diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/security/cli/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/security/cli/build.gradle
index 738dcaf338de4..7244bd34f8e16 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/security/cli/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/security/cli/build.gradle
@@ -16,7 +16,12 @@ dependencies {
   }
   testRuntimeOnly "com.google.guava:guava:${versions.jimfs_guava}"
   testImplementation project(":test:framework")
-testImplementation(testArtifact(project(xpackModule('core'))))}
+  testImplementation(testArtifact(project(xpackModule('core')))) {
+    // BC and BC-FIPS together causes "Jar Hell" failures in JUnit
+    exclude group: 'org.bouncycastle', module: 'bc-fips'
+  }
+}
+
 
 tasks.named("dependencyLicenses").configure {
   mapping from: /bc.*/, to: 'bouncycastle'