diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/ReplicaManager.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/ReplicaManager.scala
index 57a2d9a658b1d..c8b7e7ee7bf9f 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/ReplicaManager.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/ReplicaManager.scala
@@ -2382,11 +2382,9 @@ class ReplicaManager(val config: KafkaConfig,
                                         partitions: Set[Partition],
                                         correlationId: Int,
                                         topicIds: String => Option[Uuid]): Unit = {
-    val traceLoggingEnabled = stateChangeLogger.isTraceEnabled
-
     try {
       if (isShuttingDown.get()) {
-        if (traceLoggingEnabled) {
+        if (stateChangeLogger.isTraceEnabled) {
           partitions.foreach { partition =>
             stateChangeLogger.trace(s"Skipped the update topic ID step of the become-follower state " +
               s"change with correlation id $correlationId from controller $controllerId epoch $controllerEpoch for " +
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/tools/StorageTool.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/tools/StorageTool.scala
index 40892bca38c92..8465a80207087 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/tools/StorageTool.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/tools/StorageTool.scala
@@ -128,9 +128,21 @@ object StorageTool extends Logging {
       setIgnoreFormatted(namespace.getBoolean("ignore_formatted")).
       setControllerListenerName(config.controllerListenerNames.head).
       setMetadataLogDirectory(config.metadataLogDir)
-    Option(namespace.getString("release_version")).foreach(
-      releaseVersion => formatter.
-        setReleaseVersion(MetadataVersion.fromVersionString(releaseVersion)))
+    def metadataVersionsToString(first: MetadataVersion, last: MetadataVersion): String = {
+      val versions = MetadataVersion.VERSIONS.slice(first.ordinal, last.ordinal + 1)
+      versions.map(_.toString).mkString(", ")
+    }
+    Option(namespace.getString("release_version")).foreach(releaseVersion => {
+      try {
+        formatter.setReleaseVersion(MetadataVersion.fromVersionString(releaseVersion))
+      } catch {
+        case _: Throwable =>
+          throw new TerseFailure(s"Unknown metadata.version $releaseVersion. Supported metadata.version are " +
+            s"${metadataVersionsToString(MetadataVersion.MINIMUM_VERSION, MetadataVersion.latestProduction())}")
+      }
+    })
+
+
     Option(namespace.getList[String]("feature")).foreach(
       featureNamesAndLevels(_).foreachEntry {
         (k, v) => formatter.setFeatureLevel(k, v)
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/server/ReplicaManagerTest.scala b/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/server/ReplicaManagerTest.scala
index a09e1f6ebd282..cd09c3069db2b 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/server/ReplicaManagerTest.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/server/ReplicaManagerTest.scala
@@ -186,6 +186,32 @@ class ReplicaManagerTest {
     }
   }
 
+  @Test
+  def testHighWaterMarkDirectoryMapping2(): Unit = {
+    val mockLogMgr = TestUtils.createLogManager(config.logDirs.map(new File(_)))
+    val rm = new ReplicaManager(
+      metrics = metrics,
+      config = config,
+      time = time,
+      scheduler = new MockScheduler(time),
+      logManager = mockLogMgr,
+      quotaManagers = quotaManager,
+      metadataCache = MetadataCache.kRaftMetadataCache(config.brokerId, () => KRaftVersion.KRAFT_VERSION_0),
+      logDirFailureChannel = new LogDirFailureChannel(config.logDirs.size),
+      alterPartitionManager = alterPartitionManager)
+    try {
+      val partition = rm.createPartition(new TopicPartition(topic, 1))
+      partition.createLogIfNotExists(isNew = false, isFutureReplica = false,
+        new LazyOffsetCheckpoints(rm.highWatermarkCheckpoints.asJava), None)
+      rm.checkpointHighWatermarks()
+      config.logDirs.map(s => Paths.get(s, ReplicaManager.HighWatermarkFilename))
+        .foreach(checkpointFile => assertTrue(Files.exists(checkpointFile),
+          s"checkpoint file does not exist at $checkpointFile"))
+    } finally {
+      rm.shutdown(checkpointHW = false)
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   def testHighwaterMarkRelativeDirectoryMapping(): Unit = {
     val props = TestUtils.createBrokerConfig(1)
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/tools/StorageToolTest.scala b/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/tools/StorageToolTest.scala
index 9fde243ec1997..18c9c88a7fd81 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/tools/StorageToolTest.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/tools/StorageToolTest.scala
@@ -58,6 +58,20 @@ class StorageToolTest {
 
   val testingFeatures = Feature.FEATURES.toList.asJava
 
+  @Test
+  def testFormatWithUnsupportedReleaseVersion(): Unit = {
+    val availableDirs = Seq(TestUtils.tempDir())
+    val properties = new Properties()
+    properties.putAll(defaultStaticQuorumProperties)
+    properties.setProperty("log.dirs", availableDirs.mkString(","))
+    val stream = new ByteArrayOutputStream()
+    val failure = assertThrows(classOf[TerseFailure], () =>
+      runFormatCommand(stream, properties, Seq("--release-version", "3.3-IV1"))).getMessage
+    assertTrue(failure.contains("Unknown metadata.version 3.3-IV1"))
+    assertTrue(failure.contains(MetadataVersion.MINIMUM_VERSION.version))
+    assertTrue(failure.contains(MetadataVersion.latestProduction().version))
+  }
+
   @Test
   def testConfigToLogDirectories(): Unit = {
     val config = new KafkaConfig(newSelfManagedProperties())