diff --git a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
index bf89e89479d..0da1838066e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
@@ -229,6 +229,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v7.0.0-alpha2...master[Check the HEAD d
 - Fix typo in config docs {pull}23185[23185]
 - Fix `nested` subfield handling in generated Elasticsearch templates. {issue}23178[23178] {pull}23183[23183]
 - Fix CPU usage metrics on VMs with dynamic CPU config {pull}23154[23154]
+- Fix panic due to unhandled DeletedFinalStateUnknown in k8s OnDelete {pull}23419[23419]
 
 *Auditbeat*
 
diff --git a/libbeat/autodiscover/providers/kubernetes/service.go b/libbeat/autodiscover/providers/kubernetes/service.go
index 2aa699c50ad..f9dff6dc940 100644
--- a/libbeat/autodiscover/providers/kubernetes/service.go
+++ b/libbeat/autodiscover/providers/kubernetes/service.go
@@ -21,8 +21,6 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/elastic/beats/v7/libbeat/common/kubernetes/metadata"
-
 	"github.com/gofrs/uuid"
 	k8s "k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
 
@@ -30,6 +28,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/v7/libbeat/common"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/v7/libbeat/common/bus"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/v7/libbeat/common/kubernetes"
+	"github.com/elastic/beats/v7/libbeat/common/kubernetes/metadata"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/v7/libbeat/common/safemapstr"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/v7/libbeat/logp"
 )
diff --git a/libbeat/common/kubernetes/watcher.go b/libbeat/common/kubernetes/watcher.go
index eb7f330a64e..f72a98de0a7 100644
--- a/libbeat/common/kubernetes/watcher.go
+++ b/libbeat/common/kubernetes/watcher.go
@@ -199,6 +199,10 @@ func (w *watcher) enqueue(obj interface{}, state string) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
+	if deleted, ok := obj.(cache.DeletedFinalStateUnknown); ok {
+		w.logger.Debugf("Enqueued DeletedFinalStateUnknown contained object: %+v", deleted.Obj)
+		obj = deleted.Obj
+	}
 	w.queue.Add(&item{key, obj, state})
 }