diff --git a/storage/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/storage/internals/log/RemoteIndexCacheTest.java b/storage/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/storage/internals/log/RemoteIndexCacheTest.java
index dc9c07839c96b..78c241df618fd 100644
--- a/storage/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/storage/internals/log/RemoteIndexCacheTest.java
+++ b/storage/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/storage/internals/log/RemoteIndexCacheTest.java
@@ -127,20 +127,25 @@ public void setup() throws IOException, RemoteStorageException {
     }
 
     @AfterEach
-    public void cleanup() throws InterruptedException {
+    public void cleanup() throws Exception {
         reset(rsm);
-        // the files created for the test will be deleted automatically on thread exit since we use temp dir
-        Utils.closeQuietly(cache, "RemoteIndexCache created for unit test");
-        // best effort to delete the per-test resource. Even if we don't delete, it is ok because the parent directory
-        // will be deleted at the end of test.
+        // Close the cache directly instead of using closeQuietly to ensure any exception during close
+        // (e.g. failure to shut down the cleaner scheduler) is properly propagated rather than silently swallowed,
+        // which could leave the cleaner thread alive and cause the leaked thread assertion below to fail.
         try {
-            Utils.delete(logDir);
-        } catch (IOException ioe) {
-            // ignore
+            cache.close();
+        } finally {
+            // best effort to delete the per-test resource. Even if we don't delete, it is ok because the parent directory
+            // will be deleted at the end of test.
+            try {
+                Utils.delete(logDir);
+            } catch (IOException ioe) {
+                // ignore
+            }
+            // Verify no lingering threads. It is important to have this as the very last statement in the @AfterEach
+            // because this may throw an exception and prevent cleanup after it
+            TestUtils.assertNoLeakedThreadsWithNameAndDaemonStatus(REMOTE_LOG_INDEX_CACHE_CLEANER_THREAD, true);
         }
-        // Verify no lingering threads. It is important to have this as the very last statement in the @AfterEach
-        // because this may throw an exception and prevent cleanup after it
-        TestUtils.assertNoLeakedThreadsWithNameAndDaemonStatus(REMOTE_LOG_INDEX_CACHE_CLEANER_THREAD, true);
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -1044,6 +1049,11 @@ public void testConcurrentCacheDeletedFileExists() throws InterruptedException,
                 "Time index file should not be present on disk at " + remoteIndexCacheDir.toPath());
         TestUtils.waitForCondition(() -> getIndexFileFromRemoteCacheDir(cache, LogFileUtils.DELETED_FILE_SUFFIX).isEmpty(),
                 "Index file marked for deletion should not be present on disk at " + remoteIndexCacheDir.toPath());
+
+        // Wait for all scheduled cleanup tasks to complete so the cleaner thread is idle before @AfterEach
+        // shuts it down. This prevents a race between an in-flight task and scheduler shutdown.
+        TestUtils.waitForCondition(() -> cache.expiredIdxPendingForDeletion() == 0,
+                "Expired index entries should have been cleaned up");
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -1065,11 +1075,12 @@ public void testDeleteInvalidIndexFilesOnInit() throws IOException {
         OffsetIndex validOffsetIdx = createOffsetIndexForSegmentMetadata(rlsMetadata, logDir);
         TransactionIndex validTimeIdx = createTxIndexForSegmentMetadata(rlsMetadata, logDir);
 
-        new RemoteIndexCache(defaultRemoteIndexCacheSizeBytes, rsm, logDir.toString());
-        assertFalse(invalidOffsetIdxFile.exists());
-        assertFalse(invalidTimeIndexFile.exists());
-        assertTrue(validOffsetIdx.file().exists());
-        assertTrue(validTimeIdx.file().exists());
+        try (RemoteIndexCache secondCache = new RemoteIndexCache(defaultRemoteIndexCacheSizeBytes, rsm, logDir.toString())) {
+            assertFalse(invalidOffsetIdxFile.exists());
+            assertFalse(invalidTimeIndexFile.exists());
+            assertTrue(validOffsetIdx.file().exists());
+            assertTrue(validTimeIdx.file().exists());
+        }
     }
 
     @Test