diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/transforms/TransformFailureHandler.java b/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/transforms/TransformFailureHandler.java
index cbe309f94aadb..ee00e8fc37b3c 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/transforms/TransformFailureHandler.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/transforms/TransformFailureHandler.java
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ private void handleBulkIndexingException(BulkIndexingException bulkIndexingExcep
      * @param numFailureRetries the number of configured retries
      */
     private void handleElasticsearchException(ElasticsearchException elasticsearchException, boolean unattended, int numFailureRetries) {
-        if (unattended == false && ExceptionRootCauseFinder.IRRECOVERABLE_REST_STATUSES.contains(elasticsearchException.status())) {
+        if (unattended == false && ExceptionRootCauseFinder.isExceptionIrrecoverable(elasticsearchException)) {
             String message = "task encountered irrecoverable failure: " + elasticsearchException.getDetailedMessage();
             fail(message);
         } else {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/utils/ExceptionRootCauseFinder.java b/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/utils/ExceptionRootCauseFinder.java
index 4a0d1680b658a..40144bd59b127 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/utils/ExceptionRootCauseFinder.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/utils/ExceptionRootCauseFinder.java
@@ -10,10 +10,9 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchException;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkItemResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.RestStatus;
+import org.elasticsearch.tasks.TaskCancelledException;
 
-import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collection;
-import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
 
 /**
@@ -24,17 +23,15 @@ public final class ExceptionRootCauseFinder {
     /**
      * List of rest statuses that we consider irrecoverable
      */
-    public static final Set<RestStatus> IRRECOVERABLE_REST_STATUSES = new HashSet<>(
-        Arrays.asList(
-            RestStatus.GONE,
-            RestStatus.NOT_IMPLEMENTED,
-            RestStatus.NOT_FOUND,
-            RestStatus.BAD_REQUEST,
-            RestStatus.UNAUTHORIZED,
-            RestStatus.FORBIDDEN,
-            RestStatus.METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED,
-            RestStatus.NOT_ACCEPTABLE
-        )
+    static final Set<RestStatus> IRRECOVERABLE_REST_STATUSES = Set.of(
+        RestStatus.GONE,
+        RestStatus.NOT_IMPLEMENTED,
+        RestStatus.NOT_FOUND,
+        RestStatus.BAD_REQUEST,
+        RestStatus.UNAUTHORIZED,
+        RestStatus.FORBIDDEN,
+        RestStatus.METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED,
+        RestStatus.NOT_ACCEPTABLE
     );
 
     /**
@@ -65,7 +62,7 @@ public static Throwable getFirstIrrecoverableExceptionFromBulkResponses(Collecti
             }
 
             if (unwrappedThrowable instanceof ElasticsearchException elasticsearchException) {
-                if (IRRECOVERABLE_REST_STATUSES.contains(elasticsearchException.status())) {
+                if (isExceptionIrrecoverable(elasticsearchException)) {
                     return elasticsearchException;
                 }
             }
@@ -74,6 +71,21 @@ public static Throwable getFirstIrrecoverableExceptionFromBulkResponses(Collecti
         return null;
     }
 
-    private ExceptionRootCauseFinder() {}
+    public static boolean isExceptionIrrecoverable(ElasticsearchException elasticsearchException) {
+        if (IRRECOVERABLE_REST_STATUSES.contains(elasticsearchException.status())) {
+
+            // Even if the status indicates the exception is irrecoverable, some exceptions
+            // with these status are worth retrying on.
 
+            // A TaskCancelledException occurs if a sub-action of a search encounters a circuit
+            // breaker exception. In this case the overall search task is cancelled.
+            if (elasticsearchException instanceof TaskCancelledException) {
+                return false;
+            }
+            return true;
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    private ExceptionRootCauseFinder() {}
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/utils/ExceptionRootCauseFinderTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/utils/ExceptionRootCauseFinderTests.java
index fa494d8ba9513..ca19e9157e9e0 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/utils/ExceptionRootCauseFinderTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/transform/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/transform/utils/ExceptionRootCauseFinderTests.java
@@ -11,11 +11,17 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.ResourceNotFoundException;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.DocWriteRequest.OpType;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkItemResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.breaker.CircuitBreaker;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.breaker.CircuitBreakingException;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.EsRejectedExecutionException;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.Index;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.DocumentParsingException;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.MapperException;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.ShardId;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.translog.TranslogException;
+import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndexClosedException;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.RestStatus;
+import org.elasticsearch.tasks.TaskCancelledException;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentLocation;
 
@@ -149,6 +155,20 @@ public void testGetFirstIrrecoverableExceptionFromBulkResponses() {
         assertNull(ExceptionRootCauseFinder.getFirstIrrecoverableExceptionFromBulkResponses(bulkItemResponses.values()));
     }
 
+    public void testIsIrrecoverable() {
+        assertFalse(ExceptionRootCauseFinder.isExceptionIrrecoverable(new MapperException("mappings problem")));
+        assertFalse(ExceptionRootCauseFinder.isExceptionIrrecoverable(new TaskCancelledException("cancelled task")));
+        assertFalse(
+            ExceptionRootCauseFinder.isExceptionIrrecoverable(
+                new CircuitBreakingException("circuit broken", CircuitBreaker.Durability.TRANSIENT)
+            )
+        );
+        assertTrue(ExceptionRootCauseFinder.isExceptionIrrecoverable(new IndexClosedException(new Index("index", "1234"))));
+        assertTrue(
+            ExceptionRootCauseFinder.isExceptionIrrecoverable(new DocumentParsingException(new XContentLocation(1, 2), "parse error"))
+        );
+    }
+
     private static void assertFirstException(Collection<BulkItemResponse> bulkItemResponses, Class<?> expectedClass, String message) {
         Throwable t = ExceptionRootCauseFinder.getFirstIrrecoverableExceptionFromBulkResponses(bulkItemResponses);
         assertNotNull(t);