diff --git a/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/nodes.stats/11_indices_metrics.yml b/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/nodes.stats/11_indices_metrics.yml
index 146f0e5c62bc9..b119a1a1d94f3 100644
--- a/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/nodes.stats/11_indices_metrics.yml
+++ b/rest-api-spec/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/nodes.stats/11_indices_metrics.yml
@@ -413,7 +413,7 @@
   - match: { nodes.$node_id.indices.mappings.total_estimated_overhead_in_bytes: 0 }
 
 ---
-"indices mappings count test for indices level":
+"indices mappings exact count test for indices level":
 
   - skip:
       features: [arbitrary_key]
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@
   - do:
       nodes.stats: { metric: _all, level: "indices", human: true }
 
-  # In the below assertions, we expect a field count of at least 26 because the above mapping expects the following:
+  # In the below assertions, we expect a field count of 26 because the above mapping expects the following:
   # Field mappers (incl. alias fields and object mappers' flattened leaves):
   # 1.  _data_stream_timestamp
   # 2.  _doc_count
@@ -498,17 +498,13 @@
   # 25. authors.name
   # Runtime field mappers:
   # 26. a_source_field
-  #
-  # Plugins (which may or may not be loaded depending on the context in which this test is executed) may add additional
-  # field mappers:
-  # 27. _semantic_text_inference (from ML plugin)
 
   - gte: { nodes.$node_id.indices.mappings.total_count: 26 }
   - is_true: nodes.$node_id.indices.mappings.total_estimated_overhead
   - gte: { nodes.$node_id.indices.mappings.total_estimated_overhead_in_bytes: 26624 }
-  - gte: { nodes.$node_id.indices.indices.index1.mappings.total_count: 26 }
+  - match: { nodes.$node_id.indices.indices.index1.mappings.total_count: 26 }
   - is_true: nodes.$node_id.indices.indices.index1.mappings.total_estimated_overhead
-  - gte: { nodes.$node_id.indices.indices.index1.mappings.total_estimated_overhead_in_bytes: 26624 }
+  - match: { nodes.$node_id.indices.indices.index1.mappings.total_estimated_overhead_in_bytes: 26624 }
 
 ---
 "indices mappings does not exist in shards level":
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java
index 3a852f20a761e..529814e83ba38 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java
@@ -540,7 +540,7 @@ public Iterator<Setting<?>> settings() {
 
     public static final String KEY_SHARD_SIZE_FORECAST = "shard_size_forecast";
 
-    public static final String KEY_FIELD_INFERENCE = "field_inference";
+    public static final String KEY_INFERENCE_FIELDS = "field_inference";
 
     public static final String INDEX_STATE_FILE_PREFIX = "state-";
 
@@ -2437,7 +2437,7 @@ public static void toXContent(IndexMetadata indexMetadata, XContentBuilder build
             }
 
             if (indexMetadata.getInferenceFields().isEmpty() == false) {
-                builder.startObject(KEY_FIELD_INFERENCE);
+                builder.startObject(KEY_INFERENCE_FIELDS);
                 for (InferenceFieldMetadata field : indexMetadata.getInferenceFields().values()) {
                     field.toXContent(builder, params);
                 }
@@ -2521,7 +2521,7 @@ public static IndexMetadata fromXContent(XContentParser parser, Map<String, Mapp
                         case KEY_STATS:
                             builder.stats(IndexMetadataStats.fromXContent(parser));
                             break;
-                        case KEY_FIELD_INFERENCE:
+                        case KEY_INFERENCE_FIELDS:
                             while (parser.nextToken() != XContentParser.Token.END_OBJECT) {
                                 builder.putInferenceField(InferenceFieldMetadata.fromXContent(parser));
                             }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/InferenceFieldMetadata.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/InferenceFieldMetadata.java
index 0cd3f05f250a3..23608f075f0b5 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/InferenceFieldMetadata.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/InferenceFieldMetadata.java
@@ -22,6 +22,13 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Objects;
 
+/**
+ * Contains inference field data for fields.
+ * As inference is done in the coordinator node to avoid re-doing it at shard / replica level, the coordinator needs to check for the need
+ * to perform inference for specific fields in an index.
+ * Given that the coordinator node does not necessarily have mapping information for all indices (only for those that have shards
+ * in the node), the field inference information must be stored in the IndexMetadata and broadcasted to all nodes.
+ */
 public final class InferenceFieldMetadata implements SimpleDiffable<InferenceFieldMetadata>, ToXContentFragment {
     private static final String INFERENCE_ID_FIELD = "inference_id";
     private static final String SOURCE_FIELDS_FIELD = "source_fields";
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapper.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapper.java
index 3bb82bea58acf..3f83a8819b4c1 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapper.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/DenseVectorFieldMapper.java
@@ -1132,10 +1132,6 @@ public String typeName() {
             return CONTENT_TYPE;
         }
 
-        public Integer getDims() {
-            return dims;
-        }
-
         @Override
         public ValueFetcher valueFetcher(SearchExecutionContext context, String format) {
             if (format != null) {
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SparseVectorFieldMapper.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SparseVectorFieldMapper.java
index 58286d34dada1..6532abed19044 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SparseVectorFieldMapper.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/vectors/SparseVectorFieldMapper.java
@@ -171,12 +171,9 @@ public void parse(DocumentParserContext context) throws IOException {
         }
 
         String feature = null;
-        boolean origIsWithLeafObject = context.path().isWithinLeafObject();
         try {
             // make sure that we don't expand dots in field names while parsing
-            if (context.path().isWithinLeafObject() == false) {
-                context.path().setWithinLeafObject(true);
-            }
+            context.path().setWithinLeafObject(true);
             for (Token token = context.parser().nextToken(); token != Token.END_OBJECT; token = context.parser().nextToken()) {
                 if (token == Token.FIELD_NAME) {
                     feature = context.parser().currentName();
@@ -210,7 +207,7 @@ public void parse(DocumentParserContext context) throws IOException {
                 context.addToFieldNames(fieldType().name());
             }
         } finally {
-            context.path().setWithinLeafObject(origIsWithLeafObject);
+            context.path().setWithinLeafObject(false);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/InferenceFieldMetadataTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/InferenceFieldMetadataTests.java
index 958d86535ae76..bd4c87be51157 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/InferenceFieldMetadataTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/InferenceFieldMetadataTests.java
@@ -63,4 +63,10 @@ private static InferenceFieldMetadata createTestItem() {
         String[] inputFields = generateRandomStringArray(5, 10, false, false);
         return new InferenceFieldMetadata(name, inferenceId, inputFields);
     }
+
+    public void testNullCtorArgsThrowException() {
+        assertThrows(NullPointerException.class, () -> new InferenceFieldMetadata(null, "inferenceId", new String[0]));
+        assertThrows(NullPointerException.class, () -> new InferenceFieldMetadata("name", null, new String[0]));
+        assertThrows(NullPointerException.class, () -> new InferenceFieldMetadata("name", "inferenceId", null));
+    }
 }