diff --git a/core/src/test/java/kafka/log/remote/RemoteLogManagerTest.java b/core/src/test/java/kafka/log/remote/RemoteLogManagerTest.java
index ee5cf10c05fec..59b8ec2be457f 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/kafka/log/remote/RemoteLogManagerTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/kafka/log/remote/RemoteLogManagerTest.java
@@ -729,7 +729,7 @@ void testRemoteLogManagerTasksAvgIdlePercentAndMetadataCountMetrics() throws Exc
         Partition mockLeaderPartition = mockPartition(leaderTopicIdPartition);
         Partition mockFollowerPartition = mockPartition(followerTopicIdPartition);
         List<RemoteLogSegmentMetadata> list = listRemoteLogSegmentMetadata(leaderTopicIdPartition, segmentCount, 100, 1024, RemoteLogSegmentState.COPY_SEGMENT_FINISHED);
-        // return 3 metadata and then return 0 to simulate all segments are deleted
+        // return the metadataList 3 times, then return empty list to simulate all segments are deleted
         when(remoteLogMetadataManager.listRemoteLogSegments(leaderTopicIdPartition)).thenReturn(list.iterator()).thenReturn(Collections.emptyIterator());
         when(remoteLogMetadataManager.listRemoteLogSegments(leaderTopicIdPartition, 0)).thenReturn(list.iterator()).thenReturn(list.iterator());
         when(remoteLogMetadataManager.listRemoteLogSegments(leaderTopicIdPartition, 1)).thenReturn(list.iterator());
@@ -841,12 +841,11 @@ void testRemoteLogTaskUpdateRemoteLogSegmentMetadataAfterLogDirChanged() throws
         }).when(remoteStorageManager).copyLogSegmentData(any(RemoteLogSegmentMetadata.class), any(LogSegmentData.class));
 
         Partition mockLeaderPartition = mockPartition(leaderTopicIdPartition);
-        List<RemoteLogSegmentMetadata> list = listRemoteLogSegmentMetadata(leaderTopicIdPartition, segmentCount, 100, 1024, RemoteLogSegmentState.COPY_SEGMENT_FINISHED);
-        // return 3 metadata and then return 0 to simulate all segments are deleted
-        when(remoteLogMetadataManager.listRemoteLogSegments(leaderTopicIdPartition)).thenReturn(list.iterator());
-        when(remoteLogMetadataManager.listRemoteLogSegments(leaderTopicIdPartition, 0)).thenReturn(list.iterator()).thenReturn(list.iterator());
-        when(remoteLogMetadataManager.listRemoteLogSegments(leaderTopicIdPartition, 1)).thenReturn(list.iterator());
-        when(remoteLogMetadataManager.listRemoteLogSegments(leaderTopicIdPartition, 2)).thenReturn(list.iterator());
+        List<RemoteLogSegmentMetadata> metadataList = listRemoteLogSegmentMetadata(leaderTopicIdPartition, segmentCount, 100, 1024, RemoteLogSegmentState.COPY_SEGMENT_FINISHED);
+        when(remoteLogMetadataManager.listRemoteLogSegments(leaderTopicIdPartition)).thenReturn(metadataList.iterator());
+        when(remoteLogMetadataManager.listRemoteLogSegments(leaderTopicIdPartition, 0)).thenReturn(metadataList.iterator()).thenReturn(metadataList.iterator());
+        when(remoteLogMetadataManager.listRemoteLogSegments(leaderTopicIdPartition, 1)).thenReturn(metadataList.iterator());
+        when(remoteLogMetadataManager.listRemoteLogSegments(leaderTopicIdPartition, 2)).thenReturn(metadataList.iterator());
 
         // leadership change to log in dir1
         remoteLogManager.onLeadershipChange(Collections.singleton(mockLeaderPartition), Collections.emptySet(), topicIds);