diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinator.java b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinator.java
index 8f1a798271a91..d48250d08b05c 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinator.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinator.java
@@ -246,8 +246,10 @@ synchronized void updateStats(List<AutoFollowResult> results) {
     }
 
     void updateAutoFollowers(ClusterState followerClusterState) {
-        final AutoFollowMetadata autoFollowMetadata = followerClusterState.getMetadata().custom(AutoFollowMetadata.TYPE);
-        if (autoFollowMetadata == null) {
+        final AutoFollowMetadata autoFollowMetadata = followerClusterState.getMetadata()
+            .custom(AutoFollowMetadata.TYPE, AutoFollowMetadata.EMPTY);
+
+        if (autoFollowMetadata.getPatterns().isEmpty() && this.autoFollowers.isEmpty()) {
             return;
         }
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinatorTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinatorTests.java
index 9cd9cb303234f..e8291f881f227 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinatorTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ccr/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ccr/action/AutoFollowCoordinatorTests.java
@@ -1147,25 +1147,43 @@ public void testUpdateAutoFollowers() {
         assertThat(removedAutoFollower2.removed, is(true));
     }
 
+    public void testUpdateAutoFollowersRevertMetadata() {
+        // given coordinator with some initial patterns
+        AutoFollowCoordinator autoFollowCoordinator = createAutoFollowCoordinator();
+
+        // with some initial patterns
+        AutoFollowPattern pattern1 = createAutoFollowPattern("remote1", "logs-*");
+        AutoFollowPattern pattern2 = createAutoFollowPattern("remote2", "logs-*");
+        AutoFollowPattern pattern3 = createAutoFollowPattern("remote2", "metrics-*");// same remote
+        autoFollowCoordinator.updateAutoFollowers(
+            createClusterStateWith(org.elasticsearch.core.Map.of("pattern1", pattern1, "pattern2", pattern2, "pattern3", pattern3))
+        );
+        Map<String, AutoFollower> initialAutoFollowers = autoFollowCoordinator.getAutoFollowers();
+
+        // when resetting the state
+        autoFollowCoordinator.updateAutoFollowers(createClusterStateWith(null));
+        Map<String, AutoFollower> newAutoFollowers = autoFollowCoordinator.getAutoFollowers();
+
+        // then auto-followers are removed
+        assertThat(newAutoFollowers.entrySet(), empty());
+        // and auto-followers are stopped
+        assertThat(initialAutoFollowers.get("remote1").removed, equalTo(true));
+        assertThat(initialAutoFollowers.get("remote2").removed, equalTo(true));
+    }
+
     public void testUpdateAutoFollowersNoPatterns() {
         AutoFollowCoordinator autoFollowCoordinator = createAutoFollowCoordinator();
-        ClusterState clusterState = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("remote"))
-            .metadata(
-                Metadata.builder()
-                    .putCustom(
-                        AutoFollowMetadata.TYPE,
-                        new AutoFollowMetadata(Collections.emptyMap(), Collections.emptyMap(), Collections.emptyMap())
-                    )
-            )
-            .build();
-        autoFollowCoordinator.updateAutoFollowers(clusterState);
+        autoFollowCoordinator.updateAutoFollowers(createClusterStateWith(org.elasticsearch.core.Map.of()));
+
+        assertThat(autoFollowCoordinator.getAutoFollowers().keySet(), empty());
         assertThat(autoFollowCoordinator.getStats().getAutoFollowedClusters().size(), equalTo(0));
     }
 
     public void testUpdateAutoFollowersNoAutoFollowMetadata() {
         AutoFollowCoordinator autoFollowCoordinator = createAutoFollowCoordinator();
-        ClusterState clusterState = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("remote")).build();
-        autoFollowCoordinator.updateAutoFollowers(clusterState);
+        autoFollowCoordinator.updateAutoFollowers(createClusterStateWith(null));
+
+        assertThat(autoFollowCoordinator.getAutoFollowers().keySet(), empty());
         assertThat(autoFollowCoordinator.getStats().getAutoFollowedClusters().size(), equalTo(0));
     }
 
@@ -2137,12 +2155,17 @@ private AutoFollowCoordinator createAutoFollowCoordinator() {
     }
 
     private ClusterState createClusterStateWith(Map<String, AutoFollowPattern> patterns) {
-        return ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("remote"))
-            .metadata(
+        ClusterState.Builder builder = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("remote"));
+        if (patterns != null) {
+            builder.metadata(
                 Metadata.builder()
-                    .putCustom(AutoFollowMetadata.TYPE, new AutoFollowMetadata(patterns, Collections.emptyMap(), Collections.emptyMap()))
-            )
-            .build();
+                    .putCustom(
+                        AutoFollowMetadata.TYPE,
+                        new AutoFollowMetadata(patterns, org.elasticsearch.core.Map.of(), org.elasticsearch.core.Map.of())
+                    )
+            );
+        }
+        return builder.build();
     }
 
     private AutoFollowPattern createAutoFollowPattern(String remoteCluster, String pattern) {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ccr/AutoFollowMetadata.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ccr/AutoFollowMetadata.java
index d7aea07c78343..876a054207a6d 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ccr/AutoFollowMetadata.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/ccr/AutoFollowMetadata.java
@@ -78,6 +78,12 @@ public static AutoFollowMetadata fromXContent(XContentParser parser) throws IOEx
         return PARSER.parse(parser, null);
     }
 
+    public static final AutoFollowMetadata EMPTY = new AutoFollowMetadata(
+        org.elasticsearch.core.Map.of(),
+        org.elasticsearch.core.Map.of(),
+        org.elasticsearch.core.Map.of()
+    );
+
     private final Map<String, AutoFollowPattern> patterns;
     private final Map<String, List<String>> followedLeaderIndexUUIDs;
     private final Map<String, Map<String, String>> headers;