diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/indices/fetch_index.test.ts b/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/indices/fetch_index.test.ts
index 3db722c0f58b2..be312f9840429 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/indices/fetch_index.test.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/indices/fetch_index.test.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
  */
 
 import { ByteSizeValue } from '@kbn/config-schema';
-import { IScopedClusterClient } from '@kbn/core/server';
+import { IScopedClusterClient, Logger } from '@kbn/core/server';
 
 import { fetchConnectorByIndexName } from '@kbn/search-connectors';
 
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ describe('fetchIndex lib function', () => {
     jest.clearAllMocks();
   });
 
+  const logger = {
+    error: jest.fn(),
+  } as any as Logger;
+
   const statsResponse = {
     indices: {
       index_name: {
@@ -110,7 +114,7 @@ describe('fetchIndex lib function', () => {
     mockClient.asCurrentUser.indices.stats.mockImplementation(() => Promise.resolve(statsResponse));
 
     await expect(
-      fetchIndex(mockClient as unknown as IScopedClusterClient, 'index_name')
+      fetchIndex(mockClient as unknown as IScopedClusterClient, 'index_name', logger)
     ).resolves.toEqual(result);
   });
 
@@ -134,7 +138,7 @@ describe('fetchIndex lib function', () => {
     mockClient.asCurrentUser.indices.stats.mockImplementation(() => Promise.resolve(statsResponse));
 
     await expect(
-      fetchIndex(mockClient as unknown as IScopedClusterClient, 'index_name')
+      fetchIndex(mockClient as unknown as IScopedClusterClient, 'index_name', logger)
     ).resolves.toEqual({
       ...result,
       connector: { doc: 'doc', service_type: 'some-service-type' },
@@ -213,7 +217,7 @@ describe('fetchIndex lib function', () => {
     mockClient.asCurrentUser.indices.stats.mockImplementation(() => Promise.resolve(statsResponse));
 
     await expect(
-      fetchIndex(mockClient as unknown as IScopedClusterClient, 'index_name')
+      fetchIndex(mockClient as unknown as IScopedClusterClient, 'index_name', logger)
     ).rejects.toEqual(new Error('404'));
   });
   it('should throw a 404 error if the indexStats cannot be fonud', async () => {
@@ -230,7 +234,7 @@ describe('fetchIndex lib function', () => {
     );
 
     await expect(
-      fetchIndex(mockClient as unknown as IScopedClusterClient, 'index_name')
+      fetchIndex(mockClient as unknown as IScopedClusterClient, 'index_name', logger)
     ).rejects.toEqual(new Error('404'));
   });
   it('should throw a 404 error if the index stats indices cannot be fonud', async () => {
@@ -245,7 +249,7 @@ describe('fetchIndex lib function', () => {
     mockClient.asCurrentUser.indices.stats.mockImplementation(() => Promise.resolve({}));
 
     await expect(
-      fetchIndex(mockClient as unknown as IScopedClusterClient, 'index_name')
+      fetchIndex(mockClient as unknown as IScopedClusterClient, 'index_name', logger)
     ).rejects.toEqual(new Error('404'));
   });
 });
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/indices/fetch_index.ts b/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/indices/fetch_index.ts
index 41875daad3717..0b0c60039eaa2 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/indices/fetch_index.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/indices/fetch_index.ts
@@ -5,11 +5,10 @@
  * 2.0.
  */
 
-import { IScopedClusterClient } from '@kbn/core/server';
-
-import {} from '../..';
+import { IScopedClusterClient, Logger } from '@kbn/core/server';
 
 import {
+  Connector,
   CONNECTORS_JOBS_INDEX,
   ConnectorSyncJobDocument,
   fetchConnectorByIndexName,
@@ -61,7 +60,8 @@ const hasInProgressSyncs = async (
 
 export const fetchIndex = async (
   client: IScopedClusterClient,
-  index: string
+  index: string,
+  logger: Logger
 ): Promise<ElasticsearchIndexWithIngestion> => {
   const indexDataResult = await client.asCurrentUser.indices.get({ index });
   const indexData = indexDataResult[index];
@@ -73,8 +73,12 @@ export const fetchIndex = async (
     throw new Error('404');
   }
   const indexStats = indices[index];
-
-  const connector = await fetchConnectorByIndexName(client.asCurrentUser, index);
+  let connector: Connector | undefined;
+  try {
+    connector = await fetchConnectorByIndexName(client.asCurrentUser, index);
+  } catch (error) {
+    logger.error(`Error fetching connector for index ${index}: ${error}`);
+  }
   const hasInProgressSyncsResult = connector
     ? await hasInProgressSyncs(client, connector.id)
     : { inProgress: false, pending: false };
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/indices/fetch_unattached_indices.ts b/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/indices/fetch_unattached_indices.ts
index d5547733bcab5..2cac237fb1620 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/indices/fetch_unattached_indices.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/indices/fetch_unattached_indices.ts
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@
  */
 
 import { IScopedClusterClient } from '@kbn/core/server';
-import { fetchConnectors } from '@kbn/search-connectors';
+import { Connector, fetchConnectors } from '@kbn/search-connectors';
 
+import { Crawler } from '../../../common/types/crawler';
 import { isNotNullish } from '../../../common/utils/is_not_nullish';
 import { fetchCrawlers } from '../crawler/fetch_crawlers';
 
@@ -23,8 +24,15 @@ export const fetchUnattachedIndices = async (
   totalResults: number;
 }> => {
   const { indexNames } = await getUnattachedIndexData(client, searchQuery);
-  const connectors = await fetchConnectors(client.asCurrentUser, indexNames);
-  const crawlers = await fetchCrawlers(client, indexNames);
+
+  let connectors: Connector[] = [];
+  let crawlers: Crawler[] = [];
+  try {
+    connectors = await fetchConnectors(client.asCurrentUser, indexNames);
+    crawlers = await fetchCrawlers(client, indexNames);
+  } catch (error) {
+    connectors = [];
+  }
 
   const connectedIndexNames = [
     ...connectors.map((con) => con.index_name).filter(isNotNullish),
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/pipelines/get_index_pipeline.ts b/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/pipelines/get_index_pipeline.ts
index 54a916898740e..61c3b678690ec 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/pipelines/get_index_pipeline.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/lib/pipelines/get_index_pipeline.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ export const getIndexPipelineParameters = async (
   // we want to throw the error if getDefaultPipeline() fails so we're not catching it on purpose
   const [defaultPipeline, connector, customPipelineResp] = await Promise.all([
     getDefaultPipeline(client),
-    fetchConnectorByIndexName(client.asCurrentUser, indexName),
+    fetchConnectorByIndexName(client.asCurrentUser, indexName).catch(() => null),
     client.asCurrentUser.ingest
       .getPipeline({
         id: `${indexName}`,
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/routes/enterprise_search/indices.ts b/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/routes/enterprise_search/indices.ts
index 70b46205c5e88..1664c451f5c57 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/routes/enterprise_search/indices.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/enterprise_search/server/routes/enterprise_search/indices.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import {
   deleteConnectorSecret,
   deleteConnectorById,
   updateConnectorIndexName,
+  Connector,
 } from '@kbn/search-connectors';
 import {
   fetchConnectorByIndexName,
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ import {
 } from '@kbn/search-connectors/lib/fetch_connectors';
 
 import { DEFAULT_PIPELINE_NAME } from '../../../common/constants';
+import { Crawler } from '../../../common/types/crawler';
 import { ErrorCode } from '../../../common/types/error_codes';
 import { AlwaysShowPattern } from '../../../common/types/indices';
 
@@ -126,8 +128,17 @@ export function registerIndexRoutes({
         from,
         size
       );
-      const connectors = await fetchConnectors(client.asCurrentUser, indexNames);
-      const crawlers = await fetchCrawlers(client, indexNames);
+
+      let connectors: Connector[] = [];
+      let crawlers: Crawler[] = [];
+      // If the user doesn't have permissions, fetchConnectors will error out. We still want to return indices in that case.
+      try {
+        connectors = await fetchConnectors(client.asCurrentUser, indexNames);
+        crawlers = await fetchCrawlers(client, indexNames);
+      } catch {
+        connectors = [];
+        crawlers = [];
+      }
       const enrichedIndices = indices.map((index) => ({
         ...index,
         connector: connectors.find((connector) => connector.index_name === index.name),
@@ -164,7 +175,7 @@ export function registerIndexRoutes({
       const { client } = (await context.core).elasticsearch;
 
       try {
-        const index = await fetchIndex(client, indexName);
+        const index = await fetchIndex(client, indexName, log);
         return response.ok({
           body: index,
           headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' },
@@ -198,8 +209,15 @@ export function registerIndexRoutes({
       const { client } = (await context.core).elasticsearch;
 
       try {
-        const crawler = await fetchCrawlerByIndexName(client, indexName);
-        const connector = await fetchConnectorByIndexName(client.asCurrentUser, indexName);
+        let connector: Connector | undefined;
+        let crawler: Crawler | undefined;
+        // users without permissions to fetch connectors should still see a result
+        try {
+          connector = await fetchConnectorByIndexName(client.asCurrentUser, indexName);
+          crawler = await fetchCrawlerByIndexName(client, indexName);
+        } catch (error) {
+          log.error(`Error fetching connector for index ${indexName}: ${error}`);
+        }
 
         if (crawler) {
           const crawlerRes = await enterpriseSearchRequestHandler.createRequest({
@@ -588,7 +606,15 @@ export function registerIndexRoutes({
         });
       }
 
-      const crawler = await fetchCrawlerByIndexName(client, request.body.index_name);
+      let connector: Connector | undefined;
+      let crawler: Crawler | undefined;
+      // users without permissions to fetch connectors should still be able to create an index
+      try {
+        connector = await fetchConnectorByIndexName(client.asCurrentUser, indexName);
+        crawler = await fetchCrawlerByIndexName(client, request.body.index_name);
+      } catch (error) {
+        log.error(`Error fetching connector for index ${indexName}: ${error}`);
+      }
 
       if (crawler) {
         return createError({
@@ -604,11 +630,6 @@ export function registerIndexRoutes({
         });
       }
 
-      const connector = await fetchConnectorByIndexName(
-        client.asCurrentUser,
-        request.body.index_name
-      );
-
       if (connector) {
         return createError({
           errorCode: ErrorCode.CONNECTOR_DOCUMENT_ALREADY_EXISTS,