diff --git a/CHANGELOG-WIP.md b/CHANGELOG-WIP.md
index f0821d2c336..aa092962a66 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG-WIP.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG-WIP.md
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 - Added `craft\helpers\Image::EXIF_IFD0_ROTATE_180_MIRRORED`.
 - Added `craft\helpers\Image::EXIF_IFD0_ROTATE_270_MIRRORED`.
 - Added `craft\helpers\Image::EXIF_IFD0_ROTATE_90_MIRRORED`.
+- Added `craft\models\AssetIndexingSession::$forceStop`. ([#16435](https://github.com/craftcms/cms/pull/16435))
 - `GuzzleHttp\Client` is now instantiated via `Craft::createObject()`. ([#16366](https://github.com/craftcms/cms/pull/16366))
 - `craft\helpers\DateTimeHelper::humanDuration()` now has a `$language` argument. ([#16332](https://github.com/craftcms/cms/pull/16332))
 
@@ -31,4 +32,5 @@
 - Fixed a bug where `craft\config\GeneralConfig::safeMode()` set Safe Mode to `false` by default.
 - Fixed a bug where Craft wasn’t auto-rotating or flipping images uploaded with a mirrored EXIF orientation.
 - Fixed a bug where elements weren’t getting returned in a consistent order when `orderBy` was set to `RAND(X)` across varying `limit` param values. ([#16432](https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues/16432))
+- Fixed a bug where asset indexing could get stuck in an infinite loop if the index data was deleted. ([#16435](https://github.com/craftcms/cms/pull/16435))
 - Updated Twig to 3.15. ([#16207](https://github.com/craftcms/cms/discussions/16207))
diff --git a/src/controllers/AssetIndexesController.php b/src/controllers/AssetIndexesController.php
index 114d3621ff1..b20f07ade0c 100644
--- a/src/controllers/AssetIndexesController.php
+++ b/src/controllers/AssetIndexesController.php
@@ -151,6 +151,14 @@ public function actionProcessIndexingSession(): Response
         if (!$indexingSession->actionRequired) {
             $indexingSession = $assetIndexer->processIndexSession($indexingSession);
 
+            if ($indexingSession->forceStop) {
+                $assetIndexer->stopIndexingSession($indexingSession);
+                return $this->asFailure(data: [
+                    'stop' => $sessionId,
+                    'message' => Craft::t('app', 'There was a problem indexing assets.'),
+                ]);
+            }
+
             // If action is now required, we just processed the last entry
             // To save a round-trip, just pull the session review data
             if ($indexingSession->actionRequired) {
diff --git a/src/models/AssetIndexingSession.php b/src/models/AssetIndexingSession.php
index 6cdf0b73cc3..b270360df97 100644
--- a/src/models/AssetIndexingSession.php
+++ b/src/models/AssetIndexingSession.php
@@ -86,4 +86,10 @@ class AssetIndexingSession extends Model
      * @since 4.4.0
      */
     public bool $processIfRootEmpty = false;
+
+    /**
+     * @var bool Whether we should stop processing the session because there was a problem.
+     * @since 4.14.0
+     */
+    public bool $forceStop = false;
 }
diff --git a/src/services/AssetIndexer.php b/src/services/AssetIndexer.php
index 6b5da101bd5..ae228f0847b 100644
--- a/src/services/AssetIndexer.php
+++ b/src/services/AssetIndexer.php
@@ -307,6 +307,26 @@ public function processIndexSession(AssetIndexingSession $indexingSession): Asse
 
         // The most likely scenario is that the last entry is being worked on.
         if (!$indexEntry && !$indexingSession->processIfRootEmpty) {
+            // if indexEntry is null here, we should also check if there's anything in the assetindexdata table at all
+            // (if not, it could have been deleted when clearing caches)
+            // if that table is empty, we'll get into an infinite loop, calling processIndexSession with the same data all the time
+            // (and it'll be very hard to discard the session via ui)
+            if ($indexingSession->processedEntries < $indexingSession->totalEntries) {
+                $count = (new Query())
+                    ->from([Table::ASSETINDEXDATA])
+                    ->where([
+                        'sessionId' => $indexingSession->id,
+                        'completed' => false,
+                        'inProgress' => false,
+                    ])
+                    ->count();
+
+                if ((int)$count === 0) {
+                    Craft::warning('The assetindexdata table is empty; Can’t proceed with indexing.');
+                    $indexingSession->forceStop = true;
+                }
+            }
+
             $mutex->release($lockName);
             return $indexingSession;
         }
diff --git a/src/translations/en/app.php b/src/translations/en/app.php
index 0fbadc4c2a8..fd7cf6ca3d9 100644
--- a/src/translations/en/app.php
+++ b/src/translations/en/app.php
@@ -1533,6 +1533,7 @@
     'There was a problem activating the user.' => 'There was a problem activating the user.',
     'There was a problem deactivating the user.' => 'There was a problem deactivating the user.',
     'There was a problem impersonating this user.' => 'There was a problem impersonating this user.',
+    'There was a problem indexing assets.' => 'There was a problem indexing assets.',
     'There was a problem saving your message.' => 'There was a problem saving your message.',
     'There was a problem sending the password reset email.' => 'There was a problem sending the password reset email.',
     'There was a problem with uploading the file.' => 'There was a problem with uploading the file.',