diff --git a/buildSrc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/GradleThreadsFilter.java b/buildSrc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/GradleThreadsFilter.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..179cce23bce75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/buildSrc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/GradleThreadsFilter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.elasticsearch.gradle.test;
+
+import com.carrotsearch.randomizedtesting.ThreadFilter;
+
+/**
+ * Filter out threads controlled by gradle that may be created during unit tests.
+ *
+ * Currently this is only the pooled threads for Exec.
+ */
+public class GradleThreadsFilter implements ThreadFilter {
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean reject(Thread t) {
+        return t.getName().startsWith("Exec process");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/GradleUnitTestCase.java b/buildSrc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/GradleUnitTestCase.java
index b24624c7854b8..58852230bb7e6 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/GradleUnitTestCase.java
+++ b/buildSrc/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/GradleUnitTestCase.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import com.carrotsearch.randomizedtesting.JUnit4MethodProvider;
 import com.carrotsearch.randomizedtesting.RandomizedRunner;
 import com.carrotsearch.randomizedtesting.annotations.TestMethodProviders;
+import com.carrotsearch.randomizedtesting.annotations.ThreadLeakFilters;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
 
 @RunWith(RandomizedRunner.class)
@@ -10,5 +11,8 @@
     JUnit4MethodProvider.class,
     JUnit3MethodProvider.class
 })
+@ThreadLeakFilters(defaultFilters = true, filters = {
+    GradleThreadsFilter.class
+})
 public abstract class GradleUnitTestCase extends BaseTestCase  {
 }