diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/blob-cache/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/blobcache/shared/SharedBlobCacheService.java b/x-pack/plugin/blob-cache/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/blobcache/shared/SharedBlobCacheService.java
index c93286802244c..33d4cb1f2f465 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/blob-cache/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/blobcache/shared/SharedBlobCacheService.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/blob-cache/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/blobcache/shared/SharedBlobCacheService.java
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
 import java.lang.invoke.VarHandle;
 import java.lang.reflect.Array;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.channels.ClosedChannelException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Iterator;
@@ -708,7 +709,7 @@ int getFreq(CacheFileRegion cacheFileRegion) {
 
     @Override
     public void close() {
-        sharedBytes.decRef();
+        sharedBytes.close();
     }
 
     // used by tests
@@ -884,7 +885,7 @@ private static void throwAlreadyEvicted() {
          */
         boolean tryRead(ByteBuffer buf, long offset) throws IOException {
             SharedBytes.IO ioRef = this.io;
-            if (ioRef != null && ioRef.tryIncRef()) {
+            if (ioRef != null) {
                 try {
                     int readBytes = ioRef.read(buf, getRegionRelativePosition(offset));
                     if (isEvicted()) {
@@ -892,8 +893,9 @@ boolean tryRead(ByteBuffer buf, long offset) throws IOException {
                         return false;
                     }
                     return true;
-                } finally {
-                    ioRef.decRef();
+                } catch (ClosedChannelException e) {
+                    // the cache file channel has been closed
+                    return false;
                 }
             } else {
                 // taken by someone else
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/blob-cache/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/blobcache/shared/SharedBytes.java b/x-pack/plugin/blob-cache/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/blobcache/shared/SharedBytes.java
index 46e7b2c7d3889..2e4653cb92266 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/blob-cache/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/blobcache/shared/SharedBytes.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/blob-cache/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/blobcache/shared/SharedBytes.java
@@ -9,13 +9,12 @@
 
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
-import org.apache.lucene.store.AlreadyClosedException;
 import org.elasticsearch.blobcache.BlobCacheUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.blobcache.common.ByteBufferReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.ByteSizeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.AbstractRefCounted;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.IOUtils;
-import org.elasticsearch.core.RefCounted;
+import org.elasticsearch.core.Releasable;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.Streams;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.SuppressForbidden;
 import org.elasticsearch.env.Environment;
@@ -32,7 +31,7 @@
 import java.nio.file.StandardOpenOption;
 import java.util.function.IntConsumer;
 
-public class SharedBytes extends AbstractRefCounted {
+public class SharedBytes extends AbstractRefCounted implements Releasable {
 
     /**
      * Thread local direct byte buffer to aggregate multiple positional writes to the cache file.
@@ -118,6 +117,16 @@ public class SharedBytes extends AbstractRefCounted {
         this.readBytes = readBytes;
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public void close() {
+        if (ios != null) {
+            for (var io : ios) {
+                io.decRef();
+            }
+        }
+        decRef();
+    }
+
     /**
      * Tries to find a suitable path to a searchable snapshots shared cache file in the data paths founds in the environment.
      *
@@ -287,10 +296,9 @@ public IO getFileChannel(int sharedBytesPos) {
         return ios[sharedBytesPos];
     }
 
-    public final class IO implements RefCounted {
+    public final class IO extends AbstractRefCounted {
 
         private final long pageStart;
-
         private final MappedByteBuffer mappedByteBuffer;
 
         private IO(final int sharedBytesPos, MappedByteBuffer mappedByteBuffer) {
@@ -298,28 +306,12 @@ private IO(final int sharedBytesPos, MappedByteBuffer mappedByteBuffer) {
             assert physicalOffset <= (long) numRegions * regionSize;
             this.pageStart = physicalOffset;
             this.mappedByteBuffer = mappedByteBuffer;
+            SharedBytes.this.incRef();
         }
 
         @Override
-        public boolean tryIncRef() {
-            return SharedBytes.this.tryIncRef();
-        }
-
-        @Override
-        public void incRef() {
-            if (tryIncRef() == false) {
-                throw new AlreadyClosedException("File channel is closed");
-            }
-        }
-
-        @Override
-        public boolean decRef() {
-            return SharedBytes.this.decRef();
-        }
-
-        @Override
-        public boolean hasReferences() {
-            return SharedBytes.this.hasReferences();
+        protected void closeInternal() {
+            SharedBytes.this.decRef();
         }
 
         @SuppressForbidden(reason = "Use positional reads on purpose")