diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3c7c7eb7c5e8b..e3f922be4ac91 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 - [Tiered Caching] Fix bug in cache stats API ([#16560](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/16560))
 - Bound the size of cache in deprecation logger ([16702](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/issues/16702))
 - Ensure consistency of system flag on IndexMetadata after diff is applied ([#16644](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/16644))
+- Fix exists queries on nested flat_object fields throws exception ([#16803](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/16803))
 
 ### Security
 
diff --git a/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/index/90_flat_object.yml b/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/index/90_flat_object.yml
index 2a469aa5ff04d..5a1791ede6d5b 100644
--- a/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/index/90_flat_object.yml
+++ b/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/index/90_flat_object.yml
@@ -73,6 +73,26 @@ teardown:
   - do:
       indices.delete:
         index: test
+
+---
+"Exist query in root field":
+  - skip:
+      version: "- 2.99.99"
+      reason: "the query would throw exception prior to 2.99.99"
+
+  - do:
+      search:
+        body: {
+          _source: true,
+          size: 10,
+          query: {
+            exists: {
+              field: "catalog"
+            }
+          }
+        }
+  - length:   { hits.hits: 2  }
+
 ---
 "Invalid docs":
   - skip:
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/FlatObjectFieldMapper.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/FlatObjectFieldMapper.java
index 0ccdb40f9d33a..0e4404e1ef5ce 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/FlatObjectFieldMapper.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/FlatObjectFieldMapper.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 import org.opensearch.common.unit.Fuzziness;
 import org.opensearch.common.xcontent.JsonToStringXContentParser;
 import org.opensearch.core.common.ParsingException;
+import org.opensearch.core.common.Strings;
 import org.opensearch.core.xcontent.DeprecationHandler;
 import org.opensearch.core.xcontent.NamedXContentRegistry;
 import org.opensearch.core.xcontent.XContentParser;
@@ -84,7 +85,7 @@ public static class Defaults {
     @Override
     public MappedFieldType keyedFieldType(String key) {
         return new FlatObjectFieldType(
-            this.name() + DOT_SYMBOL + key,
+            Strings.isNullOrEmpty(key) ? this.name() : (this.name() + DOT_SYMBOL + key),
             this.name(),
             (KeywordFieldType) valueFieldMapper.fieldType(),
             (KeywordFieldType) valueAndPathFieldMapper.fieldType()
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/FlatObjectFieldMapperTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/FlatObjectFieldMapperTests.java
index afd9e994ce3ae..601c7d7b6e7a5 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/FlatObjectFieldMapperTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/index/mapper/FlatObjectFieldMapperTests.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Query;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.TermQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.BytesRef;
+import org.opensearch.common.util.set.Sets;
 import org.opensearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
 import org.opensearch.common.xcontent.json.JsonXContent;
 import org.opensearch.core.xcontent.ToXContent;
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@
 import org.opensearch.index.query.QueryShardContext;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Set;
 
 import static org.opensearch.common.xcontent.JsonToStringXContentParser.VALUE_AND_PATH_SUFFIX;
 import static org.opensearch.common.xcontent.JsonToStringXContentParser.VALUE_SUFFIX;
@@ -397,6 +399,15 @@ public void testDeduplicationValue() throws IOException {
         assertEquals(new BytesRef("field.labels=3"), fieldValueAndPaths[4].binaryValue());
     }
 
+    public void testPatternMatch() throws IOException {
+        MapperService mapperService = createMapperService(fieldMapping(this::minimalMapping));
+        QueryShardContext queryShardContext = createQueryShardContext(mapperService);
+        Set<String> fields = queryShardContext.simpleMatchToIndexNames("field.*");
+        assertEquals(2, fields.size());
+        assertEquals(Sets.newHashSet("field._value", "field._valueAndPath"), fields);
+        System.out.println(fields);
+    }
+
     @Override
     protected void registerParameters(ParameterChecker checker) throws IOException {
         // In the future we will want to make sure parameter updates are covered.