diff --git a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
index 0016cc00e..668d7d1de 100755
--- a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
+++ b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
@@ -784,9 +784,8 @@ pin_elasticsearch_data_retention_method() {
 # Reference: https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/263048
 kibana_backport_streams_index_template() {
     local current_template updated_template
-    current_template=$(so-elasticsearch-query "_index_template/.kibana_streams" --retry 3 --retry-delay 5 --fail)
 
-    if [[ -z "$current_template" ]]; then
+    if ! current_template=$(so-elasticsearch-query "_index_template/.kibana_streams" --retry 3 --retry-delay 5 --fail); then
         echo "Index template .kibana_streams does not exist, skipping backport."
         return 0
     fi