diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java
index 7dd3c3b324562..2ca6c85db31a5 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java
@@ -781,7 +781,7 @@ private boolean preprocessBulkRequest(Task task, BulkRequest bulkRequest, String
             for (DocWriteRequest<?> docWriteRequest : bulkRequest.requests) {
                 IndexRequest indexRequest = getIndexWriteRequest(docWriteRequest);
                 if (indexRequest != null) {
-                    needsProcessing |= preprocessor.needsProcessing(docWriteRequest, indexRequest, metadata);
+                    needsProcessing = needsProcessing || preprocessor.needsProcessing(docWriteRequest, indexRequest, metadata);
                 }
 
                 if (docWriteRequest instanceof IndexRequest ir) {