diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/RestSearchAction.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/RestSearchAction.java
index 5be02e346d774..57c3d1e1c5051 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/RestSearchAction.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/RestSearchAction.java
@@ -167,7 +167,10 @@ public static void parseSearchRequest(
         if (request.hasParam("pre_filter_shard_size")) {
             searchRequest.setPreFilterShardSize(request.paramAsInt("pre_filter_shard_size", SearchRequest.DEFAULT_PRE_FILTER_SHARD_SIZE));
         }
-
+        if (request.hasParam("enable_fields_emulation")) {
+            // this flag is a no-op from 8.0 on, we only want to consume it so its presence doesn't cause errors
+            request.paramAsBoolean("enable_fields_emulation", false);
+        }
         if (request.hasParam("max_concurrent_shard_requests")) {
             // only set if we have the parameter since we auto adjust the max concurrency on the coordinator
             // based on the number of nodes in the cluster
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/RestSearchActionTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/RestSearchActionTests.java
index 9a5d6775dbc98..cc27a05d7a49c 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/RestSearchActionTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/search/RestSearchActionTests.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.RestApiVersion;
 import org.elasticsearch.rest.RestRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.rest.FakeRestChannel;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.rest.FakeRestRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.rest.RestActionTestCase;
 import org.junit.Before;
@@ -54,6 +55,20 @@ public void testTypeParameter() {
         assertCriticalWarnings(RestSearchAction.TYPES_DEPRECATION_MESSAGE);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * The "enable_fields_emulation" flag on search requests is a no-op but should not raise an error
+     */
+    public void testEnableFieldsEmulationNoErrors() throws Exception {
+        Map<String, String> params = new HashMap<>();
+        params.put("enable_fields_emulation", "true");
+
+        RestRequest request = new FakeRestRequest.Builder(xContentRegistry()).withHeaders(
+            Map.of("Content-Type", contentTypeHeader, "Accept", contentTypeHeader)
+        ).withMethod(RestRequest.Method.GET).withPath("/some_index/_search").withParams(params).build();
+
+        action.handleRequest(request, new FakeRestChannel(request, false, 1), verifyingClient);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Using an illegal search type on the request should throw an error
      */