diff --git a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
index 446ece49a55..8f295e5078b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ field. You can revert this change by configuring tags for the module and omittin
 - Fix a rate limit related issue in httpjson input for Okta module. {issue}18530[18530] {pull}18534[18534]
 - Fix `googlecloud.audit` pipeline to only take in fields that are explicitly defined by the dataset. {issue}18465[18465] {pull}18472[18472]
 - Fix `o365.audit` failing to ingest events when ip address is surrounded by square brackets. {issue}18587[18587] {pull}18591[18591]
+- Fix Kubernetes Watcher goroutine leaks when input config is invalid and `input.reload` is enabled. {issue}18629[18629] {pull}18630[18630]
 
 *Heartbeat*
 
diff --git a/filebeat/input/log/input.go b/filebeat/input/log/input.go
index b3cf4049551..1c59e5b73d3 100644
--- a/filebeat/input/log/input.go
+++ b/filebeat/input/log/input.go
@@ -85,6 +85,22 @@ func NewInput(
 		}
 	}
 
+	inputConfig := defaultConfig
+
+	if err := cfg.Unpack(&inputConfig); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if err := inputConfig.resolveRecursiveGlobs(); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to resolve recursive globs in config: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := inputConfig.normalizeGlobPatterns(); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to normalize globs patterns: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if len(inputConfig.Paths) == 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("each input must have at least one path defined")
+	}
+
 	// Note: underlying output.
 	//  The input and harvester do have different requirements
 	//  on the timings the outlets must be closed/unblocked.
@@ -113,7 +129,7 @@ func NewInput(
 	}
 
 	p := &Input{
-		config:      defaultConfig,
+		config:      inputConfig,
 		cfg:         cfg,
 		harvesters:  harvester.NewRegistry(),
 		outlet:      out,
@@ -123,16 +139,6 @@ func NewInput(
 		meta:        meta,
 	}
 
-	if err := cfg.Unpack(&p.config); err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	if err := p.config.resolveRecursiveGlobs(); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to resolve recursive globs in config: %v", err)
-	}
-	if err := p.config.normalizeGlobPatterns(); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to normalize globs patterns: %v", err)
-	}
-
 	// Create empty harvester to check if configs are fine
 	// TODO: Do config validation instead
 	_, err = p.createHarvester(file.State{}, nil)
@@ -140,10 +146,6 @@ func NewInput(
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	if len(p.config.Paths) == 0 {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("each input must have at least one path defined")
-	}
-
 	err = p.loadStates(context.States)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/libbeat/common/kubernetes/util.go b/libbeat/common/kubernetes/util.go
index 470d07373ee..1feabbfec1d 100644
--- a/libbeat/common/kubernetes/util.go
+++ b/libbeat/common/kubernetes/util.go
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ func DiscoverKubernetesNode(log *logp.Logger, host string, inCluster bool, clien
 			log.Errorf("kubernetes: Querying for pod failed with error: %+v", err)
 			return defaultNode
 		}
-		log.Info("kubernetes: Using node %s discovered by in cluster pod node query", pod.Spec.NodeName)
+		log.Infof("kubernetes: Using node %s discovered by in cluster pod node query", pod.Spec.NodeName)
 		return pod.Spec.NodeName
 	}