThat(indexPolicy.hasUnreferencedCommits(), equalTo(true));
             commitList.forEach(this::resetDeletion);
             indexPolicy.onCommit(commitList);