diff --git a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
index dc73dc05a95..81b1125620b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v6.3.2...6.3[Check the HEAD diff]
 *Affecting all Beats*
 
 - Fix a race condition with the `add_host_metadata` and the event serialization. {pull}8223[8223]
+- Enforce that data used by k8s or docker doesn't use any reference. {pull}8240[8240]
 
 *Auditbeat*
 
diff --git a/libbeat/processors/add_docker_metadata/add_docker_metadata.go b/libbeat/processors/add_docker_metadata/add_docker_metadata.go
index b936b4b2c01..6d53f6d3f16 100644
--- a/libbeat/processors/add_docker_metadata/add_docker_metadata.go
+++ b/libbeat/processors/add_docker_metadata/add_docker_metadata.go
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ func (d *addDockerMetadata) Run(event *beat.Event) (*beat.Event, error) {
 		meta.Put("container.id", container.ID)
 		meta.Put("container.image", container.Image)
 		meta.Put("container.name", container.Name)
-		event.Fields["docker"] = meta
+		event.Fields["docker"] = meta.Clone()
 	} else {
 		d.log.Debugf("Container not found: cid=%s", cid)
 	}
diff --git a/libbeat/processors/add_kubernetes_metadata/kubernetes.go b/libbeat/processors/add_kubernetes_metadata/kubernetes.go
index 2455d7b01fa..e3cf835c578 100644
--- a/libbeat/processors/add_kubernetes_metadata/kubernetes.go
+++ b/libbeat/processors/add_kubernetes_metadata/kubernetes.go
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ func (k *kubernetesAnnotator) Run(event *beat.Event) (*beat.Event, error) {
 	}
 
 	event.Fields.DeepUpdate(common.MapStr{
-		"kubernetes": metadata,
+		"kubernetes": metadata.Clone(),
 	})
 
 	return event, nil