diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/security/configuration/ConfigurationRepository.java b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/security/configuration/ConfigurationRepository.java
index 98459597de..a77ad02f0b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/security/configuration/ConfigurationRepository.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/security/configuration/ConfigurationRepository.java
@@ -132,6 +132,8 @@ public void run() {
                                     threadContext.putHeader(ConfigConstants.OPENDISTRO_SECURITY_CONF_REQUEST_HEADER, "true");
 
                                     final boolean isSecurityIndexCreated = createSecurityIndexIfAbsent();
+                                    waitForSecurityIndexToBeAtLeastYellow();
+
                                     if (isSecurityIndexCreated) {
                                         ConfigHelper.uploadFile(client, cd+"config.yml", securityIndex, CType.CONFIG, DEFAULT_CONFIG_VERSION);
                                         ConfigHelper.uploadFile(client, cd+"roles.yml", securityIndex, CType.ROLES, DEFAULT_CONFIG_VERSION);
@@ -157,36 +159,10 @@ public void run() {
                                 LOGGER.error("{} does not exist", confFile.getAbsolutePath());
                             }
                         } catch (Exception e) {
-                            LOGGER.debug("Cannot apply default config (this is maybe not an error!) due to {}", e.getMessage());
+                            LOGGER.error("Cannot apply default config (this is maybe not an error!)", e);
                         }
                     }
 
-                    LOGGER.debug("Node started, try to initialize it. Wait for at least yellow cluster state....");
-                    ClusterHealthResponse response = null;
-                    try {
-                        response = client.admin().cluster().health(new ClusterHealthRequest(securityIndex)
-                                .waitForActiveShards(1)
-                                .waitForYellowStatus()).actionGet();
-                    } catch (Exception e1) {
-                        LOGGER.debug("Catched a {} but we just try again ...", e1.toString());
-                    }
-
-                    while(response == null || response.isTimedOut() || response.getStatus() == ClusterHealthStatus.RED) {
-                        LOGGER.debug("index '{}' not healthy yet, we try again ... (Reason: {})", securityIndex, response==null?"no response":(response.isTimedOut()?"timeout":"other, maybe red cluster"));
-                        try {
-                            Thread.sleep(500);
-                        } catch (InterruptedException e1) {
-                            //ignore
-                            Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
-                        }
-                        try {
-                            response = client.admin().cluster().health(new ClusterHealthRequest(securityIndex).waitForYellowStatus()).actionGet();
-                        } catch (Exception e1) {
-                            LOGGER.debug("Catched again a {} but we just try again ...", e1.toString());
-                        }
-                        continue;
-                    }
-
                     while(!dynamicConfigFactory.isInitialized()) {
                         try {
                             LOGGER.debug("Try to load config ...");
@@ -250,6 +226,33 @@ private boolean createSecurityIndexIfAbsent() {
         }
     }
 
+    private void waitForSecurityIndexToBeAtLeastYellow() {
+        LOGGER.info("Node started, try to initialize it. Wait for at least yellow cluster state....");
+        ClusterHealthResponse response = null;
+        try {
+            response = client.admin().cluster().health(new ClusterHealthRequest(securityIndex)
+                    .waitForActiveShards(1)
+                    .waitForYellowStatus()).actionGet();
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            LOGGER.debug("Caught a {} but we just try again ...", e.toString());
+        }
+
+        while(response == null || response.isTimedOut() || response.getStatus() == ClusterHealthStatus.RED) {
+            LOGGER.debug("index '{}' not healthy yet, we try again ... (Reason: {})", securityIndex, response==null?"no response":(response.isTimedOut()?"timeout":"other, maybe red cluster"));
+            try {
+                Thread.sleep(500);
+            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+                //ignore
+                Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+            }
+            try {
+                response = client.admin().cluster().health(new ClusterHealthRequest(securityIndex).waitForYellowStatus()).actionGet();
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                LOGGER.debug("Caught again a {} but we just try again ...", e.toString());
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     public void initOnNodeStart() {
         try {
             if (settings.getAsBoolean(ConfigConstants.OPENDISTRO_SECURITY_ALLOW_DEFAULT_INIT_SECURITYINDEX, false)) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/security/SlowIntegrationTests.java b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/security/SlowIntegrationTests.java
index 7f48c3df7c..5b49f087f0 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/security/SlowIntegrationTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/security/SlowIntegrationTests.java
@@ -30,20 +30,25 @@
 
 package org.opensearch.security;
 
+import org.apache.http.HttpStatus;
 import org.opensearch.action.admin.cluster.health.ClusterHealthRequest;
 import org.opensearch.action.admin.cluster.node.info.NodesInfoRequest;
+import org.opensearch.action.admin.cluster.settings.ClusterUpdateSettingsRequest;
 import org.opensearch.cluster.health.ClusterHealthStatus;
 import org.opensearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.opensearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.opensearch.node.Node;
 import org.opensearch.node.PluginAwareNode;
 import org.opensearch.security.ssl.util.SSLConfigConstants;
 import org.opensearch.security.support.ConfigConstants;
+import org.opensearch.security.test.helper.rest.RestHelper;
 import org.opensearch.security.test.SingleClusterTest;
 import org.opensearch.security.test.helper.cluster.ClusterConfiguration;
 import org.opensearch.security.test.helper.file.FileHelper;
 import org.opensearch.transport.Netty4Plugin;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import java.io.IOException;
 
 public class SlowIntegrationTests extends SingleClusterTest {
 
@@ -157,4 +162,26 @@ public void testNodeClientDisallowedWithNonServerCertificate2() throws Exception
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testDelayInSecurityIndexInitialization() throws Exception {
+        final Settings settings = Settings.builder()
+                .put(ConfigConstants.OPENDISTRO_SECURITY_ALLOW_DEFAULT_INIT_SECURITYINDEX, true)
+                .put("cluster.routing.allocation.exclude._ip", "127.0.0.1")
+                .build();
+        try {
+            setup(Settings.EMPTY, null, settings, false);
+            Assert.fail("Expected IOException here due to red cluster state");
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            // Index request has a default timeout of 1 minute, adding buffer between nodes initialization and cluster health check
+            Thread.sleep(1000*80);
+            // Ideally, we would want to remove this cluster setting, but default settings cannot be removed. So overriding with a reserved IP address
+            clusterHelper.nodeClient().admin().cluster().updateSettings(
+                    new ClusterUpdateSettingsRequest().transientSettings(Settings.builder().put("cluster.routing.allocation.exclude._ip", "192.0.2.0").build()));
+            this.clusterInfo = clusterHelper.waitForCluster(ClusterHealthStatus.GREEN, TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(10),3);
+        }
+        RestHelper rh = nonSslRestHelper();
+        Thread.sleep(10000);
+        Assert.assertEquals(HttpStatus.SC_OK, rh.executeGetRequest("", encodeBasicHeader("admin", "admin")).getStatusCode());
+    }
+
 }