diff --git a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
index 668d7d1de..12be85eaf 100755
--- a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
+++ b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
@@ -783,10 +783,16 @@ pin_elasticsearch_data_retention_method() {
 #
 # Reference: https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/263048
 kibana_backport_streams_index_template() {
-    local current_template updated_template
+    local current_template updated_template current_template_exists
+
+    current_template_exists=$(so-elasticsearch-query "_index_template/.kibana_streams" -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}")
+    if [[ "$current_template_exists" == "404" ]]; then
+        echo "Index template .kibana_streams does not exist, skipping backport."
+        return 0
+    fi
 
     if ! current_template=$(so-elasticsearch-query "_index_template/.kibana_streams" --retry 3 --retry-delay 5 --fail); then
-        echo "Index template .kibana_streams does not exist, skipping backport."
+        echo "Unable to retrieve .kibana_streams index template, skipping backport."
         return 0
     fi