diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/security/SecurityContext.java b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/security/SecurityContext.java
index 59c62f61fe7c..e78cb5392f61 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/security/SecurityContext.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/core/security/SecurityContext.java
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.xcontent.XContentType;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.security.authc.Authentication;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.security.authc.Authentication.AuthenticationType;
-import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.security.authc.AuthenticationField;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.security.authc.support.AuthenticationContextSerializer;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.security.authc.support.SecondaryAuthentication;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.security.user.User;
@@ -175,7 +174,7 @@ public void executeAfterRewritingAuthentication(Consumer<StoredContext> consumer
                 )
             );
             existingRequestHeaders.forEach((k, v) -> {
-                if (false == AuthenticationField.AUTHENTICATION_KEY.equals(k)) {
+                if (threadContext.getHeader(k) == null) {
                     threadContext.putHeader(k, v);
                 }
             });
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/SecurityContextTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/SecurityContextTests.java
index f64ad4572e78..f5e9255baf95 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/SecurityContextTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/security/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/security/SecurityContextTests.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.ThreadContext;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.ThreadContext.StoredContext;
+import org.elasticsearch.tasks.Task;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.VersionUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.security.SecurityContext;
@@ -124,7 +125,11 @@ public void testExecuteAfterRewritingAuthentication() throws IOException {
             AuthenticationField.PRIVILEGE_CATEGORY_KEY,
             randomAlphaOfLengthBetween(3, 10),
             randomAlphaOfLengthBetween(3, 8),
-            randomAlphaOfLengthBetween(3, 8)
+            randomAlphaOfLengthBetween(3, 8),
+            Task.X_OPAQUE_ID,
+            randomAlphaOfLength(10),
+            Task.TRACE_ID,
+            randomAlphaOfLength(20)
         );
         threadContext.putHeader(requestHeaders);