diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/qa/security/follower-roles.yml b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/qa/security/follower-roles.yml
index 4a91c072043bb..65af995c98a91 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/qa/security/follower-roles.yml
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/qa/security/follower-roles.yml
@@ -8,3 +8,10 @@ ccruser:
         - read
         - write
         - manage_follow_index
+    - names: [ 'clean-follower' ]
+      privileges:
+        - monitor
+        - read
+        - write
+        - delete_index
+        - manage_follow_index
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/qa/security/leader-roles.yml b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/qa/security/leader-roles.yml
index 944af38b92ce5..b0b528370a6b7 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/qa/security/leader-roles.yml
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/qa/security/leader-roles.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ ccruser:
   cluster:
     - read_ccr
   indices:
-    - names: [ 'allowed-index', 'forget-leader', 'logs-eu-*' ]
+    - names: [ 'allowed-index', 'clean-leader', 'forget-leader', 'logs-eu-*' ]
       privileges:
         - monitor
         - read
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/qa/security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/FollowIndexSecurityIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/qa/security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/FollowIndexSecurityIT.java
index f8ed48777dacc..cd9a33684863e 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/qa/security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/FollowIndexSecurityIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/qa/security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/FollowIndexSecurityIT.java
@@ -235,4 +235,32 @@ public void testForgetFollower() throws IOException {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testCleanShardFollowTaskAfterDeleteFollower() throws Exception {
+        final String cleanLeader = "clean-leader";
+        final String cleanFollower = "clean-follower";
+        if ("leader".equals(targetCluster)) {
+            logger.info("running against leader cluster");
+            final Settings indexSettings = Settings.builder()
+                .put("index.number_of_replicas", 0)
+                .put("index.number_of_shards", 1)
+                .put("index.soft_deletes.enabled", true)
+                .build();
+            createIndex(cleanLeader, indexSettings);
+        } else {
+            logger.info("running against follower cluster");
+            followIndex(client(), "leader_cluster", cleanLeader, cleanFollower);
+
+            final Request request = new Request("DELETE", "/" + cleanFollower);
+            final Response response = client().performRequest(request);
+            assertOK(response);
+            // the shard follow task should have been cleaned up on behalf of the user, see ShardFollowTaskCleaner
+            assertBusy(() -> {
+                Map<String, Object> clusterState = toMap(adminClient().performRequest(new Request("GET", "/_cluster/state")));
+                List<?> tasks = (List<?>) XContentMapValues.extractValue("metadata.persistent_tasks.tasks", clusterState);
+                assertThat(tasks.size(), equalTo(0));
+                assertThat(countCcrNodeTasks(), equalTo(0));
+            });
+        }
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowTaskCleaner.java b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowTaskCleaner.java
index 9742b2df643fa..2e2e1f59d5c3b 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowTaskCleaner.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/ShardFollowTaskCleaner.java
@@ -68,8 +68,12 @@ public void clusterChanged(final ClusterChangedEvent event) {
             CompletionPersistentTaskAction.Request request =
                 new CompletionPersistentTaskAction.Request(persistentTask.getId(), persistentTask.getAllocationId(), infe);
             threadPool.generic().submit(() -> {
+                /*
+                 * We are executing under the system context, on behalf of the user to clean up the shard follow task after the follower
+                 * index was deleted. This is why the system role includes the privilege for persistent task completion.
+                 */
+                assert threadPool.getThreadContext().isSystemContext();
                 client.execute(CompletionPersistentTaskAction.INSTANCE, request, new ActionListener<PersistentTaskResponse>() {
-
                     @Override
                     public void onResponse(PersistentTaskResponse persistentTaskResponse) {
                         logger.debug("task [{}] cleaned up", persistentTask.getId());
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/security/authz/privilege/SystemPrivilege.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/security/authz/privilege/SystemPrivilege.java
index dda81e6b86197..e06e7226de04c 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/security/authz/privilege/SystemPrivilege.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/security/authz/privilege/SystemPrivilege.java
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.index.seqno.RetentionLeaseActions;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.seqno.RetentionLeaseBackgroundSyncAction;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.seqno.RetentionLeaseSyncAction;
+import org.elasticsearch.persistent.CompletionPersistentTaskAction;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportActionProxy;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.security.support.Automatons;
 
@@ -33,7 +34,8 @@ public final class SystemPrivilege extends Privilege {
         RetentionLeaseActions.Add.ACTION_NAME + "*", // needed for CCR to add retention leases
         RetentionLeaseActions.Remove.ACTION_NAME + "*", // needed for CCR to remove retention leases
         RetentionLeaseActions.Renew.ACTION_NAME + "*", // needed for CCR to renew retention leases
-        "indices:admin/settings/update" // needed for DiskThresholdMonitor.markIndicesReadOnly
+        "indices:admin/settings/update", // needed for DiskThresholdMonitor.markIndicesReadOnly
+        CompletionPersistentTaskAction.NAME // needed for ShardFollowTaskCleaner
     );
 
     private static final Predicate<String> PREDICATE = (action) -> {