diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index 33446ed23e0..b2c00b14911 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -83,7 +83,8 @@ New Features
 
 Improvements
 ---------------------
-(No changes)
+* SOLR-17119: When registering or updating a ConfigurablePlugin through the `/cluster/plugin` API,
+  config validation exceptions are now propagated to the callers. (Yohann Callea)
 
 Optimizations
 ---------------------
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/admin/ContainerPluginsApi.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/admin/ContainerPluginsApi.java
index 910964783f9..0de5abc86a5 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/admin/ContainerPluginsApi.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/admin/ContainerPluginsApi.java
@@ -17,15 +17,12 @@
 
 package org.apache.solr.handler.admin;
 
-import static org.apache.lucene.util.IOUtils.closeWhileHandlingException;
-
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Objects;
-import org.apache.solr.api.AnnotatedApi;
 import org.apache.solr.api.ClusterPluginsSource;
 import org.apache.solr.api.Command;
 import org.apache.solr.api.ContainerPluginsRegistry;
@@ -130,28 +127,24 @@ public void update(PayloadObj<PluginMeta> payload) throws IOException {
   }
 
   private void validateConfig(PayloadObj<PluginMeta> payload, PluginMeta info) throws IOException {
-    if (info.klass.indexOf(':') > 0) {
-      if (info.version == null) {
-        payload.addError("Using package. must provide a packageVersion");
-        return;
-      }
-    }
-    List<String> errs = new ArrayList<>();
-    ContainerPluginsRegistry.ApiInfo apiInfo =
-        coreContainer.getContainerPluginsRegistry().createInfo(payload.getDataMap(), errs);
-    if (!errs.isEmpty()) {
-      for (String err : errs) payload.addError(err);
+    if (info.klass.indexOf(':') > 0 && info.version == null) {
+      payload.addError("Using package. must provide a packageVersion");
       return;
     }
-    AnnotatedApi api = null;
-    try {
-      apiInfo.init();
-    } catch (Exception e) {
-      log.error("Error instantiating plugin ", e);
-      errs.add(e.getMessage());
-      return;
-    } finally {
-      closeWhileHandlingException(api);
+
+    final List<String> errs = new ArrayList<>();
+    final ContainerPluginsRegistry.ApiInfo apiInfo =
+        coreContainer.getContainerPluginsRegistry().createInfo(payload.getDataMap(), errs);
+
+    if (errs.isEmpty()) {
+      try {
+        apiInfo.init();
+      } catch (Exception e) {
+        log.error("Error instantiating plugin ", e);
+        errs.add(e.getMessage());
+      }
     }
+
+    errs.forEach(payload::addError);
   }
 }
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/handler/TestContainerPlugin.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/handler/TestContainerPlugin.java
index fab149129f2..b311886c5fd 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/handler/TestContainerPlugin.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/handler/TestContainerPlugin.java
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.response.V2Response;
 import org.apache.solr.cloud.ClusterSingleton;
 import org.apache.solr.cloud.SolrCloudTestCase;
+import org.apache.solr.common.SolrException;
 import org.apache.solr.common.annotation.JsonProperty;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.ReflectMapWriter;
 import org.apache.solr.core.CoreContainer;
@@ -377,6 +378,37 @@ public void testApiFromPackage() throws Exception {
     assertEquals(1452, C5.classData.limit());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testPluginConfigValidation() throws Exception {
+    final Callable<V2Response> readPluginState = getPlugin("/cluster/plugin");
+
+    // Register a plugin with an invalid configuration
+    final ValidatableConfig config = new ValidatableConfig();
+    config.willPassValidation = false;
+
+    final PluginMeta plugin = new PluginMeta();
+    plugin.name = "validatableplugin";
+    plugin.klass = ConfigurablePluginWithValidation.class.getName();
+    plugin.config = config;
+
+    final V2Request addPlugin = postPlugin(singletonMap("add", plugin));
+
+    // Verify that the expected error is thrown and the plugin is not registered
+    expectError(addPlugin, "invalid config");
+    V2Response response = readPluginState.call();
+    assertNull(response._getStr("/plugin/validatableplugin/class", null));
+
+    // Now register it with a valid configuration
+    config.willPassValidation = true;
+    addPlugin.process(cluster.getSolrClient());
+
+    // Verify that the plugin is properly registered
+    response = readPluginState.call();
+    assertEquals(
+        ConfigurablePluginWithValidation.class.getName(),
+        response._getStr("/plugin/validatableplugin/class", null));
+  }
+
   public static class CC1 extends CC {}
 
   public static class CC2 extends CC1 {}
@@ -509,6 +541,20 @@ public void m2(SolrQueryRequest req, SolrQueryResponse rsp) {
     }
   }
 
+  public static class ConfigurablePluginWithValidation
+      implements ConfigurablePlugin<ValidatableConfig> {
+    @Override
+    public void configure(ValidatableConfig cfg) {
+      if (!cfg.willPassValidation) {
+        throw new SolrException(SolrException.ErrorCode.BAD_REQUEST, "invalid config");
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static class ValidatableConfig implements ReflectMapWriter {
+    @JsonProperty public boolean willPassValidation;
+  }
+
   private Callable<V2Response> getPlugin(String path) {
     V2Request req = new V2Request.Builder(path).forceV2(forceV2).GET().build();
     return () -> {