diff --git a/docs/changelog/89962.yaml b/docs/changelog/89962.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..bf13bfea9b5f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/89962.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+pr: 89962
+summary: Empty intervals needs to start in position -1
+area: Search
+type: bug
+issues:
+ - 89789
diff --git a/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/IntervalQueriesIT.java b/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/IntervalQueriesIT.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..c2ccfe4ee9694
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/search/query/IntervalQueriesIT.java
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License
+ * 2.0 and the Server Side Public License, v 1; you may not use this file except
+ * in compliance with, at your election, the Elastic License 2.0 or the Server
+ * Side Public License, v 1.
+ */
+
+package org.elasticsearch.search.query;
+
+import org.apache.lucene.analysis.Analyzer;
+import org.apache.lucene.analysis.TokenStream;
+import org.apache.lucene.analysis.Tokenizer;
+import org.apache.lucene.analysis.core.KeywordTokenizer;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.analysis.AnalyzerProvider;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.analysis.AnalyzerScope;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.query.IntervalQueryBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.query.IntervalsSourceProvider;
+import org.elasticsearch.indices.analysis.AnalysisModule;
+import org.elasticsearch.plugins.AnalysisPlugin;
+import org.elasticsearch.plugins.Plugin;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ESIntegTestCase;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.InternalSettingsPlugin;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import static java.util.Collections.singletonMap;
+import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertAcked;
+
+public class IntervalQueriesIT extends ESIntegTestCase {
+
+    @Override
+    protected Collection<Class<? extends Plugin>> nodePlugins() {
+        return Arrays.asList(InternalSettingsPlugin.class, MockAnalysisPlugin.class);
+    }
+
+    public void testEmptyIntervalsWithNestedMappings() throws InterruptedException {
+        assertAcked(prepareCreate("nested").setMapping("""
+            { "_doc" : {
+                "properties" : {
+                    "empty_text" : { "type" : "text", "analyzer" : "empty" },
+                    "text" : { "type" : "text" },
+                    "nested" : { "type" : "nested", "properties" : { "nt" : { "type" : "text" } } }
+                }
+            }}
+            """));
+
+        indexRandom(
+            true,
+            client().prepareIndex("nested").setId("1").setSource("text", "the quick brown fox jumps"),
+            client().prepareIndex("nested").setId("2").setSource("text", "quick brown"),
+            client().prepareIndex("nested").setId("3").setSource("text", "quick")
+        );
+
+        SearchResponse resp = client().prepareSearch("nested")
+            .setQuery(
+                new IntervalQueryBuilder("empty_text", new IntervalsSourceProvider.Match("an empty query", 0, true, null, null, null))
+            )
+            .get();
+        assertEquals(0, resp.getFailedShards());
+    }
+
+    private static class EmptyAnalyzer extends Analyzer {
+
+        @Override
+        protected TokenStreamComponents createComponents(String fieldName) {
+            Tokenizer source = new KeywordTokenizer();
+            TokenStream sink = new TokenStream() {
+                @Override
+                public boolean incrementToken() throws IOException {
+                    return false;
+                }
+            };
+            return new TokenStreamComponents(source, sink);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static class MockAnalysisPlugin extends Plugin implements AnalysisPlugin {
+
+        @Override
+        public Map<String, AnalysisModule.AnalysisProvider<AnalyzerProvider<? extends Analyzer>>> getAnalyzers() {
+            return singletonMap("empty", (indexSettings, environment, name, settings) -> new AnalyzerProvider<>() {
+                @Override
+                public String name() {
+                    return "empty";
+                }
+
+                @Override
+                public AnalyzerScope scope() {
+                    return AnalyzerScope.GLOBAL;
+                }
+
+                @Override
+                public Analyzer get() {
+                    return new EmptyAnalyzer();
+                }
+            });
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/IntervalBuilder.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/IntervalBuilder.java
index 5f158a1a733e0..6f75702032c75 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/IntervalBuilder.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/IntervalBuilder.java
@@ -225,6 +225,8 @@ protected List<IntervalsSource> analyzeGraph(TokenStream source) throws IOExcept
         @Override
         public IntervalIterator intervals(String field, LeafReaderContext ctx) {
             return new IntervalIterator() {
+                boolean exhausted = false;
+
                 @Override
                 public int start() {
                     return NO_MORE_INTERVALS;
@@ -252,16 +254,18 @@ public float matchCost() {
 
                 @Override
                 public int docID() {
-                    return NO_MORE_DOCS;
+                    return exhausted ? NO_MORE_DOCS : -1;
                 }
 
                 @Override
                 public int nextDoc() {
+                    exhausted = true;
                     return NO_MORE_DOCS;
                 }
 
                 @Override
                 public int advance(int target) {
+                    exhausted = true;
                     return NO_MORE_DOCS;
                 }